1449 William Comberford served in the House of Commons for Staffordshire. "Cumberford, William (1410-72); of Cumberford, Staffs.; Protonotary of Common Pleas; lawyer. M.P. Newcastle-under-Lyme 1442; Staffordshire 1449 (I). Son and heir of John Cumberford of the same (died 1434/9), by Jane. He occurs as a surety in 1433; was building Cumberford in 1439, and he held land also at Wigginton, Staffs. J.P. Staffs. and of the quorum, 1442 to 1471, and a justice of gaol [jail] delivery. He appears on few comns., but he was an attorney in Kent and London suits before the King's Bench in 1460, and a Protonotary of the Court of Common Pleas. Lancastrian - for he was exor. of the will of the Lancastrian, Sir William Vernon (M.P.) in 1467, and was removed from the Bench after the Readeption, though pardoned 6 Feb, 1472. Died 11 June 1472; and Fogge (q.v.) apptd. Roger Brent (q.v.) in his place as protonotary. Perhaps his political views would account for the arms he took: Gules, on a cross engrailed of, five (red) roses of the first!". [1]
1453 William Comberford was an executor for the will of John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury. [2]
Research Notes:
"Tamworth Castle during the English Civil War - 1642 - 1649: In the autumn of 1642 William Comberford raised a small royalist force and garrisoned the Castle for King Charles I (1625 - 1649). The Comberford family were lords of the manor of Comberford, Wiggington and Wednesbury. They owned the Tudor Moat house in Tamworth as well as the hall at Wednesbury. ... On the 23rd June 1643 Tamworth castle was laid to siege by Parliamentarian for two days and captured by a detachment of Cromwell's forces under Colonel William Purefoy. Comberford escaped but many of the garrison remained prisoners." [http://minisites.tamworth.gov.uk/castlehome/history/tudor_and_stuart.aspx, Tamworth Castle website]
[1] Anne D. Holt and Josiah Clement Wedgwood, History of Parliament. Biographies of the Members of the Commons House, 1439–1509, Vol. 1 (London: HMSO, 1936-1938), 244, [GoogleBooks].
[2] David Blair Foss, The Canterbury Archiepiscopates of John Stafford (1443-52) and John Kemp (1452-54) with Editions of their Registers, Vol. 3 (London: Thesis, King's College, University of London, 1986), 346, [EThOSTheses].