WILLIAM, John II, of Southwark, Surr.

William was probably a kinsman and perhaps even the brother of the Robert William who was returned to the Parliament of 1419 as MP for Southwark. He had no doubt been living in the borough for some time, when, in July 1406, he and three other local men offered sureties in Chancery for Edmund and Emmot Welles. Nothing more is known of him until May 1415, the date of his appearance as a juror at an assize of novel disseisin held to determine the ownership of property in Southwark and the nearby manor of Newington. One year later, he attested a deed relating to lands in Peckham and Camberwell, Surrey, and Dulwich, Kent; and in July 1426 he was a witness at Southwark to an enfeoffment made by William, Lord Clinton and Say.CCR, 1405-9, p. 146; 1416-19, pp. 365-6; 1422-9, pp. 319, 322; JUST1/908/9. He died before 28 Nov. 1433, at which time his son and heir, Robert, took on the lease of two shops in St. Margaret’s parish, Southwark, with successive remainders to his sister, Alice, and his widowed mother. Nineteen years later, in 1451, Robert disposed of three messuages and their appurtenances in the borough, which may once have belonged to the late John William.Add. Ch. 1815; CP25(1)232/73/37.