1427 Margaret Bromley was aged 16 and more when her brother John Bromley died on 7 November 1427. She and William Hexstall were married by 10 September 1428, the date of John's IPM. [1] [2]
John de Bromley. Writ. 14 November 1427. [Wymbyssh] Staffordshire. Inquisition. Ecceshall. 10 September 1428. [Whitegreve]. Jurors: Robert Marchall; Richard Nowell; Thomas Hunt; Thomas Lokwode; Richard Snede; Richard Warde; William Warde; John Brenner; Thomas Pereson; James Thy...s [hole in ms]; Stephen Begenald; and John Dutton. He held the following in demesne as of fee of the king in chief as 1/2 knight's fee. Ashley, 1/3 manor with advowson of the church there at every third presentation. There are 4 messuages, each worth 15d. yearly; 40 a. arable, each acre worth 6d. yearly; 10 a. meadow, each a worth 4d. yearly. He died on 7 November 1427. Margaret wife of William Hexstall is his sister and next heir, and was then aged 16 and more.
1434 In Hilary Term in Staffordshire, Isabel, widow of John Bromley, now married to John Pollard, sued Thomas Boughton and his wife Isabel and William Hexstall and his wife Margaret, concerning the dower of Isabel, widow of John Bromley and wife of John Pollard. [3] [4]
1435 Two weeks from St John the Baptist, 13 Henry VI [8 July 1435], Richard Petyt, querent, conveyed to Roger Elmeruge, esquire, and Joan, his wife, deforciants, 6 messuages, 80 acres of land, 30 acres of meadow, 30 acres of pasture and 20 acres of wood in Bardeley and Coldweston', and a moiety of the manors of Bagessore and Northcleobury, and the advowson of the church of Bagessore [Bardley, Cold Weston, Badger, Cleobury North]. Plea of covenant. Roger and Joan have acknowledged the tenements, moiety and advowson to be the right of Richard, as those which he has of their gift, and have remised and quitclaimed them from themselves and the heirs of Roger to him and his heirs for ever. Warranty. For this, Richard has given them 300 marks of silver. [5] [6]
1435 Nov 7-1436 Nov 23. Escheator: William Hexstall, Escheatry: Staff. [7] [8]
The following abstracts of deeds and court cases confirm the parentage of Margaret Hexstall, suggest the given name of her mother was Joan, and provide information about when Margaret married William Whetenhall, when she married Henry Ferrers, and when William Hexstall died.
1444 An inquisition into whether Tomasia Froddesham, widow of Richard Chetewynd, was an idiot found that she was and that her kinsman Humphrey Hexstall, the son of Margaret, the daughter of William, the son of Margaret, the sister of William Froddesham, Thomasia’s father, was Tomasia's next heir. [9]
1446 April 19. William Hexstall of East Peckham, Kent, esq: original will (mentions land in Sutton) [10]
1449 April 25. The goods and chattels of William Morcok; grant by William Morcok of Sundridge, turner. To trustees, John Pemberton, clerk, William Hexstall, esq., Richard Ford, Clerk of the Pipe to the Exchequer, John Fenwyk, of the "hospitium" of the King, gent. [Gordon Ward ref. Chidd. II 112] [11]
1452 June 25 County: Kent. Place: Westminster. Date: The day after St John the Baptist, 30 Henry VI [25 June 1452]. Parties: William Hextall' and Joan, his wife, querents, and Richard Plomer and Elizabeth, his wife, deforciants. Property: 20 acres of land, 1 acre of meadow, 10 acres [of wood] and a moiety of 1 messuage in Westerham. Action: Plea of covenant. Agreement: Richard and Elizabeth have acknowledged the tenements to be the right of William, as those which William and Joan have of their gift, and have remised and quitclaimed them from themselves and the heirs of Elizabeth to William and Joan and the heirs of William for ever. Warranty: Warranty. For this: William and Joan have given them 20 pounds sterling. Persons: William Hextall, Joan Hextall, Richard Plummer, Elizabeth Plummer. Places: Westerham. [12] [13]
1454 June 14. Feoffment 1) John Elmebrugge, Hugh Hexstall, clerk, Thomas Hexstall and William Constantyne 2) William Hexstall, esq, and Joan his wife, for life, and after their deaths to their daughter Margaret and her husband William Wetenhale, junior and her heirs. Land in East Peckham, Hadlow, Wateringbury and Nettlestead, Kent. [14]
1456-1460. Richard Bruyn v. John Colvyle, grocer, and John Parker, of London, executors of William Whetenale, grocer, of London.: Money promised for procuring the marriage of said William's son with Margaret, daughter of William Hexstall, esq.: London. [15]
