XI.
SOME TOWNSPEOPLE.
FOR many years after the Conquest the leading people of the town of Leicester were of Norman blood. This was owing, of course, to the power of the Norman Earls of Leicester, without whose appointment and approval no man could prosper, or obtain any high office, for the Earls naturally preferred men who were of their own race and who spoke their own language. The first Englishman who held the title of Mayor seems to have been William le Engleys, who was appointed in 1278, and in three subsequent years. It is possible, however, though not very likely, that he was a Norman nicknamed "The Englishman." He was not, at any rate, the first Englishman to bear rule among the burgesses, for as early as 1209, as we shall see, a man was at the head of the Guild Merchant, under the title of "Alderman of the Guild," who bore a Saxon name.
A curious Norman appellation was borne by the Curlevaches, a well-to-do family who owned land in the North suburb of Leicester. One of them deserves to be remembered as one of the ruling men who shaped the destinies of Leicester during its early days. Simon Curlevache was born about the year 1175, for he must have been a prominent member of the Guild Merchant, and probably over 25 years of age, when he witnessed the very important charter in which Robert, Earl of Leicester, who died in 1204, granted to the Burgesses of the town the right to pasture beasts in the Cowhay meadow beyond the South Gate. About the same time he witnessed also a deed executed by Petronilla, the Earl's mother, who died a few years after her son. In the first decade of the 13th century he was established as a merchant of considerable importance. Walter of the Churchyard, who afterwards became a member of the Guild Council, entered the Guild as "Simon Curlevache's man." It is clear that in the year 1209 Simon was carrying on an extensive trade. In that year King John granted him a license to export five lasts of leather (720 hides) from England to St. Valery, for which license he paid the King 100 shillings, 20s. for each last. The management of the Guild Merchant soon passed into his hands. "In the year next after the death of William Pepin, Abbot of Leicester" (which took place in 1224), Simon Curlevache was acting as Alderman in conjunction with John Warin. Shortly afterwards his name appears on the Guild Roll as the one "Alderman of Leicester." During his sole tenure of this office — which corresponded with the later Mayoralty — the election of the Council of the Guild was for the first time placed on record. The names of 24 burgesses are given in the roll, who were chosen by the Guild to come to all summonses of the Alderman "ad consulendam villam et ad eum sequendum in negotiis villæ pro posse suo si sint in villa sub pena de vid." It may also be said that Simon Curlevache is the first recorded Treasurer of the Borough Funds. It appears from the Guild Roll that in or about the year 1225 he had the receipts of the Guild paid over to him, out of which he disbursed the wages of clerks and Serjeants, and accounted for expenses incurred on the North Bridge, with a small balance over. No one else seems to have been associated with him in the chief office of the Guild until the 27th day of February, 1234, when William de St. Lo was appointed to act as Alderman with him. In a deed executed about 1240 the attestation clause begins thus:— "Hiis testibus Simone Curle͡u et Willelmo de Sein Lo tunc aldermannis Leircestriæ." These men were still the two Aldermen of the Guild in 1241–42. For some unknown reason Curlevache had the misfortune to fall under the displeasure of Simon de Montfort, who, in the year 1239, extorted from him a sum of 500 marks (£333 6s. 8d.) — a very large amount in those times. The affair is known only from a letter in which Robert Grosseteste, the Bishop of Lincoln, took the Earl to task for his harsh and impolitic conduct. The punishment, he told him, was too heavy, and quite out of proportion to the offence. Notwithstanding this remonstrance, Simon de Montfort was obdurate. His namesake was wealthy enough to pay the fine, but we hear nothing of him after 1242; and, as he cannot then have been far short of 70 years old, he may have died soon after receiving this severe imposition.
The name recurs in the 14th century, when another Simon Curlevache entered the Guild in 1318–19; but he does not seem to have flourished, for his goods and chattels were assessed in 1336 at no more than 5s.
Another prominent Norman family, of which we catch glimpses in 13th century Leicester, was named de Sancto Laudo, St. Lo, or Seynlowe. Willaim de St. Lo was a contemporary of old Simon Curlevache, and, as we have seen, acted jointly with him in the chief office of the Guild Merchant until 1242 or later. About the year 1250 William de St. Lo and Peter Roger's son, "Mayors of Leicester," were the first witnesses to a deed still extant. In 1251 Peter Roger's son appears as the only Mayor. But St. Lo had not died, for he was alive in 1253, in which year his name heads the list of Jurats chosen to enquire into the origin of Gavelpence and Bridge-silver.
Another Norman family which is conspicuous in the early annals of Leicester is that of the Costeyns. Henry Costeyn, its most prominent member, was a contemporary of Simon Curlevache, and, like him, a witness to the Earl's grant of the Cowhay pasture and to other important documents, including the Earl's quit claim of his Cowhay rights in 1239. Henry Costeyn may have been rather older than Curlevache, for we find him acquiring property in the suburbs of Leicester before the 12th century had expired. He was a merchant of some note, dealing on a large scale, as we may conclude from the fact that he found it worth while to make the King a present of three palfreys in order to secure the royal protection and aid for the conveyance of his merchandise. A palfrey was then considered equal to 15 marks or £10. About 1225 he was chosen a member of the Guild's Council under Alderman Curlevache. The house in which he lived was situated in the old High Street, at the corner of what is now Peacock Lane, overlooking on its eastern side the wide-spreading grounds of the Grey Friars' Monastery, which was built in his lifetime. Two of his sons are mentioned, Ralf, who entered the Guild in 1239, and Henry, who entered in 1254. It was probably this son Henry who had some cases in the Portmanmote Court about 1260, and who, on one occasion, "claimed the Court of the Lord Abbot and had it."
In the year 1271 the two largest tax-payers in Leicester were Robert de Scharneford and Henry de Rodington. Robert of Sharnford acted for some years as Receiver for the Guild Merchant, and when he died, some time before 1276, the town owed him one mark, which they paid to his executor, Roger the Chaplain. The Robert of Sharnford, who was one of the two first Parliamentary Representatives of the Borough in 1295, and afterwards Receiver of Guild moneys, may have been his son. There were several Sharnfords living at Leicester at the end of the 13th century. Three persons of that name, Robert, John and Gervas, were each fined in 1292 for using false yard-measures. Again in 1299 Robert was charged with contravening the rules of the Guild Merchant. He had traded in partnership with the Sisters of St. Leonard's Hospital, who had lent him their money, although they were excluded from the Guild. To this offence he pleaded guilty. Another Sharnford, William, entered the Guild in 1273, and a record of one of his business transactions is interesting, and throws some light on mediæval shopping and on the importance of mediæval dress. In the year 1300, William Sharnford sold a garment for £5 13s. 4d. The fur lining cost £2 more; and there were also some extra payments, which included a gratuity of 13s. 4d. given to the vendor's brother Philip, the same amount bestowed on his clerk Adam, and one shilling to each of their four grooms. The total expense of the purchase was no less than £9 5s. od., equal to more than £100 of present money.
