UVEDALE, John (d.c.1440), of Wickham, Hants.

Uvedale’s father and namesake was MP for Surrey in 1379 and 1380 and for Hampshire in 1385. It is uncertain when he died (although a date shortly before April 1410 seems likely), and also, therefore, which of the two, father or son, discharged the office of sheriff in 1408-9. John junior’s maternal grandfather, as lord of the manor of Wickham, had been an early patron of William of Wykeham, bishop of Winchester, his father had been a close friend of the bishop’s, and his sister had married in about 1396 Wykeham’s great-nephew and namesake. It is thus scarcely surprising to find him and his brother listed among the first fellow commoners of Winchester college, which Wykeham had founded.CCR, 1409-13, p. 98; CPR, 1408-13, p. 201; Reg. Wykeham (Hants. Rec. Soc. 1896-9), i. 167; ii. 329, 472; Winchester Coll. muns. 70, 78; VCH Hants. ii. 272.

Uvedale’s inheritance from his father consisted of the manor of Titsey and two other manors as well as considerable estates in Surrey, and from his mother’s family there descended to him, besides Wickham, three more manors in Hampshire. He evidently lived at Wickham, and seems to have later settled Titsey on his younger brother, William. He added to his estates, apparently by purchase, the manor of Pittleworth, lands in Burghton, and the east bailey of Buckholt forest. In 1412 his lands in Hampshire were estimated to be worth £72 13s.4d. a year, and those in Surrey £60 a year, making a total of nearly £133. Whether or not he was then also in possession of the family manor of Tacolneston in Norfolk, is uncertain, for assessments for that county have not survived, but it seems likely that he was. He clearly grew in wealth as his career progressed, for in 1436 he was said to enjoy an annual income of £173.Feudal Aids, vi. 450, 516; CPR, 1408-13, p. 412; Peds. Plea Rolls ed. Wrottesley, 308-9; CCR, 1413-19, p. 352; F. Blomefield, Norf. v. 166; E179/173/92.

Uvedale long retained contact with his school and its benefactors. In 1414 he witnessed a grant made to the college to provide for the distribution of alms at Winchester cathedral every year in memory of Bishop Wykeham; in 1422 he witnessed conveyances connected with the building of Fromond’s chantry; and as late as 1440 he attested the grant to the college of the oratory of the Holy Trinity on the Isle of Wight. He also came into regular contact with Wykeham’s successor in the see, Bishop Beaufort, being, at some point before 1420, made the bishop’s co-feoffee of the manor of Hinton Daubney (Hampshire), and in 1433 acting as a witness to letters patent issued by him at Havant.Winchester Coll. mun. 10386; CCR, 1422-9, p. 45; 1435-41, p. 440; CPR, 1416-22, p. 367; 1441-6, p. 417. Clearly, Uvedale’s education stood him in good stead when it came to appointments to royal commissions, and there can be little doubt that he proved to be an able administrator, one to be automatically included on bodies dealing with all sorts of local problems and to be relied on by the Crown whether it was a question of raising loans or mustering troops. Not only was he appointed sheriff at least five times in Hampshire and once in Surrey, but he also served as a member of the Hampshire bench for some 26 years. As sheriff at the time of the Southampton Plot, discovered on the eve of the departure of Henry V’s first expedition to France in 1415, it was he who was responsible for empanelling a jury for the trial of Richard, earl of Cambridge, Henry, Lord Scrope of Masham, and their fellow conspirators. Also, as sheriff of Hampshire, Uvedale officiated at the elections held at Winchester in 1415, 1422, 1423 and 1427; and he was present as an elector at those of 1420 and 1426. His standing in the area is similarly reflected in the status of his associates: in April 1411 he had witnessed the will of Elizabeth Juliers, countess of Kent, a niece of Queen Philippa (with whom his father had also been acquainted); and in the following year he was acting as custodian of his brother-in-law the late Reynold Peckham’s estates in Kent, which were worth over £56 a year. In 1436 Uvedale was asked to contribute a loan of £40 towards the war-effort in France, and although he is not known to have ever gone abroad himself, he played an important part in supervising the embarkation of numerous retinues sent across the Channel between 1418 and 1437. In November 1439 he was associated with Reynold, Lord West and de la Warre, in obtaining royal licence to make a grant in mortmain to Southwick priory of lands in Southwick, Burghunt and elsewhere. Uvedale is last recorded in May 1440 and may have died later that year, for he was not re-appointed as a j.p. in November. He was succeeded by his son, Sir Thomas.CCR, 1399-1402, p. 92; 1435-41, p. 370; Feudal Aids, vi. 477; RP, iv. 65; PPC, iv. 327; CPR, 1436-41, p. 343; R. Wills ed. Nichols, 215; C219/11/7, 12/4, 13/1, 2, 4, 5; Reg. Chichele, i. 200; Lambeth Pal. Lib. Reg. Arundel, i. f. 250.