Family and Education

bro. and h. of John Milborne of Kingston-upon-Thames, Surr. m. by 1398, Mary, 1s.

Offices Held

Tax collector, Som. Dec. 1407.

Verderer, Clarendon forest, Wilts. c.1422-May 1434, Grovely forest 12 Jan. 1423-June 1440.1

Commr. to take musters, Poole Aug. 1426; of inquiry, Wilts. Jan. 1429 (concealments); to distribute tax allowances Apr. 1440; proceed against rebels Sept. 1450.

Escheator, Som. and Dorset 4 Nov. 1428-12 Feb. 1430.

Biography

This MP may have come from Dorset, from one of the many places called Milborne there, for as early as 1396 he was in possession of a knight’s fee in Great Crawford in that county, and two years later he was holding, jure uxoris, property in Wareham. He was a kinsman of the John Milbourne who had secured a lease for life of the manor of Barford St. Martin in Wiltshire, but had lost it when outlawed for murder in 1389. By 1413 Richard was himself leasing for life lands in Congresbury and Wedmore in Somerset, from Sir Walter Rodney*. Then, too, he was related to the Milbornes who lived at Esher in Surrey, and in 1425 he was described as the brother and heir of the John Milborne who had owned property in Kingston-upon-Thames. Three years later he took possession of the manor of Whitcomb in Somerset, once held by Sir William Milborne^†, whose relationship to Richard is not revealed. Apart from his interest in these holdings, scattered in Dorset, Somerset and Surrey, Milborne built up landed estates for himself in Wiltshire and Hampshire, which at his death were valued at some £60 a year. He probably lived at Laverstock or at Chitterne (where there was a manor called ‘Milborne’s Court’), and acquired several properties in those two counties including the manor of Tangley in Hampshire and premises in Salisbury and Ringwood.2

It was no doubt Milborne’s position as an important official on the estates of Sir Walter Hungerford* which enabled him to establish a reputation for himself in Wiltshire. During his first Parliament for the county, in May 1421, he was made a feoffee of the manor of Great Cheverell on Hungerford’s behalf, and it seems likely that he was already acting as steward of Sir Walter’s other extensive landed holdings in the region. In February 1422 Hungerford came to Milborne’s assistance in transactions regarding land at Esher, and in his turn the latter served as a trustee of many of his patron’s properties from 1424 onwards, witnessed deeds in his favour and in 1440 acted as a mainpernor for him and his eldest son, Sir Robert. When Lord Hungerford died in 1449 he left Milborne a gold cup in his will. Milborne was one of those commissioned in 1450 to proceed against rebels in the Wiltshire area, largely in response to an initiative on the part of the Hungerfords.3

Although Milborne was not very active in local affairs on the government’s behalf, he did receive three wardships between 1428 and 1431. In March 1428 he and the dean of Salisbury, Simon Sidenham (a co-feoffee of Lord Hungerford’s estates), were granted the custody of certain lands late of Amauri, Lord St. Amand, during the minority of one of the latter’s heirs, Eleanor Braybrooke, along with her marriage (this at a cost of £200); in June 1429 he shared the wardship and marriage of the Romsey heir; and in November 1431 he alone received custody of the grandson and heir of Robert de la Mare* of Sparsholt, receiving ten marks a year for the maintenance of his ward, whose marriage he purchased for 100 marks. There is probably one simple reason for this good fortune: during these few years Hungerford was treasurer of the Exchequer.4

Milborne was present at the Wiltshire county elections to no fewer than 12 of the Parliaments summoned between 1420 and 1450. He is possibly to be identified with the man who, in July 1448, was granted royal letters of protection to go abroad in the retinue of Humphrey, duke of Buckingham, captain of Calais, but these were revoked because he stayed behind at Laverstock.5 Other prominent figures with whom Milborne was connected before 1441 were the lawyers, Robert Long* and John Stork*, (Sir) John Stourton II* (afterwards Lord Stourton) and Reynold Kentwood, the dean of St. Paul’s. All four were feoffees of his estates. Milborne died on 18 Aug. 1451 and was succeeded by his son, Simon.6

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: Charles Kightly

Notes

• 1. CCR, 1429-35, pp. 272, 274; 1435-41, p. 313; C242/10/8.
• 2. CIMisc. v. 247, 272-3, 318; CCR, 1405-9, p. 445; 1422-9, pp. 199, 267, 403; 1441-7, pp. 459-60; CFR, xiv. 50; Feudal Aids, iv. 422; C139/142/19; VCH Hants, iv. 327, 609; VCH Surr. iii. 449; Tropenell Cart. ed. Davies, i. 237; Dorset Feet of Fines, ii. 233.
• 3. Huntington Lib. San Marino, Hastings ms HAD 180/2932; CPR, 1422-9, pp. 269, 526; CCR, 1429-35, pp. 43, 44, 50-55, 163, 252; 1435-41, p. 61; Tropenell Cart. ii. 264; CFR, xvii. 159; Wilts. Arch. Mag. lvi. 324; Lambeth Pal. Lib. Reg. Stafford, f. 115; O. Manning and W. Bray, Surr. ii. 744.
• 4. CFR, xv. 223, 269, 288; CPR, 1429-36, p. 217.
• 5. C219/12/4, 6, 13/4, 14/1-5, 15/2, 4, 6, 16/1; DKR, xlviii. 377; CPR, 1446-52, p. 166.
• 6. C139/142/19.