NEVILLE, William (by 1532-59 or later), of Torksey, Lincs.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. by 1532, yr. s. of Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland by Catherine, da. of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham. m. Elizabeth, da. of (Sir) Geoffrey Pole of Lordington, Suss., at least 1da.1

Offices Held

Biography

William Neville, a younger of son of the 4th and brother of the 5th Earl of Westmorland, is the only bearer of his not uncommon name likely to have commanded the influence to secure his return for Chippenham, where his name is inserted in the indenture in a different hand from that of the document. A namesake from the Latimer branch of the family, who had settled at Wick near Pershore in Worcestershire, both enjoyed similar family connexions and had various Wiltshire interests but had probably died even before his brother Sir John Neville I, 3rd Lord Latimer, made his will in 1543. Neville may have obtained his seat either through his brother Westmorland or through his wife’s family, the Poles. Westmorland was in favour at court and was on friendly terms with the Wiltshire magnate William Herbert I, 1st Earl of Pembroke, a marriage alliance between the two families being under consideration early in 1553. Little is known of Neville’s own career but he described himself as of Torksey when in 1553 he sued out a pardon, and nine years earlier Sir Philip Hoby, who was both a friend of Pembroke and a distant relative by marriage of Neville, had received a grant of monastic lands there. The date of Neville’s marriage is unknown; his father-in-law had sat for Wilton in the Parliament of 1529 and was himself related by marriage to the Marvyns, a leading Wiltshire family.2

Nothing is known of Neville’s role in the House and no explanation has been found for the circle which stands against his name, and those of 29 others, on a copy of the list of Members. In 1556 he had sued out a pardon after failing to appear to answer to a debt of 200 marks and in 1559 he procured a general pardon. Later in the same year his brother Westmorland granted him the manor of Torksey. This is the last certain reference found to him although the Lincolnshire tenants of the 4th Duke of Norfolk at his attainder included a William Neville for the manor of Lee. Neville had not joined in the conspiracy of his brothers-in-law, Arthur and Edward Pole and Anthony Fortescue, against Elizabeth and it may well have been death rather than an anticipation of his nephew the 6th Earl’s Catholic exile that removed him from the Elizabethan scene: he is not mentioned in the 5th Earl’s will of 1563.3

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Authors: T. F.T. Baker / Alan Davidson

Notes

  • 1. Date of birth estimated from first reference. Vis. Suss. (Harl. Soc. liii), 89; Vis. Salop (Harl. Soc. xxviii), 132; Chron. Eng. Canonesses, St. Monica’s Louvain, ed. Hamilton, ii. 117.
  • 2. C129/25/138; CP, xii(2), 560-3, 688-9; Coll. Top. et Gen. ii. 174; LP Hen. VIII, vi, ix; VCH Wilts. viii. 236; Surtees Soc. cvi. 159-63; CSP Span. 1553, p. 44; CPR, 1553-4, p. 411.
  • 3. Wm. Salt. Lib. SMS 264; CPR, 1555-7, p. 60; 1558-60, pp. 129, 169; Arundel castle ms G1/7; Surtees Soc. xxxviii. 1-6.