Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 23.djvu/336

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Guildford
328
Guildford

attainted in consequence. The son, who thereby forfeited some lands in Cranbrook, fled to Richmond in Brittany, and returned with him two years later, landing along with him at Milford Haven, where he is said to have been knighted. It may be presumed he was with Henry at Bosworth. Little more than a month later, on 29 Sept. 1485, the new king appointed him one of the chamberlains of the receipt of exchequer, master of the ordnance and of the armoury, with houses on Tower Wharf, and keeper of the royal manor of Kennington, where the king took up his abode before his coronation. As a chamberlain of the receipt of the exchequer he had the appointment of an 'usher of the receipt,' and of other officers. What were his emoluments in that office does not appear; but as master of the ordnance he had two shillings a day with allowances for persons under him, and as master of the armoury a shilling a day with like allowances—the pay, as regards the latter office, to date from 8 Aug., a fortnight before the battle of Bosworth, when it appears that he received the appointment from Henry though he was not yet king (Campbell, Materials, i. 68, 369). When Henry's first parliament met his attainder was reversed (Rolls of Parl. vi. 2736). As master of the armoury he had to prepare the 'justes' for the king's coronation, for which a hundred marks were paid him in advance. For the like preparations at the queen's coronation two years later he also received a hundred marks; and on another occasion, shortly after the first, we meet with a payment to him of 16l. 19s. 10d. for the repair of the 'justes' in question.

The king also made him a privy councillor and granted him various lands and some wardships which fell vacant. Among the former was the manor of Higham in Sussex, which was granted him in tail male with 'the increase of the land there by the retirement of the sea: to hold by fealty and the service of supporting a tower in his marsh near the port called the Camber in Sussex, to be built within two years from the date of these presents, for the protection of the inhabitants of Kent and Sussex from rebels and others navigating the sea there.' His genius evidently lay in the control of artillery and fortifications, engineering and shipbuilding, for which various payments to him are recorded. The lands he won from the sea are to this day called Guilford Level. In 1486 he received 'for the making of a ship within the county of Kent' 100l. ; on 8 March 1487 13l. 6s. 8d. was paid him as master of a vessel called the Mary Gylford, named probably after a daughter who, in Henry VIII's time, was married to one Christopher Kempe (Hasted, Hist. of Kent, ii. 128); and on 12 April he had 40l. 'for the building and novel construction of a ship to be made de novo with ordnance and fittings.' This last, it is clear, was the same as the ship first mentioned, 'to be made within the county of Kent.' It was to be a vessel of seven hundred tons, 'like the Colombe of France.' In the spring of 1487, again, we find that he was commissioned to construct a ship called the Regent. Another curious entry relating to him is a warrant to pay him 17l. on 2 Oct. 1486 for a collar of gold of that value, which he had delivered to the king in order that it might be given to a 'gentilman estraungere comyng unto us. out of the parties of Flaundres.'

In 1487 it appears that the treasurer and barons of the exchequer had for some reason seized the office of chamberlain of the receipt, which had been granted to him by the king for life; but he obtained a warrant under the privy seal to prevent them proceeding further until the king himself had examined the official arrangements, with a view apparently to greater efficiency. A little later he surrendered the office, which was then granted to Lord Daubeney [q. v.] On 14 July he was given the wardship and marriage of Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Robert Mortymer, with the custody of her lands during her minority. In Michaelmas term 1488 a payment of 12l. to a London merchant is authorised 'for a table delivered by him to Richard Guldeford for the Sovereign.' On 11 March 1489 he had a warrant to the exchequer to reimburse him 30l. which he had laid out 'in harnessing' (i.e. arming) seven of the king's servants and seventeen of the queen's. In September following certain alterations were ordered to be made in the buildings of Westminster Palace under the direction of Guildford and the Earl of Ormonde.

In 1490 Guildford undertook to serve the king at sea with 550 marines and soldiers, in three ships, for two months from 12 July. On 13 May, apparently in the same year, he had a grant of three hundred marks out of the subsidies in the port of Chichester. On 20 Feb. 1492 Henry VII made his will in view of his proposed invasion of France, and appointed Guildford one of his trustees (Rolls of Parl. vi. 4443). Guildford also made great preparations for that expedition, and for his expenses in so doing the king on 30 March ordered an immediate advance to be made to him of 20l. out of an allowance of 40l. a year already granted to him over and above his fees as master of the ordnance and of the armoury. He accordingly accompanied the