Henry of Rodington, who is sometimes described as a Vintner, was also, like the Sharnfords, a dealer in clothes. He once sold three "russets" to the community, to be presented by them to the Earl of Leicester, which cost as much as £9 9s. 0d. He was appointed Mayor of the Borough by the Earl, "per dominum Comitem," as it is expressly stated, on January 23rd, 1258, and held the office longer than any other Mayor — for twelve years in succession. He used to advance considerable sums of money to enable the community to pay their way. Six years after he had ceased to be Mayor the town repaid him the large amount of £18, partly for old debts and partly for new. He then lent them further sums, and as these were not soon paid back, he invoked the assistance of the Earl. On October 19th, 1278, the community of the town were summoned by the Earl and his Steward to meet together in their new Guild Hall near St. Nicholas' Church, to consider Henry of Rodington's demands. He declared that he had lent the town numerous sums of money, the particulars of which were then read out, but the scribe adds that there was no proof of any one of them. The claim was finally settled at £15 of silver, "whereof the community made a tally for him, and if it happen that the said Henry brings forward any tally or writing or seeks by word of mouth henceforth to claim or prove any other debt touching the community, they shall in no wise be credited but shall be held for naught." Shortly afterwards Henry of Rodington came into the Guild Hall and brought his tally, bearing at the bottom £15, "and then and there he received from the community the said £15, and he broke the tally, per quod communitas quieta est versus dictum Henricum." When this pertinaceous old money-lover became Reeve of Leicester, after his Mayoralty, he went so far as to take gifts from many to conceal their felonies, as appears in verdicts. But he could always put his enemies to silence. When Roger Aldith — a notoriously quarrelsome fellow — attacked him in the early days of his Mayoralty he was at once forced to make satisfaction; and later, when one William Irving "scolded the Mayor in full Morning-speech, with base and gross words to the shame and despite of the Mayor and the Guild," he was condemned to pay one cask of ale.
The English families who lived in Leicester during the first two centuries after the Conquest, few of whom rose to any distinction, bore such names as Vinegar, Wade, Lewin, Ordriz, Aldwin, Baldwin, Abovetown, Saturday, Smallbone, and Six-and-twenty or Twentysixpence — a name given perhaps by the tax-collector. In the 14th century, however, burgesses of Anglo-Saxon descent began to make themselves more conspicuous.
A family bearing the old English name of Leofric appears frequently in the annals of Leicester during the 13th and 14th centuries. It has the distinction of heading the long roll of Leicester Aldermen, for in the year 1209 William, the son of Leveric, was called Alderman of the Guild. More than a hundred years later, the family was still flourishing, and produced at least three members who rose to some prominence about the middle of the 14th century, John, William and Richard. John Leverich, who entered the Guild Merchant in 1314, had a house in the old High Street, and led an active life in the service of the town. Amongst other municipal functions he filled the Mayor's seat in 1335-6, and for several years was chosen to represent the Borough in Parliament, travelling both to counts: "In wine given to him" (i.e., John Leverich) "coming from Parliament telling the gossip (narrand' rumores) to the Mayor and others, 4d." William Leverich, who in the year 1354 was living in the Swinesmarket, represented the Borough in Parliament in 1339. Richard Leverich, whose goods were valued in 1336 at the sum of sixty shillings, no inconsiderable amount, was twice Mayor, and for some years Coroner, and he was also a Parliamentary Burgess. His second Mayoralty was distinguished by the visit to Leicester of the King and Queen of England, who came to attend the funeral of Earl Henry of Lancaster.
Another family of some note was named Alsi. One of the witnesses of Earl Robert Bossu's Charter in 1159 was Amfredus, the son of Alsi, and from that time onwards we hear of many persons who bore the name. Between 1260 and 1338 two John Alsis, presumably father and son, held most of the public offices of the town, and one or other of them was Mayor on ten occasions. They seem to have been wealthy, for in 1336 the son's goods were valued at the large sum of one hundred and twenty shillings. The richest householder at that time was Will o' the Waynhouse, whose personal goods were assessed at one hundred and thirty shillings. The Waynhouses were very prosperous burgesses in the 14th century, and, in spite of their name, and although one of them is described as a wheelwright, it is probable that, like most other wealthy burgesses of the period, they made their money out of wool, which was for so many generations "the flower and strength and revenue and blood" of the midland counties. Indeed, William o' the Waynhouse was charged in 1335 with forestalling seven woolfellers, and was ordered to be distrained by the Grand Distress. Richard of the Waynhouse was living in the East Suburb late in the 13th century, and had a son, William, born about 1272, who was Mayor in 1318-19. He had land in the North Suburb, and was, as we have seen, one of the richest burgesses of his day, but a son of his, named John, who took his seat in the Guild Hall in 1330, and was Mayor in 1346-7, was nearly as wealthy. Roger, perhaps another son, entered the Guild in 1335, and was living in the Swinesmarket Quarter of the town in 1354. After that date the family disappears from the Record.
