Weymouth

Weymouth, which faced the parliamentary borough of Melcombe Regis across the narrow entrance to the estuary of the river Wey, formed part of the inheritance of Edmund Mortimer, earl of March, and passed after his death in 1425 to his nephew Richard, duke of York. Accordingly, unlike Melcombe, the borough did not pay a fee farm to the Crown, and this remained the case even after 1461 when its lord, York’s son and heir, seized the throne, for the dowager Duchess Cecily held it until she died.2 J. Hutchins, Dorset, ii. 420-3; CPR, 1461-7, p. 131. As the profits of Weymouth were paid to the officers of the seigneurial lord or lady and not into the royal Exchequer, and as few estate records have survived, there is little to show whether or not the town prospered or declined in this period. Weymouth was small in comparison with many other Channel ports, and even lacked its own parish church,3 The church in the village of Wyke Regis was the nearest one to Weymouth. Otherwise, the townsmen had long been served by a chapel of ease – St. Nicholas’s, standing south of the town. Henry Russell was the moving spirit behind the foundation of a guild in the chapel: CPR, 1441-6, p. 70; 1452-61, p. 241. but the sums paid by the burgesses into their lord’s coffers bore comparison with the annual fee farms of £16 and £20 paid to the Crown by the Dorset boroughs of Bridport and Dorchester. Furthermore, Weymouth’s revenues remained fairly stable for most of the fifteenth century. At the beginning of the century the borough had been extended at £14 p.a., although in 1422 a more accurate valor gave the earl of March’s income from Weymouth as £20 1s. 9d.4 SC11/23; E142/38. The earl’s post mortem three years later valued his manor of Wyke Regis, property on the Isle of Portland and rents and court perquisites from Weymouth at £50 p.a., of which Weymouth contributed £16 13s. 4d.5 CIPM, xxii. 486. In keeping with these figures, between 1447 and 1478 payments from the town totalled £16 19s. a year on average, this sum being comprised of rents of assize fixed at £14 7s. 5d., tolls (as farmed by the burgesses) fixed at £2, and variable amounts levied in the local courts.6 SC6/1113/11-15; 1114/3-6. It might be inferred from this that the period under review was a comparatively prosperous one for the inhabitants, even though in 1436 the ‘Isle of Portland’ (presumably Weymouth and Melcombe combined), appeared on the list of Dorset boroughs stated by royal commissioners to be depopulated and desolate, and the Isle was allowed a small remittance on payments due for parliamentary tenths.7 E179/103/79; VCH Dorset, ii. 246.

In comparison with Melcombe, Weymouth appears to have been a much busier port. There had been considerable rivalry between the two in the late fourteenth century,8 CIMisc. iii. 658; The Commons 1386-1421, i. 386. but the subsequent depopulation and growing impoverishment of the northern port worked to Weymouth’s advantage, especially when, in 1433, Melcombe was displaced as a head port by Poole and reduced to the status of a creek. The southern port was easier to defend and suffered to a lesser extent from seaborne assaults by the King’s enemies. To judge from the seafaring activities of the townspeople and the not infrequent allegations of smuggling and piracy made against them, a constant traffic through the port was maintained. Crown appointments of deputy butlers there in Henry V’s reign indicate that the trade in wine from Aquitaine was then of sufficient importance to require regulation,9 CPR, 1413-16, p. 10; 1416-22, p. 175. and vessels from Weymouth were commandeered for the passage of royal ambassadors to the continent and officials to Bordeaux in the 1420s and 1430s, as well as to bolster sea-keeping forces established in the following decade.10 CPR, 1413-16, pp. 177, 221, 264; 1416-22, p. 319; 1429-36, p. 152; 1436-41, p. 411. From Weymouth valuable merchandise was shipped to Normandy and pilgrims conveyed to Santiago de Compostela, while local men successfully evaded the surveillance of customs’ officials while shipping consignments of wool.11 CPR, 1416-22, p. 444; 1422-9, p. 85; 1429-36, p. 201; 1452-61, p. 117. Spoils from allegedly piratical activities were shared out in Weymouth when local residents, most notably the Abbot brothers, brought back to port the cargoes of Breton vessels seized at sea.12 CPR, 1416-22, pp. 202-3; 1429-36, pp. 471, 472; 1436-41, p. 83; 1441-6, p. 370; 1452-61, p. 258. Weymouth was required to contribute to the cost of patrolling the Channel. During the Parliament of 1453 it was decided that the naval force established for defence of the realm should be initially funded from loans, and in April 1454 certain cities and towns were ordered to comply. On this list Weymouth was linked with Salisbury and Poole in a joint loan of £50, although how this sum was to be divided between the three communities was not laid down.13 PROME, xii. 267.