1457 June "No. 57. On the Morrow of St. John the Baptist. 35 Hen. VI.
Between John Nedeham and Hugh Hexstall, Clerk, complainants, and William Hexstall, Armiger, and John Bromley, Knight, and Joan his wife, deforciants of the mauors of Wonyngton (Wenington) and Bromley in Halys, three messuages, 200 acres of land, forty acres of meadow, forty acres of pasture, twenty acres of wood, and 10*. of rent in Podmore, Rugge, and Chatculno. and a third part of the manor of Assheley. William, John Bromley and Joan acknowledged the said manors, etc., to be the right of the complainants, for which the complainants granted them to William, for his life, with remainder to the issue male of John Bromley and Joan, and failing such issue, to the right heirs of Joan (sic) for ever." [16]
1469 May 28. Letter of attorney 1) William Hexstall, esq 2) Robert Untan and Richard Turnour. Authority to deliver seisin of manor of Hexstells and of lands in fee of Ranton and Ellenhall called Frankvile, and lands in Milwich, Great Wyrley, Walsall and Willenhall, all in Staffs, to Hugh Hexstall, clerk, William Harpur of Ryshale [Rushall], esq, Thomas Hexstall senior, John Petyt and Henry Hexstall. [17]
1470 August 24. Letter of attorney 1) William Hexstall of East Peckham, Kent, esq 2) John Stokle of East Peckham. Authority to deliver seisin of lands in East Peckham, Hadlow, Leigh, Nettlestead, Tonbridge, Westerham (some field names), all in Kent, to Henry Ferrers, esq, Hugh Hexstall, clerk, Thomas Hexstall and Henry Hexstall. [18]
1481 September 30, 21 Edward IV: Grant by Henry Ferrers, knight of the King's body-guard, and Margaret his wife, daughter and heiress of William Hexstall, esquire, deceased, to Robert Weston, William Medylton, and Thomas Vocatour, citizens of London, of lands, &c., in the parishs of Halstow and St. Mary's in the hundred of Hoo. Appointment of Martin Roberd and William Whyte attornies to deliver seisin: Kent. St. Mary's Hoo, Note: two seals. [19]
1481 October 4, 21 Edward IV. Grant by Thomas Hexstall and Henry Hexstall, gentlemen, to Robert Weston, William Medylton and Thomas Vocatour, citizens of London, of all their lands, &c., in the parishes of Halstowe and St. Mary's in the hundred of Hoo. Appointment of William Whyte and William Grene, attornies to delivers seisin: Kent. Note: two seals. [20]
1481 October 4, 21 Edward IV. Letters of attorney from Robert Weston, William Medylton, and Thomas Vocatour, citizens of London, to Adam Palmer and William Whyte, to receive seisin from Thomas Hexstall and Henry Hexstall of lands, &c., in the parishes of Halstowe and St. Mary's, in the hundred of Hoo: Kent. Note: three seals. [21]
1481/2 February 9, 21 Edward IV. Release by John Petytt, gentleman, to Robert Weston, William Medylton, and Thomas Vocatour, citizens of London, of lands, &c., in the parishes of Halstow and St. Mary's, in the hundred of Hoo, which formerly belonged to William Hexstall, esquire, deceased: Kent. Note: seal. [22]
1482 March 31, 22 Edward IV. Grant by Robert Weston, William Medylton, and Thomas Vocatour, citizens of London, to Robert Rede, gentleman, William Wodegate, John Pratte, and Richard Cressy, of all their lands, &c., in the parishes of Halstowe and St.. Mary's, in the hundred of Hoo, which formerly belonged to William Hexstall, esquire, and Hugh Hexstall, clerk, deceased. Appointment of William Whyte and Thomas Grene attornies to deliver seisin: Kent. Note: three seals. [23]