The Beebys were a family of mercers and drapers, who lived at Leicester in affluent circumstances for some generations. Robert of Beeby entered the Guild in 1199, and in the next century Peter, Walter and William were all, at different times, charged with selling cloth by measure "against the liberties of the Guild." William, who subsequently became a well-to-do mercer, was also fined, on another occasion, for using false yard-measures. Afterwards, however, he paid his entrance-money, and was admitted as a merchant of the Guild; and from that time, 1323, the fortunes of the family began to rise. Richard was member for the Borough in 1341 and 1348, and Roger, also a draper, was member in 1372. Henry was Mayor three times, and represented the town in three Parliaments. But the most considerable of the Beeby family seems to have been Thomas, a mercer, who was born about 1314, and died about 1383. He was chosen Mayor in 1362, and again in 1368, and was member for the Borough four times. He lived in the Southgate, and in 1354 was taxed more heavily than any man in Leicester, except William of Dunstable. While he was Mayor in 1363, one Lambert, a "fleshewer," or flesher, was charged with selling the meat of bulls which had not been baited, "taurorum infugatorum." The regulation, made more than a century later, which forbade butchers to kill bulls that had not been baited, may therefore not have been a new one. It is possible, however, that the 15th century edict had no reference to the popular "sport" of bull-baiting, as Kelly supposed, but merely provided for the baiting or stall-feeding of cattle before slaughter, as a similar order made at Cambridge certainly did. The offence of the butcher Lambert was aggravated by his having used base language in the Saturday Market, contradicting and contemning the Mayor, and he was fined £10, but pardoned on the condition that if he offended again he should pay 100s, of silver or gold without any ransom. When Thomas Beeby died, between 1382 (the date of his will), and 1384 (the date of its proof), he left money to the Guilds of St. Margaret and St. Michael in Leicester, and he directed that when he was buried in St. Martin's Church, Leicester, no less than 300 pounds of wax should be burnt around his body, and afterwards distributed to the parish priests to use at masses. But for all his supersitious piety he seems to have been touched by some breath of the new religious spirit then beginning to ruffle the mediaeval faith, for he also gave a legacy to the notorious Lollard, William de Swinderby, "Chaplain of St. John's Chapel, Leicester." He left 40s. each to the North and West Bridges, and 20s. for repair of a road called "le Wodegate."
One of the most prominent burgesses of Leicester in the first half of the 14th century was William de Clowne, who entered the Guild Merchant in the year 13 18, "at the special order of the lord Earl, wherefore the fine is pardoned him as the order willed that nothing be taken of him." He was an important person even at that time, it is evident, and in the spring of the following year the Mayor sent him on behalf of the town a present of bread and beer. When John Brid built the West Bridge in 1325, he hired William de Clowne's cart. In 1326 William de Clowne subscribed 2s. to the lord Earl's present. He became Bailiff of Leicester in 1330, and held that office until 1343. In 1332 he represented the Borough in Parliament. During the Mayoralty of John le Marewe (1333-34) William de Clowne's name heads the list of "honest men" who dined with the Mayor at Michaelmas and on other occasions; and also of a deputation which was sent to Heigham by the lord's order "for the business of the community." When Queen Phillippa stayed at Leicester Abbey in July, 1336, wine was presented to her in the presence of William de Clowne and others coming with the Mayor. In a Tallage Roll of this year he appears as one of the wealthiest men in Leicester, his goods and chattels being valued at £6 sterling, and those of only one burgess were worth more. He sold that year to the Mayor a barrel of wine for presentation to the Earl of Lancaster. In the next year he presided at two municipal dinners, and his own Mayoralty, in 1338-39, was distinguished by a large and popular hospitality, in the course of which the community were regaled in the Saturday Market by minstrels playing on pipes and by 26 gallons of ale. On May 23rd, 1343, he executed a deed as Bailiff of Leicester, and after that date he disappears from the Municipal Record.
On the death of Richard de Tours in 1345, William de Clowne was elected Abbot of Leicester, and presided over the Abbey with marked ability until his death, which occurred on January 22nd, 1377. Was he the same William de Clowne as our Leicester burgess? Was the merchant ordained in middle life, like the Bristol merchant, William Canynges, after laying down his municipal offices, and elected Abbot within three years? If so, he must have been ordained some time after May, 1343, and before 1345. The Episcopal Register of the Diocese of Lincoln seems to show that there were no ordinations by the Bishop of Lincoln at that time, although there were a great many Letters Dismissory to enable men to be ordained by other bishops. Clowne's name does not appear, however, to be amongst them.[1] Moreover, Henry of Knighton does not mention that the Abbot had been a layman, and his silence seems conclusive, since he was not at all the kind of person to hold his tongue, had there been anything unusual about his Abbot's election. He may perhaps have been a son or nephew of the burgess. There were in fact two other persons of the name of Clowne living at Leicester in the early part of the 14th century. At any rate the Abbot was distinguished, like the burgess, not only for great business ability, but also for a generous hospitality and good nature. Henry of Knighton calls him "humanissimus," and the list of his benefactions to the Abbey is a long one. He obtained from the King a dispensation freeing the Abbey from the unprofitable duty of sending representatives up to Parliament; and he also procured exemption from payment of a heriot on an Abbot's death. He added considerably to the rent-roll of the rich monastery, and never seems to have gone to law without winning his case. He rebuilt the Abbey Gates and the Abbot's Hall, and spent a large sum on the Church. The monks were grateful to him for changing their black shoes for strong and useful boots, and he also obtained for them from the Pope a grant of liberty to eat white meat during the season of Advent. Clowne was a friend of the second Earl Henry, Duke of Lancaster, who made him an executor of his will. When the Duke died, in 1361, he was still a comparatively young man, and it is likely that he had derived great help from the experienced Abbot in framing the regulations for his College in the Newarke, the first witness to the Statutes drawn up for that purpose being William de Clowne. The Earl gave him a license to impark the woods of his Abbey, and made him a present of some deer from Leicester Forest; and when Clowne entertained Edward III at the Abbey in 1363 the King gave him a license for holding a Dog-show, or Market for Greyhounds, within the Abbey walls. "He obtained a market for greyhounds and all kinds of dogs for hunting," wrote Henry of Knighton, "in which sports he frequently accompanied the King, princes and great lords: but he would privately tell his friends that he took no other delight in these sports but to gain opportunity to insinuate with those great men for some advantage to his house." The market was never established.
A month or two after his death Sir Ralph Basset of Sapcote, who had made him an executor of his will, executed a deed founding a charity in Sapcote Church, for two chaplains to pray for the souls of himself and others, including " William Clowne, Abbot of Leicester."
Other important burgess families of the 13th and 14th centuries were the Kents, one of whom was Mayor twice and another six times, the Bushbys, the Marewes, the Martins, the Dunstables, the Warrens, the Staffords, the Knightcotes, and the Humberstones, of whom William Humberstone, who was Mayor in 1390, was one of the founders and benefactors of the Guild of Corpus Christi.
Several Goldsmiths are mentioned in the Borough Records between 1200 and 1400, one of whom was Mayor in 1351-2 and 1352-3, and another became a notorious Lollard, and, being excommunicated by Archbishop Courtney, was buried in unconsecrated ground in a spot still known as "Goldsmith's Grave."[2]
In the 15th and 16th centuries other names appear. The most considerable burgess families of that period, were, of course, the Herricks and the Wigstons, whose histories are too well known for repetition, and may be read in the pages of local historians.
