WALCOT, Charles (c.1542-96), of Walcot, Salop and Builth, Brec.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. c.1542, 1st s. of John Walcot of Walcot by Mary, da. of Sir Peter Newton of Petton. educ. ?M. Temple. m. (1) 1566, Beatrice, da. of Anthony Girling, 4s. 3da.; (2) Margaret, da. of John Isham, s.p. suc. fa. 1562.

Offices Held

Under-porter, council in the marches of Wales bef.1572; head burgess, Bishop’s Castle 1574; j.p. Brec. by 1572-96; sheriff 1572-3, 1580-1; j.p. Salop from c.1575.

Biography

Walcot was still a minor when he succeeded his father as head of the senior branch of this prominent Shropshire family, and his wardship was sold to Sir Henry Sidney. Most of his father’s property had been entrusted to his mother for life, and his lands were valued at only £5 p.a. The young man ‘denied that he was the Queen’s, or any other person’s ward’, and Sidney was put to ‘great charges’ in proving his right. No doubt this connexion with Sidney explains his council post at Ludlow, and his being made sheriff of Brecon in 1572, despite his comparative youth and the objection of the 1st Earl of Essex that he was ‘a person of no credit’.

Walcot was seated near Bishop’s Castle, and in the original charter, granted to the borough in 1574, he was named as one of the 14 head burgesses. Another burgess was Edward Plowden, the lawyer, who had been overseer of Walcot’s father’s will, and who doubtless favoured Walcot’s return in 1586.

Although occasionally employed by the council in the marches, Walcot received no commissions of importance. In 1596 he was accused of clipping the coinage, and asked that the case might be examined thoroughly, since ‘his name had been called in question, to his great discredit’. The outcome of his examination by the master of the mint is unknown, and his death may have intervened, for he was buried at Lydbury North in the same year. No will has been found.

Vis. Salop (Harl. Soc. xxix), 476-8; Trans. Salop Arch. Soc. (ser. 2), x. 36-7; J. R. Burton, Fam. of Walcot, 20-1; Ludlow Par. Reg. ed. Weyman, 4, 62, 64, 66; P. H. Williams, Council in the Marches of Wales, 122; Flenley, Cal. Reg. Council, Marches of Wales, 125, 138, 213, 216; HMC Hatfield, viii. 469; CSP Dom.Add. 1547-65. p. 534; CPR, 1560-3, p. 620; PCC 41 Welles; APC, xxvi. 355.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: J.J.C.

Notes