1487 August 6, 2 Henry VII. Release by Margery Whetnall, spinster, to Robert Rede, serjeant-at-law, William Bruyn, gentleman, William Wodegate, and Richard Cressy, of all her right in lands, &c., in the parishes of Halstowe and St. Mary's in the hundred of Hoo, which formerly belonged to William Hexstall, esquire, deceased, her grandfather: Kent. Note: fragment of seal. [24]
1504-1515. Edward Ferrers v. William Harper and John Petyt, feoffees to uses.: Refusal to complete a sale of messuages, land, and rent in Walsall, by Edward, son of Thomas, brother of William Hexstall, esquire, deceased.: Stafford. [25]
1504-1515. Herry Hexstall, of Surrey, gentleman. v. William Harpour and John Petyt, feoffees to uses.: Messuages and land in Walsall, late of William Hexstall, brother of complainant.: Stafford. [26]
Research Notes:
History of Parliament, 1439-1509 states: [27]
Hextall, William (1405-70); of Peckham, Kent, and Gerrard's Bromley, Staffs. Steward to the Duke of Buckingham, 1430-60; teller of the Exchq. 1456-70. M.P. Newcastle - under-Lyme 1425, 1429-30; Stafford boro' 1431, 1432; Newcastle-under-Lyme 1435; Stafford boro' 1437; Bletchingley 1449 (1); Kent 1453-4. Lancastrian.
S. of Hugh Hextall of Milwich, Staffs.; m. (1) by 1422, Margaret, b. 1412, a da. of William and sis. and h. of John Bromley, who held one-third of Ashley and died 1427, [ftn. 3] He had two das.; one, Jane, married Sir John Bromley of Baddington, Cheshire, the second, Margaret, certainly m. Richard Petit, of Badger, Salop; she must also have married, later, William s. of William Whetenhale, alderman of London. [ftn. 4]
By 1422 William Hextall, of Hextall near Ronton, Staffs., gent., held one-third of Ashley, Staffs., in right of his wife; [ftn. 5] and he was sued by the same name in 1438. [ftn. 6] With William Lee he was bound in £40 to Thomas Moston, 1432; a witness in Kent to a Stafford deed, 9 July 1432; a witness at Ellenhall, Staffs., 1433; [ftn. 7] sub-sheriff, Staffs., 1431-2; sworn to the peace in Staffs., 1434; eschr., Staffs., 1435-6; and eschr., Kent, 1455-7; elected for Bletchingley, the Earl of Stafford's boro', Jan. 1449. Hextall took out a pardon for Cade's affair in July 1450, and was an elector in Kent in 1450; pardoned 1452 as "of Estpecham, Kent, esq. alias of Bramley, Staffs., alias late of Hexstall" (m.9). His brothers Thomas and Henry Hextall, also from Staffordshire, were also Kent electors in 1453, when William was elected. He was on many comns. in Kent, often with the Duke of Buckingham, 1450 to May 1460; in June 1454 Buckingham, Bourchier, Hextall and others were made keepers of the temporalities of the archbishopric of Canterbury; [ftn. 8] in Apr. 1455 Hextall was summoned to the Great Council for Kent. J.P. Kent, 27 Nov. 1455 to 2 Dec. 1458. He was one of the four Tellers of the Exchq. by 1456; [ftn. 9] pardoned Jan. 1458, as of East Peckham, alias of Hexstall (m.29); a feoffee for the Duke of Buckingham in the Kimbolton castle settlement this year; a comnr. of array for Kent, Dec. 1459, and for the first half of 1460.