Other important families were the Curteyses, the Newtons, Norrises, Staffords, Newcombes, Stanfords, Ellises, Mortons, Gillots, Chettles, Tatams, Reynolds and Clarkes.
Two members of the Curteys family, both named Piers, or Peter Curteys, held the office of Bailiff one after the other for about thirty-seven years.[3] The younger Piers was Alderman of the Twelfth or Southgate Ward, Justice of the Peace, and Mayor in 1482-83. He was attached to the household of King Edward the Fourth, who "in consideration of his good services to the King "gave him a dwelling-house near the South Gate of Leicester, which had been forfeited by Everard Digby, attainted of high treason in 1461. Afterwards Peter Curteys held the office of Keeper of the Wardrobe to King Richard the Third.
After the death of Richard III Piers Curteys became Keeper of the Wardrobe to Henry VII and also Usher to the icing's Chamber and Keeper of the King's Palace at Westminster. When the power of electing parliamentary burgesses was divided in the year 1478 between the commonalty of the town and the Mayor and his Brethren the commons chose as their representative Peter Curteys, and in the years 1483, 1489, 1491 and 1495 they repeated their choice. Peter Curtis who entered the Guild in 1481, and is described as a "gentleman," may have been his son, but nothing more is known of him. The Will of Piers Curteys, Esquire, of Black Friars, London, Middlesex, Kingston, Surrey, and Leicester, was proved in the prerogative court of Canterbury in 1505 by Sir Everard Fielding, Knight, and is now at Somerset House. The testator declared that, if he died at Leicester, or about Leicester, his body should be buried in the Collegiate Church of Our Blessed Lady, St. Mary the Virgin, of Newark in the County of Leicester, and, after providing for a priest to sing for a year for his soul and for the souls of his "fader and moder brethern and sustren frends and benefactors and for all Christian soules," and giving legacies of 20s. to each of his four men-servants, and 13s. 4d. to each of two female servants, he bequeathed the residue of his estate "to be distributed and disposed by myn executors underwritten in deeds and werks of mercy and charitie as they by their good discrecions shall think to be most to the pleasure of god and for the welth of my soule." He devised his land in Middlesex in trust for sale, the net purchase money to provide an honest priest to pray for his soul and for the souls aforesaid as long as it will endure, "that is to say in the Church where my body shall be buried."
Of the Newton family, Thomas was a Merchant of the Staple of Calais, who entered the Guild of Leicester in 1500, became an Alderman and held several public offices. The better known Alderman, Gabriel Newton, of the 18th century, may have been his descendant. The Will of Thomas Newton, dated October 8th, 1521, and proved in the prerogative court of Canterbury on November 11th, 1521, contains some unusual provisions.
"First I bequeath my soul to Almighty God and to his blessed mother and all the holy company of heaven and my body to be buried in the churchyard of St, Martin's in Leicester by my children and for my mortuary my best gown after the custom and manner Also I bequeath to the high altar of the said church for oblations forgotten 4d. Also to the mother church of Lincoln 4d. Also I will that my body be brought to the ground with all the priests and clerks of St. Martin's Church and all the three orders of friars within Leicester and the same friars after that they have brought my body to the church then they to go home and to sing dirige and mass for my soul unto the which three houses I bequeath 30s. Also the same day or shortly after I will there be done three trentals two of them in St. Martin's Church in Leicester and the third in the Friars in the Ashes Also I will that a stone be provided for to lie upon my body and also my wife's if it be her mind when God shall call her And in the same stone to be graven mine image and my wife's and all our children departed to God that is the number of eight Also I will my daughter Alice Newton being yet alive have £20 of my goods for her child's part And if God call her from this world then I will my wife have it to dispose as she shall seem best Unto my brother Hugh Newton one of my riding-coats and my best chamlet doublet with a pair of my best hose and a shirt Also I will that my brother Nicholas Newton have another of my riding-coats with a doublet of worsted a pair of hose cloth of white kersey a shirt a bonnet Also I bequeath to Robert Elen a doublet of St. Thomas worsted (wulsted) Also I will that my Executor make me a brother of the chapterhouse of the Friars in the Ashes of the order of St. Dominic and my wife also sister unto whom I bequeath for the same 6s. 8d. Also I will and desire master Sir William Fisher that he make me brother and my wife sister of the Observants unto whom I bequeath 6s. 8d. Also I will and bequeath to master Sir William Fisher to pray for my soul and to be good to my wife 6s. 8d. Also I bequeath unto master Robert Harwar my grey ambling Gelding price 40s. and in money £3 whom I make Overseer of this my last Will and Testament whom I singularly trust will be good to my wife in her need for the calling in of my debts and for performing of this my last Will and Testament Remnant of my goods not bequeathed I freely give unto my wife Katherine Newton my wife whom I make sole Executrix." Sir William Fisher was, of course, the first Confrater of Wigston's Hospital.
William Newby was Mayor thrice, and four times Member for Leicester. In the year 1448 or 1449 he acted as the Chairman of a Commission appointed to enquire into certain cases which had arisen of persons in the service of Viscount Beaumont, of Sir Edward Grey, Lord Ferrers of Groby and others, who had contravened the Statutes of Livery and Maintenance. The household and the partisans of Lord Ferrers, exasperated at being deprived of their old customs, turned in their fury upon the unfortunate Commissioners, and grievously beat and wounded William Newby, threatening at the same time to beat all the others. At that period Queen Margaret of Anjou held the Honour of Leicester, which she had received as her dowry. When she heard of these doings, she wrote a letter wherein "considering the great hurt and harm of William Newby, our tenant," she did ordain, deem, and award that Lord Ferrers for him and for them that beat the said William Newby should "pay to the said William Newby 100 marks, and should be good lord to the said William Newby and to all other tenants." This penalty was a fairly substantial solatium for the wounded Mayor, being probably equivalent to about a thousand pounds of present money.
