WESTEBY, George

It is not known whether Westeby was a native of Wiltshire, or how he came into possession of lands and tenements at Yatesbury, in the north of the county. Feudal Aids, v. 247; VCH Wilts. xvii. 175. After his death he was called ‘late of Pitton’ (some four miles to the east of Salisbury), CP40/724, rot. 352. but he seems to have usually lived in the city itself. Apparently trained in the law, he became known as a ‘gentleman’. From early on he was involved in the administration of the diocese of Salisbury, or at least this is the inference to be drawn from his appointment in 1408 to a commission to arrest those who had impugned the rights of the Crown in a case of praemunire, when legal processes had been begun in the Roman Curia with regard to the office of treasurer of Salisbury cathedral. CPR, 1405-8, pp. 479-80. Furthermore, in the 1420s he was regularly appointed by the successive bishops of Salisbury, John Chaundler and Robert Neville, as their attorney in pleas brought at the assizes touching their liberties. JUST1/1536, rot. 36; 1540, rots. 14d, 112, 114d.

Westeby took part in the conduct of civic affairs, occasionally attending convocations held in the ten years from February 1429. First General Entry Bk. 263, 265, 300, 310, 318, 325, 341, 346-9. These included participation in the parliamentary election held on 10 Sept. 1429. Ibid. 265. Like other inhabitants of Salisbury he was required to contribute to loans raised at the request of the Crown, for the most part offering the sum of 3s. 4d., and never more than half a mark. Clearly, he did not rank among the wealthier citizens. Ibid. 224A, 273, 297, 314, 319, 321A. Beyond the confines of Salisbury he was occasionally asked to be a feoffee, for instance of property in All Cannings on behalf of Robert Salman† (probably a fellow lawyer), and in Combe Bisset and of the manor of Ugford St. James for John Giles*, the county’s clerk of the peace. Wilts. Feet of Fines (Wilts. Rec. Soc. xli), 398, 432; Wilts. Hist. Centre, Wilton bor. recs., deeds, G25/1/210. His appointment to another ad hoc commission in Wiltshire in 1433 was followed by service as a tax collector early in 1436. It seems that Westeby did not always meet the expectations of those who employed him; in Hilary term 1436 the Wiltshire esquire David Cervington sued him in the court of common pleas for failing to render account as his receiver. CP40/700, rot. 192d.

Why Westeby, rather than a prominent merchant of Salisbury and member of the city council of 24, was elected to the Parliament assembled on 21 Jan. 1437 is difficult to explain. He was not the citizens’ first choice, for at the election held on 7 Dec. previously (which he himself had attended), the names of three candidates (Robert Okebourne, John White and William Ludlow II*) had been put forward, but all were rejected: the convocation found him and William Pakyn* more acceptable. Like him, Pakyn was a ‘gentleman’ and administrator – indeed, he was currently purveyor of the King’s works at Clarendon – yet unlike him he was a member of the 24 and a former mayor. Nor was this Pakyn’s first time in the Commons. A civic assembly held in November 1422 had decreed that henceforth Salisbury would elect to Parliament ‘one old man and one young one’, and perhaps Pakyn and Westeby fulfilled this criteria by being comparatively experienced and inexperienced in civic affairs (even though the latter cannot have been particularly youthful). The writ issued at the close of the Parliament (on 27 Mar.) authorized payment to them for 72 days’ service at the rate of 2s. a day, which amounted to £7 4s. each. First General Entry Bk. 231, 325, 330. Although the date of his election is not recorded, at some point Westeby was made one of the city auditors, only to be replaced on 1 June that same year. Ibid. 331. On the following 14 Nov. he took receipt in the council house of £17 0s. 2½d. due for part of a parliamentary subsidy, this being the final instalment of the fifteenth and tenth granted in the Parliament of 1435, which he had been appointed to collect in Wiltshire. Ibid. 459; CFR, xvi. 286. In June 1440 the assembled citizens of Salisbury authorized payment to him for having negotiated on their behalf with the abbot of Malmesbury and (Sir) John Seymour I*. The matters at issue are not recorded. First General Entry Bk. 353.

Westeby died before Hilary term 1442. His executors, Gregory and William Westeby, both described as gentlemen of ‘Uptefont’(?Urchfont), were then sued in the common pleas by John Norris* and John Uffenham* for unjustly withholding the sum of £10 from his estate, but they themselves brought other suits against our MP’s debtors. CP40/724, rots. 49d, 192d, 352. The two executors, who may well have been his sons, both attested Wiltshire elections in 1449, and both entered the service of Lords Hungerford, from whom William received an annuity in the early 1450s. SC6/971/12. Before too long, Gregory achieved much greater prominence than his putative father had ever done. He officiated as escheator of Hampshire and Wiltshire in 1452-3, CFR, xix. 17; wrongly called ‘George’ in CCR, 1447-54, p. 457. and for many years served as right-hand man to Robert, 2nd Lord Hungerford (d.1459). The latter’s widow, Margaret, Lady Hungerford and Botreaux, who came to rely heavily on his advice and support, CP40/773, rot. 465; CPR, 1452-61, p. 509; CP25(1)/293/73/451; 74/25. granted him in July 1459 her lands in Knoyle ‘Odyerne’, to hold in tail, adding to them five years later a gift to him and his wife Elizabeth for their lives of her manors of Molland and Knowstone in Devon. CCR, 1461-8, pp. 272-3, 465; 1468-76, nos. 232, 248-9, 427. It was undoubtedly he, and not ‘George’ Westeby as given in the appointment (C66/486, m. 1d), intended in June 1459 to be a commr. of inquiry about the estates of the late Lord Hungerford. Gregory took on the office of receiver-general of her estates (which he filled in 1464-5 and 1467-9 and perhaps also in other years). SC6/1054/8; 1119/14, 15. In January 1471 he was charged together with John Mervyn with particular responsibilities to carry out Lady Margaret’s will: they were to retain her estates for ten years, discharge her and her late husband’s debts, complete final payments arising from the ransom of her late son Lord Hungerford and Moleyns, and make sure the Hungerford almshouse at Heytesbury and chantry in Salisbury cathedral were founded in accordance with her wishes. CCR, 1468-76, no. 657. But as it fell out he predeceased his mistress, dying within a year. In February 1472 Lady Margaret made sure that prayers for his soul would be offered both at the almshouse and in the cathedral. CPR, 1461-7, pp. 182, 363-5, 368; 1467-77, pp. 306, 311. Before he died Gregory, who lived at Fonthill Gifford, had placed the manor there in the hands of feoffees headed by George, duke of Clarence, and Sir Roger Tocotes†. C67/45, m. 37; CCR, 1468-76, no. 946. It is therefore possible that he supported Clarence during the Readeption and lost his life in one of the battles of the spring of 1471.