1. Statham, History of Dover, pp. 178, 237.
2. The will of Henry Hextall of Bletchingley, who died without male issue in 1492, pr. in P.C.C. (23 Dogett), mentions Edward Hextall, his bro. Thomas's son, to whom he leaves all his lands and tenements in Walsall, which he had held jointly with his late bro., Thomas Hextall, decd. This definitely connects the Hextalls with Staffs., so does the Pardon Roll of 4 Jan. 1458 above quoted; and William Hextall, who sat for both Stafford and Bletchingley, was certainly lord of one-third of Ashley, Staffs., in right of his wife. The difficult point is that, according to Erdeswick, the father of William and Thomas was Hugh Hextall of Milwich, and according to Hasted's Kent the father was Richard Hextall who md. a da. of Grovehurst of Kent. The name Hextall itself obviously comes from Staffs. It is a hamlet in Seighford. The Hextalls came to Bletchingley, Peckham and Dover as servants of the Stafford House.
3. Inq. p.m., 7 Hen. VI, C. 139. 37. 2.
4. Early Chan. Proc. 26 / 286; R. R. Sharp, Calender of Wills in London, ii. 531.
5. Feudal Aids.
6. Staffs. Colls., iii. N.S. 145.
7. Cal. Cl. Rolls (1432), 186-7, 241.
8. In 1454 Richard Brown (q.v.) sued John Colville and John Parker of London, exors. of the will of William Whetenhale, grocer of London, for money promised for procuring the marriage of Whetenhale's son with Margaret, da. of William Hextall (Early Chan. Proc. 26/286).
9. Exchq. Accts., Wardrobe, 34-35 Henry VI.During all these years Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Stafford and Duke of Buckingham, was Warden of the Cinque Ports.
In May 1460, Kyriell, Cheyne, Fogge, Horne and Hextall were ordered to muster at Sandwich with the Duke of Exeter for the defence of that place against the Yorkists at Calais. They failed, and the Earls landed at Sandwich. Hextall may have joined the Earls at Canterbury with Fogge and Horne, or he may have waited till after his master was killed at Northampton. At least he had no trouble with the Yorkists. He was confirmed in office and remained Teller of the Exchequer till 23 June 1463; [ftn. 1] received a livery of clothes in 1461. He was still living in 1466, when he was exor. of the will of that other Stafford retainer John Harpur of Rushall by Walsall (q.v.). At Walsall he must have died, for his tomb was once there, inscribed, so we are told, "Ora pro animis Willi Hexstall et Margaratae et Johanae uxorum." [ftn.2] He held land in Walsall, which, according to his bro. Henry's will in 1492, William bequeathed jointly to his yr. bros., Thomas and Henry. His other lands went elsewhere.
Bavington-Jones, in his Annals of Dover (p. 291), says that he came to Dover as receiver under Humphrey, duke of Buckingham, and continued to hold office under the Earl of Warwick. Jones, following Hasted, makes him the son of Richard Hexstall, of Hextall's Court in East Peckham. This sounds improbable; and Erdeswick, the Staffordshire historian c. 1600, makes him son of Hugh Hextall of Milwich, Staffs. In any case, the Pardon Rolls of 1452 and 1458 make it quite clear that the Kent and Staffordshire man were one and the same; and his Parliamentary record shows that he was the trusted retainer of the Stafford house.
