Family and Education

b. c.1515, 1st s. of Sir Edward Baynton^† of Bromham by his 1st w. Elizabeth, da. of Sir John Sulyard^† of Wetherden, Suff.; bro. of Edward and half-bro. of Henry Baynton I. educ. privately by John Palsgrave. m. (1) Philippa, da. of Gyllyam or Gwylliam Brulet, embroiderer to Henry VIII, s.p.; (2) Frances, da. of John Lee, 1da. suc. fa. 1544.

Offices Held

Servant of Thomas Cromwell^† by 1538; commr. musters, Wilts. 1546.1

Biography

Belonging to a leading Wiltshire family—his father had sat in Parliament as a knight of the shire in 1529—Baynton was returned only once in this period, for the borough of Calne. Soon after his father’s death he fell into the financial difficulties which dogged him for the rest of his life. Between 1544 and 1563 he sold property at Bromham (where Sir Edward had built a magnificent manor house), Lacock, Stanley, Rowden, Whitley, Whaddon and other Wiltshire parishes. Among the purchasers were Sir William and Henry Sharington, Gabriel Pleydell and Nicholas Snell, some at least of whom were rogues. The largest of these land transactions, with Thomas Seymour, later the lord admiral, almost ruined him. The details of the episode, which involved an exchange of all their property in Wiltshire, are obscure, but Baynton obviously did not safeguard his own interests sufficiently in the contract, with the result that on the admiral’s attainder all the Baynton as well as the Seymour estates in the county were forfeited to the Crown. During Mary’s reign Baynton recovered most of his inheritance, but by Elizabeth’s accession his finances were so desperate that, following a dispute with his brother Edward, in July 1560 he entailed much of his remaining land on him and his heirs, with reversion to younger brothers, to keep the property ‘in the blood and name of the Bayntons’.2

Baynton’s last years were concerned with conveyances, lawsuits and mortgages. He made his will at Moreton House in Chippenham 18 Feb. 1564, three days before his death, and he was buried at Chippenham rather than among his family at Bromham, which appears from his inquisition post mortem still to have been in his possession. The executors of the will were the two scoundrels Henry Sharington and Gabriel Pleydell, who were to sell lands to pay legacies, any ‘overplus’ to be ‘to their own use’. Sir John Thynne was to have the ‘bringing up and oversight’ of Baynton’s daughter and sole child Anne. The will, proved in the PCC that March, contravened the agreement of July 1560 mentioned above, and Edward Baynton brought a case into Star Chamber accusing Pleydell of forgery. This was overruled by the PCC, but a compromise must have been reached, for by 1566 Pleydell had released any title in the estates to Edward, who thenceforward remained in possession, passing them on to his son in 1593. In 1601 administration was granted to Andrew Baynton’s nephew Henry, and a further grant, on complaint of mismanagement, was made 27 Jan. 1601 to Elizabeth Mountaigne alias Anslie, daughter of Andrew’s daughter Anne.3

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N. M. Fuidge

Notes

• 1. Genealogist , n.s. xi. 248; Hoare, Wilts. Downton, 7; Wilts. N. and Q. iii. 133; DNB; LP Hen. VIII , xxi(1), pp. 40, 612.
• 2. LP Hen. VIII, xiv(1), pp. 224-5; Wilts. Arch. Mag. xxviii. 170; xxxviii. 432-3; CSP Dom. Add. 1547-65, p. 406; Wilts. N. and Q. iii. 372-3, 421, 460; iv. 160, 213, 265, 312; CPR, 1553-4, pp. 107-8; C142/143/7; St. Ch. 5/B9/18.
• 3. Wards 7/13/84; J. Aubrey, Topog. Colls. ed. Jackson, 69; F. H. Goldney, Chippenham Recs. pp. xxi-xxii; Wilts. N. and Q. iii. 133-4; C142/143/7; St. Ch. 5/B9/18; 5/B23/26; 2/18/44; 7/2/13; C3/8/113; APC, vii. 106, 165, 170, 173-4, 176; PCC 8 Stevenson, 2 Morrison, 8 Windebanck; PCC admon. act. bk. 1601, ff. 73d. 74; 1608, f. 102.