William Stourton, 2nd Baron Stourton (died 1478) was an English nobleman, politician and administrator. [1] [2]
Born before 1426, he was the son and heir of John Stourton, 1st Baron Stourton, [1] and his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir John Wadham of Edge, Branscombe, Devon, Justice of the Common Pleas, and his second wife Joan Wrottesley. [2]
In 1447 he was elected Member of Parliament for Dorset, gaining the seat again in 1460, and by 1450 had been knighted. In that year he was on a commission of oyer and terminer for treasons in Wiltshire, followed in 1451 by appointment to the commission of the peace for Dorset, sitting later for Somerset and for Wiltshire as well. In 1455 he was the commissioner responsible for collecting Dorset's contribution to the defence of Calais and was ordered by the Privy Council to assist the Duke of York in quelling disturbances in Devon. Between 1457 and 1466 he was on the commission of array and on the commission of oyer and terminer for Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire. [2]
In 1462 he inherited his father's lands and title, being summoned to Parliament as a baron between 1469 and 1472. [2] In 1469 he was one of the commission for treasons which condemned Henry Courtenay, of West Coker, and Sir Thomas Hungerford, of Rowden to execution for treason at Salisbury, [3] and in 1471 acted as arbitrator in a dispute there between the bishop, Richard Beauchamp, and the city authorities. [2]
He died on 18 February 1478 and was buried in the church of St Michael at Mere in Wiltshire. [1] [2]
Before 18 May 1450, he married Margaret, eldest daughter and coheiress of Sir John Chideock, [1] of Chideock, and his wife Catherine, daughter of Ralph Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley. [2] Their children included:
His widow remarried John Cheney, Baron Cheyne, who died on 30 May 1499, and herself died on 12 March 1503. [2]
Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire was an English peer.
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John Stourton, 1st Baron Stourton of Stourton, Wiltshire, was an English soldier and politician, elevated to the peerage in 1448.
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Ralph Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley was an English nobleman, soldier and administrator under King Richard II, who was stripped of his lands, goods and title and executed for rebelling against King Henry IV.
Thomas de Courtenay, 5th/13th Earl of Devon was a nobleman from South West England. His seat was at Colcombe Castle near Colyton, and later at the principal historic family seat of Tiverton Castle, after his mother's death. The Courtenay family had historically been an important one in the region, and the dominant force in the counties of Devon and Cornwall. However, the rise in power and influence of several gentry families and other political players, in the years leading up to Thomas' accession to the earldom, threatened the traditional dominance of the earls of Devon in the area. Much of his life was spent in armed territorial struggle against his near-neighbour, Sir William Bonville of Shute, at a time when central control over the provinces was weak. This feud forms part of the breakdown in law and order in England that led to the Wars of the Roses.
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