Weymouth had not been represented in Parliament during the reign of Edward I and only rarely returned Members before that of Richard II. Thereafter, however, returns were made regularly. The names of Weymouth’s MPs are recorded for 19 of the 22 Parliaments assembled between 1422 and 1460; gaps remain only for those of 1439, 1445 and 1459. The 38 known seats were taken by as many as 32 different men, and of these as many as 26, more than two thirds of the total, were elected for this constituency just once in the course of their careers. The statistic is revealing of a general lack of enthusiasm among the townsmen for service in Parliament. The exceptions were Humphrey Hay, John Penne and perhaps John Bassingbourne, who each sat for Weymouth twice; Thomas Payn, who did so in three Parliaments (albeit spread over a long period from 1410 to 1437), and John Sirla who sat in three in the 1430s. Henry Russell alias Gascoigne was the most experienced parliamentarian among them, representing his home town in four Parliaments between 1425 and 1442.

Yet some of those who came from outside the town displayed much more enthusiasm for a seat in the Commons. Eight of the 32 (a quarter of the total) sat on other occasions for different constituencies, which were not necessarily even located in Dorset. Four of them did so before their single election for Weymouth. Thus, William Frampton had previously been returned for Dorchester, a few miles from Weymouth, John Clerk for Barnstaple in Devon, William Hall twice for Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, and John Troutbeck twice as a shire knight for Hertfordshire and once for the Wiltshire borough of Hindon.14 Filongley sat later for Warws., Gosse for Taunton, John Russell III for Dorset and William Tyrell II three times for Essex. Nevertheless, even when such experience is taken into account in perhaps as many as ten of the 19 Parliaments for which there is evidence Weymouth was represented entirely by novices, and in only three Parliaments (1427, 1433 and 1450) can it be shown that both MPs had been elected to the Commons before.15 Although it is possible that this was also the case in 1435. These statistics show a decline in the numbers of experienced MPs from the earlier period of 1386-1421, when in 15 of the 23 Parliaments at least one MP had been tried before (as compared with nine of the 19 in Henry VI’s reign).16 The Commons 1386-1421, i. 787. Nor was much continuity provided by re-election to consecutive Parliaments, save for the returns of Penne in 1422, the obscure Hay in 1427, and Sirla in 1432.

Yet a continuity of a kind was ensured by the return of members of local families. Thus, Robert Penne†, who sat for Weymouth in four successive Parliaments from 1417 to 1421 (May) inclusive, was replaced in each of the next two (December 1421 and 1422) by his kinsman John; and they were probably closely related to Richard Penne*, who sat for Melcombe in the same Parliament of 1422. Similarly, John Abbot, the son of another John Abbot† of nearby Melcombe, was the brother of Robert† and William*. Henry Russell, himself the son and heir of Stephen Russell†, was the father of John III and father-in-law of Walter Cheverell (who accompanied him to the Commons of 1442). In an important respect the period under review witnessed a significant change in the representation of Weymouth. In the period 1386-1421 as many as 26 of the 31 known parliamentary burgesses resided in the town, and four more obscure figures probably did so too; only one of the MPs was definitely an outsider.17 Ibid. i. 386. In Henry VI’s reign although certainly 12 of the 32 had strong Weymouth connexions and probably resided there at the time of their elections, this was less than a third of the total. Many of the rest may have been poorly-documented local men, but ten MPs are known to have lived elsewhere, and such outsiders took an increasing share in the borough’s representation as the period progressed.