Norris, Noreys, Norice, Norreis, "the Northerner," is a fairly common name in the Leicester annals of the 12th and 13th centuries, and in the 15th and 16th there were several burgesses of some note who bore it. There was a John Norris who was Bailiff in 1439-41, and another was Mayor in 1503-4, and in 1505 Alderman of the Third Ward, which comprised the North Suburb. It would seem to be the Will of this John Norris dated August 29th, 1505, and proved April 22nd, 1510, which is now at Somerset House. He had two sons, William and John, and was a Tanner. He is described in his Will as "Johannes Nores Barker de Parochiæ Omnium Sanctorum villæ Leicester." He gave his body to be buried "in capella beatæ mariæ infra ecclesiam parochiæ Omnium Sanctorum villae predict." After directions for his funeral, and legacies to All Saints, he gave 5 marks to be distributed among the poor on the day of his funeral. He left 3s. 4d. to the poor men's house within the college of the Newarke of Leicester, 2s. to the widows of St. John's and 2s. to the prisoners in Leicester town. He gave pecuniary legacies and real estate to his sons and daughters, and a close in All Saints' parish to provide an obit for his soul in All Saints' Church. To John Whitton he gave "unam togam penulatam cum foxe quam nuper emi de Wilhelmo Plummer," and he appointed his wife Margaret and William Whatton, Vicar of All Saints', Executors, and Dr. William Mason and Richard Reynold Overseers, Mason to have 20s. and Reynold "unum equum quem ultime emi." Another John Norris, a Butcher, entered the Guild in 1508. Alderman William Norris, who was Steward or Master of the Occupation of Tanners, was Mayor in 1567-68, and again in 1579-80. His history was recorded in a quaint epitaph inscribed on a wooden tablet in All Saints' Church, and his place of burial in the Churchyard is marked by a piece of rough forest granite, now just below the surface of the ground, without inscription, about 14 feet from the Chancel's outer wall. He had three wives, and died in 1615-16, in his 97th year. By his will he gave "thrice fifteen groats yearly to All Saints' poor," and 5 marks yearly to the second master of the Free School. It was probably another Alderman William Norris who paid a chief rent of nine pence a year "out of a house of his called the Fox in the North Gate," and who was in 1598 chosen Master or Steward of the Brewers' Company, but refused to serve. George Norris, another Tanner, was Mayor in the great year 1588-89, when Leicester received her Charter of Incorporation, and the Spanish Armada was defeated. The Banquet given by George Norris in the Guild Hall to celebrate that event set the precedent for many sumptuous entertainments on subsequent anniversaries. The Will of "George Norrice, tanner, St. Margaret's, Leicester," was proved in the prerogative court of Canterbury in 1598. John Norris, gentleman, who was buried at All Saints' on July 30th, 1700, was the last male representative of this old Leicester family.
The name of Stafford, known in Leicester from an early date, rose to some prominence in the 14th century. John of Stafford, described as a "belleyetere," or bell-founder, entered the Guild in 1338, and occupied the Mayor's chair no less than four times. He was also chosen four or five times to represent the town in Parliament. He lived in the North quarter of the town and was a member of the Guild of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary in the Church of All Saints. It may be inferred that the Leicester bell-foundry, then, as afterwards, stood within that parish. There was a Bellfoundry at Leicester as early as 1307, when Roger le Belleyetere was a taxpayer. In 1348, Stephen, a Bellfounder, was a parishioner of All Saints. John Stafford cast the tenor bell of All Saints' Church, and, besides making the bells of Aylestone and Glen and other Leicestershire villages, worked for York Minster and for Brigg in Lincolnshire.
The Newcombes, too, were a great family of Bellfounders. Their business in All Saints' may have been the old 14th century foundry, but it cannot be traced back further than the year 1500, when William Mellers, "Bellheyterar," was admitted to the Guild Merchant. When he died, a few years later, Thomas Newcombe married his widow Margery, and carried on the business. Thomas Newcombe died in 1520, and was buried in All Saints' Church, where his tombstone may still be seen stript of its brasses and of the three bells which signified his calling. After his death his widow married again, and took the business to a third husband, Thomas Bett, who was Mayor of Leicester in the year 1529-30, and of whom it is pleasantly recorded that, on March 17th, 1530, when he came down to sit on the bench, he was handed a posy consisting of budding hawthorn, beanflowers and a columbine flower, in token of the unusual precocity of the season. Two years later there was brought to Mr. Nicholas Reynold, then Mayor, on St. Leonard's Day (November 6th), "a chester of appletree blooms." The tomb of Thomas Bett lies in All Saints' Church. He left nearly all his property to Robert Newcombe, the eldest son of Thomas Newcombe, who had married his daughter Katharine. Robert Newcombe, in 1540, bought the house in the old High Street opposite to All Saints' Church, where the family resided and carried on the business. He was a Churchwarden of All Saints' Church, and was elected Mayor of Leicester in 1550. The accounts of the estate of this well-to-do mediaeval burgess admit us into his household on a footing of unusual intimacy. They were rendered to the governing body of the town, to whom all the expenditure on orphans had to be submitted. Richard Pratt, one of the Executors, returned the value of his testator's assets at £261 16s. 8d. The funeral expenses were £6 13s. 4d.; and the Legacies comprised £31 13s. 4d. to Wife; ;£20 each to Sons, Edward and William, and £20 6s. 8d. to his daughter Anne in money, and in plate £31 6s. 8d.; to his Curate, 3s. 4d.; To five men servants, ten shillings each; to two maids, ten shillings; to the poor, twenty shillings: to the overseers of his Will, twenty shillings; for the mortuary, ten shillings. The expenses of Probate were 33s. 4d.; the keep of four children of testator and two maids to attend them for sixteen weeks was £10 13s. 4d. The wages of two servants, £4 2s. 4d. After allowing the difference between the estimate made in the inventory and the actual prices received, there was a loss "in the price of a certain metal "of £12 13s. 4d.; in the price of the wood, £3 6s. 8d.; and the price of the bark, £1 6s. 8d., and in the price of two kine, thirty-two shillings. The total of all these expenses was stated to be £150 14s. 4d.
The debts paid since the testator's death were £10 7s. 7d. The expenses of the children since the death were £34 14s. 212d., and comprised such items as "three yards of frieze to make Edward a coat, 3 shillings," "Elizabeth Newcombe's board at Mr. Herrick's for twelve weeks 13s. 4d.," "For the charges of Robert Newcombe by the space of three years and a half" at £6 a year, £21," "For the charges of Margaret Newcombe for one year and a quarter at £6 the year, £7 10s." Sundry charges for collecting debts and travelling came to £13 13s. 4d., and the grand total of payments was £209 9s. 612d., leaving a balance in the Executor's hands of £52 7s. 112d. "And yet this Accountant standeth answerable to Robert, Elizabeth, Marjorie, and Marget, four of the children of the said testator, to every of them £20, and to Anne Duckett £6 13s. 4d., and six silver spoons by estimation thirty shillings, £88 3s. 4d.; so that the same Accountant is now in surplusage £35 16s. 212d., towards the levying whereof there are remaining towards this Accountant debts desperate due to his said testator (total £39 12s. 8d.)."
