1596 [Dec. 5.] 67. Account addressed to [Lord Burghley as Master of the Court of Wards] of the state of Sir Henry Unton's lands and inheritance, who died without issue, leaving two sisters, Ann, married to Valentine Knightley, who had issue Elizabeth and Anne, and Mary, now a minor, and Cicely married to John Wentworth, who had issue a son named John. The case, as pleaded in the Court of Wards by John Wentworth to the information of Valentine Knightley, states that Sir Henry being seized in fee of certain manors and lands uamed in cos. Berks and Oxford, conveyed them to Sir Thomas Wroughton, Sir John Harrington, and others, to his own use for life; remainder, except Hatford and Shellingford, to Lady Dorothy his wife, for life, as jointure; remainder to the said trustees, to enable them to pay his debts, until some of the issue male of the said Cicely Wentworth had attained 21, then to such issue and his issue male, with remainder to testator's right heirs.
Hatford and Shellingford manors were left to the feoffees for payment of debts, with remainder to Cicely Wentworth and her heirs male; Lady Unton, yet living, is seized of the other manors and lands, and Wentworth and his wife took letters of administration, and entered into possession of these two manors.
This conveyance Valentine Knightley seeks to impeach, for the benefit of his daughters by his deceased wife, but no office has been found since Sir Henry's death, the evidence not having been brought into the Court of Wards, that all parties might agree upon an office. Sir Henry's debts, said to be 20,000l. at least, are partly to be paid by his goods, and partly by his lands; but his goods are only worth 4,000l. or 5,000l.; his lease of Wadley in Berkshire, worth 500l. or 600l. a year, is alleged by Knightley to be assured to him, and cannot go towards payment of such debts, but the validity of that assurance, and to what use it was made, is shortly to be determined in Chancery.
Nicholas Payne, Sir Henry Unton's business agent, may know more of the estate. Mr. Churchill says that no livery has been sued of Mr. Wentworth's lands, since Lady Maltravers sued hers after the death of her father, Sir John Wentworth, as both this Mr. Wentworth and his father claimed as purchasers.
Sir Henry died seized of the manors of Aston Rowant, co. Oxford, and Worth, co. Berks, which it is alleged were not assured by him, but descended to the daughters of Valentine Knightley, and to Wentworth's wife, as his heirs. [2 pages, noted by Burghley.]
[Dec. 5.] 68. Abstract of grants, deeds, conveyances, &c., relating to Sir Henry Unton, of manors and lands mentioned, from 31 Hen. VIII. to 3 Nov., 37 Eliz., including the conveyance named in the preceding paper, which was dated 1 Nov. 1595. [5 sheets.]
Dec. 5. 69. Account of the estate of Sir Henry Unton's conveyance, made at his going into France in 1595; with particulars of his rentals from Farington manor, &c., 737l. 13s. 4d.; Shellingford and Hatford, 670l.; Wadley, 600l.; debts, 23,000l., and sums received by Mr. Wentworth on sale of goods, for payment thereof, 8,483l. [1 sheet, endorsed by Burghley.] [1]
1596 Farington Manor: Sir Henry Unton "settled the manor in 1595 on Dorothy his wife, with remainders to the sons of his sisters Anne and Cecily. (fn. 111) Cecily wife of John Wentworth was still living at Sir Henry's death in 1596, but Anne was dead, leaving by her husband Valentine Knightley three daughters, Elizabeth, Anne and Mary. (fn. 112) A dispute between John Wentworth and Valentine Knightley was settled by an award of 1597, under which Dame Dorothy was to hold the manor for life; it was then to be held for life by John and Cecily Wentworth with successive remainders to John Wentworth, their eldest son, and William, Michael and Roger, his younger brothers. (fn. 113) The manor was conveyed by Sir John Wentworth (fn. 114) in February 1622-3 to Sir Robert Pye, (fn. 115) but Dame Dorothy Unton was still living at Faringdon in 1631. (fn. 116) [2]
1618 "Sr Valentine Knightley Knight" was buried December 12 at Fawsley, Northamptonshire. [3]
1618/19 The death of Valentine Knightley was reported on January 2 in a communication from Chamberlain to Carleton, "Sir Valentine Knightley dead." [4]
[1] Mary Anne Everett Green, ed., Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, Elizabeth and James I, 1580-1625 (London: HMSO, 1872), 378, [GoogleBooks].
[2] William Page and P.H. Ditchfield, eds., A History of the County of Berkshire, vol. 4 (1924), 489-499, citing (111) Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccliii, 100; (112) Ibid; (113) Ibid.; Recov. R. Mich. 39 Eliz. m. 190; Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 273, no. 30; (114) cf. Recov. R. Mich. 7 Jas. I, m. 184; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. iv, App. i, 119; (115) Add. MS. 9409, fol. 247. (116) Cal. S. P. Dom. 1629-31, p. 299; 1631-3, p. 155, [URL].
[3] Northamptonshire Record Office, 125P/1, Fawsley Parish Register, 1583-1726, Northamptonshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1558-1812, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
[4] Mary Anne Everett Green, ed., Calendar of state papers, Domestic series, James I, 1619-1623 (London: HMSO, 1858), 1, [HathiTrust].