Of the resident burgesses among the MPs six demonstrated their interest in Weymouth’s representation by attesting the electoral indentures sent by the sheriff of Dorset to Chancery (among them Henry Russell and Wyot, who each did so four times, and Abbot, who was named on seven occasions). The scanty local records cannot supply anything like complete lists of the bailiffs of Weymouth, but Abbot, Henry Russell, Sirla and Wyot certainly occupied that office on occasion, and Penne had been the earl of March’s messor and collector at the manorial court at Wyke Regis. For the most part in the 1420s and 1430s Weymouth was represented by residents of this sort, and in 1432 and 1435 both MPs are known to have been local men. (Although a preponderance of obscure, even unidentifiable, MPs leaves an element of doubt for some of the Parliaments of those decades.) Before the 1440s only on rare occasions did confirmed outsiders make an appearance: Gosse, elected in 1429, came from Bridgwater in Somerset, and Frampton (1433) from elsewhere in Dorset. The change in the pattern of representation took place after 1439. In 1442 the prominent local merchant Henry Russell was accompanied to the Commons by Walter Cheverell, his son-in-law, who as the son of the Dorset lawyer John Cheverell† belonged to the gentry of the shire rather than to the merchant community. In 1447 one of those elected was Ralph Beere, an obscure individual who although seemingly a native of Dorset later made his career in London. Yet it was the returns to the Parliament summoned to meet in February 1449 which first saw the introduction of complete strangers: Henry Filongley came from far-away Warwickshire and his companion William Tyrell from distant Essex. They were followed in the next Parliament, in November that year, by William Montagu, who usually resided in Somerset; in 1450 by William Hall from Oxfordshire and John Troutbeck, a Cheshireman; and in 1453 by Filongley’s nephew, Thomas Froxmere, from Worcestershire.

External influence accounts for the elections of certain of these outsiders. Sir James Butler, son and heir to the earl of Ormond and himself created earl of Wiltshire in July 1449, acquired substantial estates in Dorset through marriage to the heiress Avice Stafford, the grand-daughter of the wealthy Sir Humphrey Stafford* of Hooke, and introduced members of his affinity to the county. Filongley (who took up residence at Hooke), was numbered among his trusted retainers; Montagu lent him support in his quarrel with Sir Edward Brooke*, Lord Cobham, shortly after the dissolution of the Parliament of 1449 (Nov.); and Montagu’s companion in the Commons, John Russell III, not only married a woman closely related to Filongley but also served the earl as a feoffee in later years. A hint of how, in practical terms, Butler’s influence may have been exerted, is provided by the surprising appearance of Filongley, a Warwickshire man and newcomer to Dorset, at the very head of the lists of attestors to the county’s electoral indentures for successive Parliaments, on 2 Nov. 1450 and 19 Feb. 1453. On the latter occasion his nephew Froxmere was returned for Weymouth.

The return of Hall and Troutbeck in 1450 is harder to explain. Hall, a servant of Archbishop John Stafford, until recently the chancellor of England, may have been representing the archbishop’s interests at a time when the latter was deeply concerned about the inheritance of the Stafford family estates following the death of his nephew William Stafford*, who had been killed during Cade’s rebellion. Troutbeck, the chamberlain of Chester and until recently King’s remembrancer at the Exchequer, might be regarded as a loyal member of the royal household were it not for the indictments relating to abuses of office which were brought against him not long before the Parliament assembled. Perhaps he sought election for this distant constituency in order to take advantage of the privilege of freedom from arrest accorded to Members of the Lower House. There is no evidence that either Hall or Troutbeck had formed an attachment to Weymouth’s lord the duke of York, who had only recently come back from Ireland. But links with the duke doubtless account for the election to the Parliament of 1449 (Feb.) of William Tyrell, who had served in France in his retinue, and, more importantly, to that of 1460-1, summoned in the wake of the Yorkist victory at Northampton. William Browning II, returned in 1460, was the eldest son of William I*, the duke’s leading retainer in Dorset and receiver of his estates in the county, which included this borough. The Parliament witnessed York’s dramatic assertion of his title to the throne, and during its recess learned of his death at Wakefield; the younger William promptly offered his services to the widowed duchess. That the men of Weymouth were ready to lend active support to their lord and his allies in the civil-war years is clear from the grant made to them by Edward IV on 16 Dec. 1461. In recompense of losses sustained by them on behalf of the new King they were awarded the princely sum of £100, to be taken from the customs dues collected in their port and at Poole.18 CPR, 1461-7, p. 110. Either the money proved difficult to collect, or else the grant, by vaguely describing the recipients as the ‘King’s tenants’, could not be put into effect; when the grant was renewed in Jan. 1467, the money was allotted instead to seven named tenants, including the former MP Richard Snelling: CPR, 1461-7, p. 540.