Three of Robert Newcombe's sons, Thomas, Robert and Edward, were members of the business and noted bell-founders. An account of the various bells cast by them will be found in North's "Church Bells of Leicestershire." Thomas died in 1580. Edward was living in 1611. Three of his sons, another Robert, another Thomas and another William, continued the business. Thomas was described as "tanner and bell-founder." The last dated bells of the Newcombes are of the year 1612; after that time the foundry seems to have been taken over by Hugh Watts, a relative by marriage, and a bell-founder whose reputation had been for many years established.
The name of Stanford, or Stamford, occurs frequently in the earlier annals of Leicester. It was Alexander of Stamford who put himself at the head of the fullers, when they challenged the authority of the Merchants' Guild in 1275, and he was aided and abetted by Ivo de Stamford. In the 16th century a most prolific family of this name were flourishing in the parish of St. Nicholas, some of whose members held public positions. Thomas Stanford, Butcher, who was a Churchwarden of St. Nicholas, and Alderman of the Fifth, or St. Nicholas Ward, was chosen Mayor of the Borough in the year 1559, and again in 1573. During his first Mayoralty he was sent to London, "to try the liberties of the town." In March, 1574, he received twenty nobles (£6 13s. 4d.), on condition that he should assure to the town land worth l0s. a year, or an annuity of 10s. secured on "the nowe mansion dwelling house of the said Thomas Stanford in Leicester." He may be identified with the "old Mr. Stanford," who left a legacy of £10 for the upkeep of the Free Grammar School, which was built during his second Mayoralty. The legacy was not paid, and a suit was commenced in the Spiritual Court, before Dr. Chippingdale, prebendary of Lincoln, against the testator's son, Richard the Elder, who was also a Butcher and an Alderman of the town. The case was settled by Richard Stanford and Thomas his son delivering to the Mayor and Burgesses a bond of £20 for the payment of £10 in ten years by instalments of £1 at the dwellinghouse of the Mayor.
John Stanford, Butcher and Grazier, who was Mayor of Leicester in 1576 and 1592, was a son of old Thomas Stanford. He was a godson of John Herrick the Elder of Leicester, Ironmonger, who died in 1589, and he married, as his second wife, Herrick's daughter, Elizabeth, the sister of Alderman Robert Herrick. In the year 1572 he was chosen to represent Leicester in Parliament, when his expenses, at 2s. a day, amounted to £7 14s. 0d. He was Alderman of the Ward which comprised the old High Street from the Cross to the South Gate, and he was instrumental in paving the street and also in rebuilding the Cross. A few years earlier he had complained of the "muckell" which stood near his house, and a resolution was passed at a Common Hall, prohibiting any more garbage or muck being added to it. In 1579 he sold to the town for £4 and his charges the bailiwick of Leicester, which he had purchased from John Danet. In the same year he made a donation of 40s. towards the cost of a scarlet gown for the Recorder, the rest of the Company giving 5s. apiece. In the next year, when he was again Member for the Borough, his charges for nine weeks Parliamentary attendances came to £6 6s. Some dissatisfaction was expressed in the Council Chamber that these charges were allowed, for Stanford was reported to have said when elected that "he would not crave his charge except he did good to the town." The general opinion was that "if Mr. Stanford do at any time hereafter, by reason of his Burgess-ship, any good to the town, then his charges to be allowed; otherwise he to repay again that which he hath received for the two Parliaments past." The wages paid to Borough Members had long been a burden upon the town's finances, which was bitterly resented at Leicester as at other places. In this case there was, no doubt, an additional grievance, because the recipient was, to all appearances, the richest man in Leicester. At any rate, his personal effects were valued in 1590 at a higher sum than those of any other townsman. Among the Leicestershire subscribers of £25 towards the defence of this country at the time of the Spanish Armada in 1588 was "John Stanford, Grazier." When he was again appointed Burgess for the town in 1592 he agreed to bear his own charges, though his colleague, James Clarke, was "to have his charge." In 1597 his son John was appointed a Burgess only on condition of bearing his own expenses.
In 1594 the grazier seems to have been living at a house in Belgrave Gate, which he rented from the town. At that time the South end of Leicester was infected with plague, and for that reason the Mayor could not take the Judges to sit at the Castle as usual, but was obliged, as he said, " to lodge them at Mr. Stanford's house, and to have them sit at the Town Hall." In the last years of his life Stanford retired to Barkby, and died at Elmesthorpe[4] on March 17th, 1603. He was buried at Barkby. His son, John Stanford, was a prominent lawyer, who during the latter years of the 16th century was busied with various pieces of litigation in which the town of Leicester was concerned, chiefly in connection with the purchase of the Newarke Grange. A letter of his, dated January 26th, 1592, which is quoted by Thompson in his History of Leicester, shows the independence of his spirit. He had chambers at Gray's Inn, and a house, it would seem, at Barkby Thorpe. He was appointed Recorder of the Borough of Leicester in 1603, at a yearly salary of £6 13s. 4d., but died in the December of the same year, only a few months after his father. He left one son Thomas, who was Patron of the Vicarage of Barkby when Burton wrote his History, about 1622. It is not clear who was the John Stanford authorized in 1613 to issue King James I's farthing tokens. It cannot have been either the Grazier or the Recorder, as North thought, for both of them had been dead for ten years.
