At least for a little while after May 1767, Thomas Dunckerley must have felt like Jack Horner in the nursery rhyme. Eventually one tires of plums, but in the beginning a Christmas plum is a very fine thing. Before we see what Dunckerley did with his little share of the royal bounty, let us consider those he left behind. The actual story of his progenitors is as respectable as any Thomas Dunckerley could have created for himself, but decidedly less aristocratic. Because Duncker-ley chose a fairly straightforward chronological plot for his fiction, the accepted narrative will serve as our touchstone for an exploration of Bolnest and Dunck-erley families, back into the London of the seventeenth century.

Somerset House, 1715-60

Both the accepted narrative and other primary sources refer to Mary Dunckerley's husband, Adam, who was a porter at Somerset House, the building that served as the venue for both Thomas Dunckerley's real and imagined childhoods. The main narrator in Dunckerley's fictional biography, Ann Pinkney, was Mary Dunckerley's long-time neighbour at Somerset House. A cameo appearance was also given to another actual neighbour, Mrs Meakins, who was allegedly the conduit of a very suspect £50 payment from the prince to Mary Dunckerley. Both women were married to porters who were Adam Dunckerley's junior colleagues at Somerset House, Henry Pinkney (1680-1723) and John Meakins.