1. Issue Rolls, 6 Edw. IV, No. 837.
2. Staffs. Colls. (1917), 208.
1452 July 30, William Hexstall, Randal Bromley, and others: 'writ "ouster le main", setting forth inquisition, viz., that Margery, who was wife of Gilbert Berwyk, held not on the day she died, any lands in the county of Chester...' [28]
[1] Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Vol. 23, 6-10 Henry VI, 1427-1432 (London: HMSO, 2004), 88, (number 155), [GoogleBooks].
[2] Mapping the Medieval Countryside (Digital edition of the medieval English inquisitions post mortem (IPMs) from c. 1236 to 1509), [Link].
[3] Court of Common Pleas, CP40, The National Archives, UK, Anglo-American Legal Tradition, University of Houston, Hilary Term, CP40/692, 400f, [AALTImage].
[4] Court of Common Pleas, CP40, The National Archives, UK, Anglo-American Legal Tradition, University of Houston, CP40/692, 318d, [AALTImage].
[5] Feet of Fines, Online Abstracts, CP 25/1/195/22, number 16, [Medieval_Genealogy].
[6] Feet of Fines, Court of Common Pleas, CP25, The National Archives, UK, Anglo-American Legal Tradition, University of Houston, CP 25/1/195/22, number 16, [AALTImage].
[7] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, Reference E 153/2562, Exchequer: King's Remembrancer: Escheators' Files, Henry III to Richard III, [UKNationalArchives].
[8] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, E 153/1623, Exchequer: King's Remembrancer: Escheators' Files, Henry III to Richard III, [UKNationalArchives].
[9] Mapping the Medieval Countryside (Digital edition of the medieval English inquisitions post mortem (IPMs) from c. 1236 to 1509), [Link].
[10] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, LM/2011/40, Surrey History Centre, [UKNationalArchives].
[11] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, U908/T109/2, Centre for Kentish Studies, [UKNationalArchives].
[12] Feet of Fines, Online Abstracts, CP 25/1/116/324, number 753, [Medieval_Genealogy].
[13] Feet of Fines, Court of Common Pleas, CP25, The National Archives, UK, Anglo-American Legal Tradition, University of Houston, [AALTImage].
[14] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, LM/341/73, Surrey History Centre, [UKNationalArchives].
[15] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, C 1/26/286 Chancery pleadings addressed to William [Wayneflete], Bishop of Winchester as Lord Chancellor, [UKNationalArchives].
[16] The William Salt Archaeological Society, ed., Collections for a History of Staffordshire, Vol. 11 (London: Harrison and Sons, 1890), 237, [GoogleBooks], [GoogleBooks].
[17] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, LM/342/16, Surrey History Centre, [UKNationalArchives].
[18] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, LM/342/18, Surrey History Centre, [UKNationalArchives].
[19] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, C 146/431 Chancery: Ancient Deeds, Series C, [UKNationalArchives].
[20] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, C 146/341, Chancery: Ancient Deeds, Series C, [UKNationalArchives].
[21] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, C 146/405, Chancery: Ancient Deeds, Series C, [UKNationalArchives].
[22] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, C 146/216, Chancery: Ancient Deeds, Series C, [UKNationalArchives].
[23] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, C 146/403, Chancery: Ancient Deeds, Series C, [UKNationalArchives].
[24] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, C 146/353, Chancery: Ancient Deeds, Series C, [UKNationalArchives].
[25] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, C 1/134/10, Chancery pleadings addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury as Lord Chancellor [John Morton 1486-1493 or William Warham 1504-1515] The National Archives, [UKNationalArchives].
[26] The National Archives of the United Kingdom Catalog, C 1/140/45, Chancery pleadings addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury as Lord Chancellor [John Morton 1486-1493 or William Warham 1504-1515], [UKNationalArchives].
[27] 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), 450-1, (the date 1422, stated for William's first marriage, must be an error for 1428 and is not supported by the cited source), [GoogleBooks].
[28] The Thirty-Sixth Annual Report of The Deputy Keeper of The Public Records (London: HMSO, 1876), 558-559, [GoogleBooks], [HathiTrust].