Family and Education

b. by 1496, s. of Robert Wyvill of Little Burton by Anne, da. of Sir John Norton of Norton Conyers. m. (1) by 1517, Agnes, da. and coh. of Sir Ralph Fitzrandolph (Fitzrandell) of Spennithorne, 4s.; (2) by 1541, Margery or Margaret, da. of Sir Robert Aske of Aughton, wid. of Sir Roger Bellingham; (3) Dorothy, da. of Sir Brian Hastings of Fenwick, wid. of Sir William St. Quintin of Harpham, 1da. suc. fa. 24 Sept. 1527.1

Offices Held

Commr. tenths of spiritualities, Yorks. 1535, musters, Yorks. (N. Riding) 1539, benevolence 1544/45; j.p. Yorks. (N. Riding) 1536-d.2

Biography

Marmaduke Wyvill’s lands at Burton in the North Riding came to him partly through inheritance and partly through his marriage to Agnes Fitzrandolph, one of the four daughters of Elizabeth, sister and coheir of the 10th and last Lord Scrope of Masham: he and his wife had livery of her share of the Scrope property four years after he had succeeded his father at Little Burton. His second marriage appears to have made him the brother-in-law of Christopher and Robert Aske. Although its date is unknown this marriage probably took place before 4 May 1537, for on that date Wyvill was granted a pardon in connexion with the recent rebellion, a transaction not difficult to understand if one of his brothers-in-law was then awaiting trial and execution. That Wyvill was not further compromised by the connexion is shown by his retention on the North Riding bench and his subsequent employment on other commissions; on the contrary, Margaret Aske’s descent from the 9th Lord Clifford was to bring him favours from that powerful clan such as the annuity of £13 6s.8d. granted to him and his wife by her cousin Sir Thomas Clifford in November 1541. It was from George Clifford and Michael Welbore that Wyvill acquired various ex-monastic properties in Yorkshire in May 1545; to these he was to add others in May 1553.3

Wyvill remained a justice of the peace under Edward VI and Mary, but his only other intervention in public life appears to have been in the first Marian Parliament. His return as one of the first two Members for Ripon may be attributed to his many connexions—with the Earls of Cumberland (steward of the honor of Knaresborough) and Shrewsbury (president of the council in the north) and with the locally influential families of Norton and Staveley. What his attitude was towards the Catholic restoration cannot be deduced from the list of Members who opposed it in the Commons, since Ripon is one of the three boroughs omitted from that list. It would be surprising, however, if he had done so, and the explanation of his absence from the later Parliaments of the reign is to be sought elsewhere; he may, for instance, have been preoccupied with the defence of his property which in 1555 brought him into litigation with Sir Christopher Danby, another partaker in the Scrope inheritance.4

In his will, made on 8 Aug. (the day of his death) and proved on 26 Aug. 1558, Wyvill provided for his third wife, asked to be buried in Masham church and appointed his four sons executors and his cousin Richard Norton supervisor. Christopher, the eldest son, was then aged 40 and more.5

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: Alan Davidson

Notes

• 1. Date of birth estimated from age at fa.’s i.p.m., C142/51/78. Vis. Yorks. (Harl. Soc. xvi), 8, 356-7, 372-3; Glover’s Vis. Yorks. ed. Foster, 380; Yorks. Arch. Jnl. xviii. 373; xxviii. 47; T. D. Whitaker, Richmondshire, i. ped. bet. pp. 322-3.
• 2. LP Hen. VIII, viii, x, xii-xvi, xx; CPR, 1547-8, p. 92; 1553-4, p. 26.
• 3. VCH Yorks. (N. Riding), i. 234, 259, 264, 266, 326, 336n; NRA 13480 (N. Riding RO, Wyvill of Burton Agnes mss 16/6); Yorks. Arch. Jnl. xviii. 373; LP Hen. VIII, xx; CPR, 1553, p. 132.
• 4. NRA 13480 (N. Riding RO, Wyvill of Burton Agnes mss 10).
• 5. York wills 15(2), f. 292; C142/116/51.