The name of Ellis occurs in the Records of the Borough from the 13th century onwards, but the Ellises who became prominent in Elizabethan times came out of Yorkshire. James Ellis was appointed one of the Mayor's brethren in 1575, and filled many public offices, being Mayor of Leicester in 1586-87, and in 1602-3. He had a draper's shop, which he closed on the Sabbath Day. It is possible that he may also have been a brewer, for "Mr. Ellis" was returned in 1585 among the Leicester brewers able to deliver 240 barrels of ale a week or more. During his second Mayoralty the death of good Queen Bess was proclaimed at the High Cross and at the Gainsborough. On the 23rd day of June, 1603, James Ellis rode out beyond the West Bridge with six Aldermen to welcome the new Queen and her son, who were passing through the town. He presented to her and to the young princes standing cups with covers of silver double gilt, which had been subscribed for by the town. The Princess Elizabeth, who arrived the night before, did not receive a cup, but she was also welcomed by the Mayor and regaled with claret and rhenish and sugar. In his Will, which bears date the 4th day of September, 1615, James Ellis the Elder of the Borough of Leicester, Woollen Draper, gave "towards the repairing of the Church of St. Martin in Leicester four marks; to the poor people of the new hospital called Wigston's hospital 40s.; to the poor people of the parish of All Saints 20s. in bread; and to the rest of the poor people in Leicester 40s. in bread." He stated that he was born "in the parish of Horton in Ryplesdale in the county of York," and gave legacies to the Church and poor people of that parish. After various family devises and bequests, the Testator declared, "Item I give and bequeath my house with the appurtenances in the Southgate within the borough of Leicester now in the occupation of Francis Braunston, tailor, unto the poor people of the old hospital in or near Leicester aforesaid to them and their successors for ever So that I will that they shall not put out my said tenant Francis Braunston nor reare his rent he paying the rent he now payeth and keeping the said house in good and sufficient repair." He also gave "to the second schoolmaster of the Free School in Leicester for the time being and to his successors for ever one annuity of 26s. 8d. a year to be paid quarterly forth of my house in the parish of All Saints in Leicester now in the occupation of William Noone, Costerdmonger, and for default of payment I will that (he and they) shall enter upon and have and hold the said house to him and his successors for ever — my said tenant William Noone shall not be put forth of the said house paying the rent he now payeth and keeping the same in good and sufficient repair." The testator appointed as Executor his kinsman, James Ellis, the Younger, of the Borough of Leicester, Woollen Draper, and as Overseers Thomas Walker of Leicester, barber cherurgeon and Allen Backhouse of Leicester yeoman. The Will was read over to James Ellis, and acknowledged by him to be his last will and testament on October 22nd, 1617, and it was proved by the Executor on May 6th, 1618. The particulars of the gifts to Trinity Hospital and to the Free School differ materially in the Will which is at Somerset House from those given by Nichols, and they have therefore been set out in full. The date of the Will (November 7th, 1617) given by Nichols is incorrect, but it may be the date of the testator's death.
The younger James Ellis, who was Mayor in 1623, was also a liberal benefactor. By his Will, bearing date the 16th January, 1628, he gave towards the maintenance of the poor of Trinity Hospital a dismantled house in St. Mary's parish with a yard and dovecot, a house in All Saints' parish and a piece of ground on the Town Wall. He also gave £3 to the Free Grammar School, and an annuity of 16s. 8d. to the poor of the parish of St. Mary de Castro.
The family of Morton was long established in Leicester. William de Mortona entered the Guild Merchant early in the 13th century. William Morton in 1389 was one of the Wardens of the Guild of All Saints' Church. In the last half of the 16th century Alderman William Morton, linen-draper, was a person of some importance. He lived in the Stocks House at the High Cross, attached to which, on the northern side of Dead Lane, was a garden and orchard, part of which he sold off to accommodate the new Grammar School that was built in 1574. He was an adherent of the Earl of Huntingdon, but no friend of Sir Edward Hastings. Most of the public offices of the town were filled by him, and he was Mayor three times, 1582, 1596 and 1612. His son became Archdeacon of Durham.
The Gillots seem to have come from Arnesby to settle in Leicester about the middle of the 14th century. Richard Gillot, who was a grocer, became Alderman of the Seventh Ward, which comprised most of the present High Street, and was Mayor in 1467. He caused a number of regulations to be passed at a Common Hall, which, in the words of James Thompson, "placed almost despotic power in the hands of the Mayor, who resembled the king of a small state more than the chief functionary of a free community." It was probably his son, another Richard, who was Mayor in 1497 and 1512, and whose sister Isabella married William Wigston, the founder of Wigston's Hospital. The Will of Richard Gillot, senior, was proved at Leicester in 1519. Four other Gillots, following in the footsteps of the two Richards, became Mayors and Aldermen of Leicester in the course of the next hundred years.
Towards the end of the 16th century the Chettles made their appearance on the municipal stage. Ralph Chettle was a leading Baker of the town, and one of the plaintiffs in the action which they brought against William Becket. In 1591 he became Mayor, and died before the end of 1600, for it was recorded in the annals of that year that "Mr. Ralph Chettle, baker, one of the Aldermen of the town of Leicester, deceased, by his last Will and Testament did give and bequeath unto the Mayor and Burgesses of the town of Leicester the sum of £5, to be yearly bestowed in coals for the use of the poor in Leicester for ever." His son Ralph Chettle was a woollen-draper, who bought a house in the Swinesmarket in the year 1594; and in the year 1605 he and his wife Elizabeth sold to Alderman Robert Herrick for £35 a house described as being "in the end of the street in the Saturday Market stead," presumably in Cheapside, near Herrick's own house.
The Chettle who in 1585 was certified as able to serve 240 barrels of beer a week may have been Thomas Chettle, who in 1598 was appointed to be one of the Wardens of the Occupation of Brewers, but Ralph Chettle the Baker was also a Brewer. There were many more Chettles — all Ralphs and Thomases.
During the 16th century three Tatams rose to some prominence in Leicester. Arthur Tatam became a prosperous tradesman and filled many important offices after he had sown his wild oats, for in his earlier days he was twice in one year dismissed from the Town Council "for certain disorders and for libelling" and "for his disorders committed against Mr. Hallam and Mr. Ellis." John Tatam, who was a wealthy Innkeeper as well as a Tanner and Alderman of the Northgate Ward, filled most of the municipal offices and was Mayor three times, in 1566-7, 1577-8 and 1590-1. He died in 1597, and his Will was proved at Leicester in the same year.
George Tatam, who, like all the other Tatams, was a Tanner, and Warden of the Occupation of Tanners, succeeded his brother John as Alderman of the Northgate, but died two years afterwards in 1599, and was buried at All Saints'. He was the most energetic member of the family, and was constantly engaged in various transactions on behalf of the town, especially in connection with landed property. He assisted in the purchase of the Newarke Grange, and in the suit with Dr. Chippingdale about the North Mills. He lived in the North Gate, where his goods were valued at £7 7s. 0d., but was Alderman of another Ward. He was Mayor in 1580 and again in 1594.