As might be expected, several of Weymouth’s MPs were merchants and lesser tradesmen. At least ten of the 32 were involved in trade, and Abbot, Clerk, Payn, Henry Russell and Wyot allegedly used their own vessels for piratical activities or smuggling. Conversely, Russell, the most prominent member of Weymouth’s merchant community, was periodically employed by the Crown to help police the Channel. While attending the Parliament of 1427 he was appointed deputy butler across the river at Melcombe, and was probably still in office when returned again in 1433; and when elected in 1442 he was both searcher for smuggled wool and collector of customs and subsidies in the western ports of Exeter and Dartmouth. Other of Weymouth’s MPs were also appointed to offices in the customs service: prior to his election for this borough, Clerk had been controller of the search in the ports round the coasts of Cornwall and Devon and customer in Exeter and Dartmouth; and after his single return for Weymouth Gosse held office for more than 20 years as customer in Bridgwater.

By contrast, few of the 32 MPs are known to have been lawyers by training: the exceptions being Browning, to judge from his temporary residence near the inns of court; Cheverell, who had been educated at Winchester College and was later a member of the quorum on the Dorset bench; Frampton, perhaps a fellow of the Middle Temple, who was also later named to the quorum; and Hall, whose employment by Archbishop Stafford in landed settlements suggests a legal expertise in this regard. By status at least ten of the MPs (a third of the total) belonged to the gentry, and Browning, Cheverell and the Russells all became important landowners in Dorset. Browning, a ‘gentleman’ at this stage in his career, stood in line to inherit widespread estates; Cheverell was distrained for knighthood, meaning that his landed holdings were deemed to be worth at least £40 p.a.; and Henry Russell was styled ‘esquire’ in his final years, while his son John entered the Commons as a knight of the shire and their direct descendant was to be created earl of Bedford in 1550. Notable among this group were the outsiders, Filongley, Froxmere, Montagu, Troutbeck and Tyrell. All five were of armigerous rank; Filongley, Montagu and Tyrell were distrained to take up knighthood, and Tyrell was to be dubbed knight on the battlefield at Northampton. Montagu was a kinsman of Thomas, earl of Salisbury (d.1428), and notable beneficiary under the terms of his will. Filongley, Troutbeck and Tyrell all, like John Russell, entered the Commons as knights of the shire at some stage in their careers –Tyrell and Filongley (Weymouth’s MPs in February 1449) respectively for Essex in the second Parliament of that year, and for Warwickshire in 1453; and Troutbeck as MP for Hertfordshire in two Parliaments before he represented Weymouth in 1450.

Men of this stamp would naturally be expected to take up appointments in county administration: Browning had served as escheator in Somerset and Dorset before his election, and Tyrell, who later held the same post in Essex and Hertfordshire, was currently a j.p. in Essex when he was returned to Parliament for distant Weymouth. Of greater interest, two of the MPs were also experienced in office at the centre of government: when returned for Weymouth Filongley was keeper of the writs in the court of common pleas and Troutbeck had only recently left his post as King’s remembrancer at the Exchequer.

From 1407 it became customary for Weymouth, like the other Dorset boroughs, to send four delegates to Dorchester to inform the sheriff of the burgesses’ choice of parliamentary representatives, although nothing is known about the electoral procedure followed in the town itself. The names of the delegates, together with those of the elected representatives from all the boroughs, were returned to Chancery in a single indenture drawn up by the sheriff. Such indentures survive for 19 elections held between 1407 and 1437, and although four of them are damaged and partially illegible it would appear that in the course of those 30 years no more than 19 individuals from Weymouth put their names to the indentures. Fifteen of them were men who are themselves known to have represented the borough in Parliament in the first half of the century. These 19 men formed an elite group which exerted authority over the town’s affairs; perhaps they belonged to a fledgling council. Chief among them were the Russells: between them Stephen Russell and his son Henry attested 18 indentures. Unfortunately, from 1442 and until 1472 the names of delegates to the shire court were not recorded.