Sir William Capel (c. 1446-1515) of Capel Court [1] in the parish of St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange in the City of London and of Hadham Hall in the parish of Little Hadham, Hertfordshire, served as Lord Mayor of London and as a Member of Parliament for the City of London.
He was the son of John Capell (1398–1449) of Stoke-by-Nayland in Suffolk, a member of the Suffolk gentry, [2] whose family had been seated at Capel St. Mary [3] in Suffolk since the 12th century. [4]
William Capel was a member of the Worshipful Company of Drapers, who served as Sheriff of the City of London for 1496, and was twice elected Lord Mayor of London, in 1503 and 1510. He was elected as a Member of Parliament for the City of London from 1511 to 1515. [4]
His London mansion stood in the vicinity of the present London Stock Exchange and of Capel Court (named after him, now a short sidestreet or walkway) in the City of London. [1] [5] He added a south chapel to his parish church of St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange in the City. He purchased the estate of Hadham Hall in the parish of Little Hadham, Hertfordshire, which remained in the Capell family from many generations. A new house was later built there, whether on the site of the old hall or on a new site is uncertain, which became the seat of his Capell descendants from the 1570s onwards.
Capel loaned money on the security of jewellery. In April 1489, he lent money to a goldsmith Symond Garardson on the security of a group of diamond and ruby rings. [6] Capel lent £100 to Elizabeth of York in 1502. [7] [8] As mayor of London, he had some dealings with two officers of Henry VII, Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley. Capel was fined for a perceived lapse in regulating customs in 1495, and his penalty was mitigated by the intercession of the courtier and Lord Chamberlain, Giles Daubeney, 1st Baron Daubeney. [9] Capel was censured again in a legal court in 1504, he had to pay for pardons for himself and his son Giles Capel. [10] In 1507, William Capel was imprisoned for not acting against the circulation of counterfeit money, by a jury said to have been influenced by Dudley and Empson. [11]
He married Margaret Arundell, a daughter of Sir John Arundell (1421–1473) of Lanherne in Cornwall, by his second wife Katherine Chideocke, by whom he had issue including a son and two daughters:
Margaret Capel made her will in 1516 and died in 1522. [17] [18] She made a number of bequests of rich fabrics to churches, some of which she had embroidered herself, especially for the family's chantry chapel at St Bartholomew-the-Less. [19] [20] She also bequeathed a chain of her late husband's, which had belonged to the "yonge kyng" Edward V, to her son Sir Giles Capel. [21] [22] Giles was also given a best bed with curtains embroidered with the badge of an anchor and the motto used by his father. [23] The anchor badge was carved in the doorways at Rayne Hall. [24]
Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex, also spelt Capel, of Cassiobury House, Watford, Hertfordshire, was an English statesman.
Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, beginning with a new first Earl upon each new creation. The most well-known Earls of Essex were Thomas Cromwell, chief minister to King Henry VIII, Sir William Parr (1513-1571) who was brother to Queen Catherine Parr who was the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (1565–1601), a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I who led Essex's Rebellion in 1601.
Henry Capell, Baron Capell of Tewkesbury KB, PC was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1660 and 1692. He was then created Baron Capell.
Sir Hugh Conway, was a member of the royal household of king Henry VII who served in a number of official posts including Lord High Treasurer of Ireland and Treasurer of Calais.
Arthur Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Hadham, of Hadham Hall and Cassiobury House, Watford, both in Hertfordshire, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 until 1641 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Capell. He supported the Royalist cause in the Civil War and was executed on the orders of parliament in 1649.
Little Hadham is a village and civil parish in the district of East Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire, England. At the census of 2001 it had a population of 1,081, increasing to 1,153 at the 2011 Census. It is bypassed by the A120 road, which connects it to the nearby town of Bishop's Stortford. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Bury Green, Church End, Cradle End, Green Street and Hadham Ford. Little Hadham, together with the neighbouring village of Much Hadham, are collectively known as The Hadhams.
Cassiobury House was a country house in Cassiobury Park, Watford, England. It was the ancestral seat of the Earls of Essex. Originally a Tudor building, dating from 1546 for Sir Richard Morrison, it was substantially remodelled in the 17th and 19th centuries and ultimately demolished in 1927. The surrounding Cassiobury Park was turned into the main public open space for Watford.
The High Sheriff of Essex was an ancient sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the invasion of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972, the title of Sheriff of Essex was retitled High Sheriff of Essex. The high shrievalties are the oldest secular titles under the Crown in England and Wales, their purpose being to represent the monarch at a local level, historically in the shires.
Lord John Grey was an English nobleman and courtier of the Tudor period, who after 1559 was seated at Pirgo Place in Essex.
Sir Charles Morrison, 1st Baronet of Cashiobury in Watford, Hertfordshire, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1621 and 1628.
Sir Henry Capell of Ubley, Somerset was an English politician.
Henry Capell, of Hadham Hall in the parish of Little Hadham in Hertfordshire and of Rayne in Essex, was an English politician.
Arthur Algernon Capell was an English aristocrat who succeed to the title Earl of Essex in 1839.
George Devereux de Vere Capell, 7th Earl of Essex, was a British aristocrat. He succeeded to the title Earl of Essex in 1892.
St Mary's Watford is a Church of England church in Watford, Hertfordshire, in England. It is an active church situated in the town centre on Watford High Street, approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) outside London. St Mary's is the parish church of Watford and is part of the Anglican Diocese of St Albans. Thought to be at least 800 years old, the church contains burials of a number of local nobility and some noteworthy monumental sculpture of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras.
Sir John Arundell VII (1421–1473) of Lanherne in the parish of St Mawgan in Pydar, Cornwall, was Sheriff of Cornwall and Admiral of Cornwall, and served as a general for King Henry VI in his French wars. He became the largest free tenant in Cornwall.
Sir Gamaliel Capell (1561–1613), of Rookwood Hall in the parish of Abbess Roding in Essex served as a Member of Parliament for the county seat of Essex from 1605 to 1613.
Elizabeth Harington was an English aristocrat.
Giles Capel was an English landowner, soldier, and courtier, known for performing in tournaments at the Tudor court.
Margaret Arundell was a wealthy Englishwoman. She is noted for her 1516 will, which details aspects of elite religious practice and also mentions a chain that had belonged to Edward V, one of the Princes in the Tower.