People: Downes, Roger


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Surname

Downes

Forename

Roger

Sex

Male

Approx Year of Birth

1552

Marital Status

Married

Spouse Name

Elizabeth Stanley

Occupation Status

Esquire

Remarks

Roger Downes of Pott Shrigley in Prestbury parish was born about 1552 and was married while underage to Elizabeth Stanley, daughter of Thomas Stanley of Alderley. Their marriage was ratified by a sentence read in Alderley church on 12 September 1566. They had three daughters. In March 1593 he was married for a second time to Anne, daughter of John Warren of Poynton, by whom he had five sons. He served many years in the army in Ireland and died in 1603, owning lands in Worth, Poynton, Taxal,  Adlington, Upton, Macclesfield and Pott Shrigley. He was buried at Prestbury.

Sources:

J. P. Earwaker, East Cheshire Past and Present, vol. 2, pp. 317-318.
George Ormerod, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, vol. iii, pp. 688, 773, 776.

Causes

EDC 5/1566/7– party

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People: Legh, John of Ridge


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Surname

Legh (Leigh, Leigh)

Forename

John

Sex

Male

Parish

Prestbury

Marital Status

Married

Spouse Name

Grace Coton

Occupation Status

Esquire

Remarks

John Legh inherited an estate in the township of Sutton called Ridge. He later acquired a property known as Wincle Grange which had belonged to Combermere Abbey until the dissolution, following which it was bought by George Cotton of Combermere in 1541.

He died in 1578 and his will referred to ‘my mansion or dwelling howse off the Ridge’ and ‘my mansion and dwelling howse called Winckle Graunge’.

Other tithe causes involving John Legh were heard at York, and the papers are held at the Borthwick Institute there under the following references:
CP.G.1374
CP.G.1375
CP.G.1388
CP.G.1413
CP.G.1428
CP.G.1435
CP.G.1448A
CP.G.1450

Sources:
J. P. Earwaker, East Cheshire Past and Present, vol. 2 (London, 1880), pp. 432-437.
George Ormerod, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, vol. 3 (second edition, revised and enlarged by T. Helsby, London, 1882), p. 765.
Rev. G. J. Piccope (ed.), Lancashire and Cheshire wills and inventories from the Ecclesiastical Court, Chester, (Chetham Society, old series,  old series, 54, 1861 (Third Portion)), pp. 92-94.

 

Causes

EDC 5/1566/6– plaintiff

EDC 5/1580/9 – defendant

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People: Gardner, Ralph


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Surname

Gardner

Forename

Ralph

Sex

Male

Approx Year of Birth

1532

Parish

Prestbury

Marital Status

Unknown

Occupation Status

Husbandman

Remarks

His occupation and approximate birth year come from depositions held at Borthwick Institute, York; reference CP.G.1448A

Causes

EDC 5/1566/6– defendant

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People: Sutton, William


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Surname

Sutton

Forename

William

Sex

Male

Approx Year of Birth

1528

Parish

Prestbury

Marital Status

Unknown

Remarks

William Sutton lived at Wincle in the parish of Prestbury. His approximate birth year comes from depositions held at Borthwick Institute, York; reference CP.G.1448A

Causes

EDC 5/1566/6– defendant

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Subjects: Food and parties


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Throwing a party often involved the purchase of grain for brewing or baking. For example in EDC 5/1587/8 John Ledsam had bought three bushells of malt and three bushells of wheat in preparation for the wedding feast.

Provisions for a wedding feast

EDC 5/1587/8 – Katherine Clubb contra John Ledsam

 

 

 

 

 

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People: Harwood, John


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Surname

Harwood (Harwod)

Forename

John

Sex

Male

Parish

Blackburn

Marital Status

Unknown

Causes

EDC 5/1566/5– defendant

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People: Ratcliffe, Robert


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Surname

Ratcliffe (Ratclyff)

Forename

Robert

Sex

Male

Marital Status

Unknown

Causes

EDC 5/1566/4– defendant

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Subjects: Right of action


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Sometimes a litigant might have the right to prosecute an action in more than one type of court. Litigants might seek redress both in the consistory court and elsewhere.