There were Reynolds in Leicester in the 14th century, but the name became better known a hundred years later. There seem to have been at least three generations of John Reynolds. John the Elder was Mayor in 1434, 1439, 1450 and 1458, and he liked the position so well that in 1461 he executed a deed, declaring that "of benevolent and faithful heart for the goodly zeal and effectual pleasure that he had unto the honourable and worshipful office of Mayoralty of the town of Leicester, the which was by him IIII sundry years maintained and occupied," he granted unto the said Mayoralty a house in the High Street of Leicester by the High Cross there on condition that the Mayor for the time being should find a priest perpetually to sing for the souls of the said John Reynolds, his wife, his father and mother, his brother and all his benefactors. He was a brother of the Guild of Corpus Christi, from whom he rented a house in the parish of St. Peter, and when his wife died, a few years before the above-mentioned deed of grant, she was buried with the rites of the Guild. It was probably his son, another John Reynolds, who in 1460 was acting as Deputy for Richard Hotoft, the Town Bailiff, had a cottage in Dead Lane, in the parish of St. Peter, and became Alderman of the Seventh Ward, which comprised the western portion of the modern High Street, and Mayor in 1463, when he was described as a "yeoman." His son, another John, entered the Guild Merchant in 1469, and when his own father died, sometime before 1478, he in his turn became John Reynolds the Elder. He was a Justice of the Peace for several years and Mayor in 1477.
There were many Clarkes among the town officials of the 15th century, but three, who became well-known in the 16th, deserve special mention. They are Alderman James Clarke, Thomas Clarke of the Blue Boar, and Thomas Clarke, the Shoemaker.
James Clarke was an active member of the Council, who became Mayor in 1569, and again in 1585, and was Member for the Borough in 1592. He died on October 16th, 1599. During the year of his second Mayoralty he had occasion to visit London on the Town's business, and some items in the expenses of his journey are worth quoting:—
"Fyrst: paid for the solinge of my bootes xii d.
Item for a male pillyon and ii girthes of leyther for the same xii d.
Item paid for a boxe to carrye wrytings in viii d.
19 Nov. at Northampton, my charges there iis. xi d.
Sayterdaye night att Marckgate, my charges there ii s. iii d.
Sondaye the xxi Nov., London.
Item my supper viii d.
Fyer i d." Total (including numerous charges for shoe-leather) £4 5s. 0d.
It was this James Clarke who sold to the Town Council, in 1572, at the price of £10 0s. 6d., a salt-cellar of silver gilt, to be lent to the Mayor for his year, and to be yearly accounted for by the Chamberlains. This ornament continued in use until the year 1709, when it was ordered by the Council of the day that "the old Salt be exchanged for two wax silver candlesticks, a pair of silver snuffers and stand."
The Will of this Elizabethan worthy is of some interest. It is dated 15th October, 1599, the day before his death, and begins thus:— "I, James Clarke, one of the Aldermen of the Borough of Leicester, mercer, being weak in body but strong in mind and of perfect memory (the Lord therefore be praised), and having before mine eyes that in this vale of misery is nothing permanent, desiring therefore to be dissolved and to be with the Lord my saviour Jesus Christ in his celestial kingdom, perfectly believing through the merits of his passion to have remission of my sins and life everlasting which by me considered (meaning to set and dispose that worldly substance that God hath lent me in good order) do make this my last Will and Testament." The Testator desired to be buried in St. Martin's Church, "or else where it shall please God to appoint," and he gave 2s. to the repairing of that church, 2s. to the "poor folks of the new hospital called Mr. Wigston's Hospital," 6d. to the poor widows of St. John's, 2s. to the poor prisoners in the County Gaol, 1s. to the poor prisoners in the Borough Gaol, and 40s. to be given at his funeral to the poor people of the Borough in bread. After various family devises and bequests, he gave 20s. to Richard Heyton, his prentice, and 20s. to Elizabeth Greene, "the poor girl which I do keep," 5s. to each of his servants and 4d. to each of his godchildren. He gave to his wife £40, "bedding, chairs, cushions, table, form, stools, half a garnish of vessels (i.e., half a set of table vessels), bason, two candlesticks, carpet cloth, table cloths, towells, tablenapkins, brass pot that hath been used to still aquavite withall, and a kettle." He also gave her £18 10s.; "and I straitly charge her (as she shall answer the same before God) to pay unto one whom she knoweth I have appointed her to pay the same unto." The Will contains the following curious clause:— "All the glass windows in and about my said now dwelling house, and all other windows, all the wainscot, wainscot doors, portal doors, benches, and settles, and the locks and keys to the doors, bolts, planchers, racks, and mangers of the stable in and about my said house shall remain as Heirlooms to my said house for ever." James Clarke appointed his wife sole Executrix, and she proved the Will on February 28th, 1599. The Overseers were Mr. Hugh Hunter and William Dethick, the Town Clerk.
Of the two contemporary Thomas Clarkes, the most prominent was the wealthy landlord of the Blue Boar Inn, of whom some account is given elsewhere in this volume. The other, the shoemaker, was a philanthropist who devoted himself to improving the condition of the Leicester poor by securing better facilities for trade and more encouragement to labour. In connection with the Council's scheme for providing work and training by cloth-making, spinning, and jersey-knitting, he obtained from the town in 1592 a Lease for life of the old hospital of St. John, on his undertaking to build thereon a Wool Hall at his own expense. His wife Margaret taught poor children to knit jerseys, and the Town Council lent her money free of interest, to enable her to carry on the work. The useful benevolence of the Clarkes attracted the attention of the Earl of Huntingdon, who wrote a letter to the Mayor of Leicester, expressing his wish that a sum of £40, which his late brother had given for the relief of the poor by setting them to work, should be handed over to Thomas and Margaret Clarke. Thomas Clarke and his wife promised to employ a hundred people, but it does not seem that they ever obtained the money.
Among other names which were familiar in Leicester town three or four centuries ago, may be noticed Biggs, Burgess, Berridge, Harvey, Hind, Pratt, Ludlam, Worship, Freake, Ive, Fowler, Middleton, Yates, Nix, Wilcocks, Manby, Davey, Davenport, Cotton, Eyre, Orton, Fletcher, Burton, Adcock, Alsop, Barlow, Hallam, Chamberlain, Gadsby, Vickers, Ward and Wood.
All these families, and many others, played their parts on the civic stage, and most of them remain within the old borough; so that the reborn city of to-day is united still by living bonds with the small mediæval community from which it has sprung.
- ↑ I am indebted to the Rev. Canon C. W. Foster for this information.
- ↑ His name was Roger; the name of the Mayor was William. James Thompson, in his account of Leicester Mayors, seems to have confused them. William was dead long before Archbishop Courtney's visitation, as we read of "Alicia, late the wife of William Goldsmith," more than a dozen years before.
- ↑ They were "bailiffs of the liberty," appointed by the Lord or King, and not town officials chosen by the community, as their immediate predecessors were. (Records of the Borough of Leicester, vol. ii. Introduction xxvi.)
- ↑ There were Stanfords then living at Elmesthorpe: see Visitation of Leicester 1619, p. 137.