The Chester Consistory Court normally heard causes brought by parties resident in the archdeaconry of Chester. Persons resident in the archdeaconry of Richmond, which formed part of the diocese of Chester, would normally bring their causes to the Richmond consistory with right of appeal to York. However, very occasionally Richmond causes were heard in Chester.

The surviving records of the Richmond Consistory Court are held by Lancashire Archives.

Chester Exchequer

Where a dispute involved money, sometimes both the Chester Exchequer and the Chester Consistory Court were involved.

EDC 5/1575/3 – John Vawdrey and Richard Vawdrey contra Ralph Calveley

Secular court (unspecified)

EDC 5/3/1 – Sir Richard Brereton contra Thomas Valentine; in this cause it was claimed that the right to receipt of certain tithes had been alienated in lieu of wages
EDC 5/3/2 – Sir Richard Brereton contra Thomas Valentine; the cause papers include a claim to have this matter heard in a ‘royal court’

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People: Ireland, Thomas


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Surname

Ireland

Forename

Thomas

Sex

Male

Marital Status

Unknown

Remarks

He was known as Thomas Ireland, senior

Causes

EDC 5/1566/3– defendant

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People: Farington, William


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Surname

Farington

Forename

William

Sex

Male

Approx Year of Birth

1537

Parish

Leyland

Marital Status

Married

Spouse Name

Ann Talbot

Occupation Status

Esquire

Literacy

Yes - steward/comptroller to earls of Derby

Remarks

William Farington of Worden was the 4th son of Sir Henry Farington of Farington and Worden by his second wife. He was educated at Oxford and the Middle Temple, later becoming comptroller to the household of three earls of Derby. His accounts and records, edited by Canon Raines, show him as ‘an industrious, intelligent and well-informed lawyer’ and the earls of Derby ‘entertained  so high an opinion of his capacity and habits of business that he was consulted by them on occasions of the greatest importance’.

He was appointed to the Commission of the Peace for Lancashire at the age of 21 and took an active role in local administration, acting as arbitrator in various disputes. He also acted as Deputy Lieutenant of the county.

In 1559 he married Anne Talbot, whose father had bequeathed to her the lease of the parsonage of Blackburn. Judging from the number of suits in the consistory court, William Farington set about a systematic attempt to overturn a number of longstanding tithe composition agreements made by the parishioners of Blackburn (such an agreement was known as a ‘modus’) in favour of the more lucrative tax of one tenth of produce.

William Farington acquired his arms by patent in 1560, thus becoming ‘armigerous’ and entitled to be addressed as ‘esquire’.

The earls of Derby entertained groups of players (whom Farington barely tolerated) at their houses at Lathom and New Park It is possible that Shakespeare met him during one of these visits and he may be prototype of Malvolio in Twelfth Night – a vain, pompous, humourless and overbearing steward with social aspirations.

He died in 1610.

Sources

F. R. Raines, (ed.), The Stanley Papers, Part II: The Derby household books; comprising an account of the household regulations and expenses of Edward and Henry, third and fourth Earls of Derby; together with a diary containing the names of the guests who visited the latter Earl at his houses in Lancashire, by William ffarington, Esquire, the Comptroller [1561–90],  (Chetham Society, old series, 31, 1853).

F. R. Raines, (ed.), The Visitation of the County Palatine of Lancaster, made in the year 1613, by Richard St George, Esq., Norroy King of Arms, (Chetham Society, old series, 82, 1871).

Alwin Thaler, ‘The Original Malvolio?’,  The Shakespeare Association Bulletin, vol.7, no. 2 (April, 1932), pp. 57-71.

D. J. Wilkinson, ‘The Commission of the Peace in Lancashire, 1603-1642’, Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 132, (1982), pp. 41-66.

Notes from Lancashire Record Office on the records of the family of Farington of Worden: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/1b838c3b-5a9b-4b11-b64c-abfe76fefea9

 

Causes

EDC 5/1566/3 – plaintiff
EDC 5/1566/4 – plaintiff
EDC 5/1566/5 – plaintiff

 

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