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Ralph
de Bostock, born in 1392 was the next lord of Bostock. In his youth he was
married to a wealthy heiress � Isabel, daughter and heiress of William de
Lawton of Wygland and heiress of her mother Margaret, heiress of David de
Wygland who held a share of the barony of Malpas. Through this marriage
the family became possessed of lands in southwest Cheshire, especially
around Malpas. |
 The arms of Lawton |
Ralph
spent a great deal of his adult life in military service fighting in France with
the armies of Henry V. On 17 July 1415 Ralph, then styled �esquire� received
letters of protection on going to France in the king�s retinue. In the
Agincourt Roll he is listed as Monsigneur.
There can be little doubt that he was knighted during the famous campaign, or
actually at the battle that was fought on 14 October that year. In the battle he
served under the banner of Sir Richard Hastings in the King�s Division. By
December, Ralph had been knighted for by that time he was styled Sir Ralph when
at Harfleur with Thomas Beaufort, duke of Exeter.
In
April 1416 Ralph was commissioned to collect 5,000 marks (�3,333)
from the Northwich Hundred to help finance a second invasion of France. Then on
9 July, he had 'letters of protection' when about to embark for France with a
contingent of archers, once again in the king�s retinue. On February 1418 a
large number of archers, to be led by fifteen captains, were recruited for
service in Normandy. Ralph recruited only seven archers: Richard Croxton,
Nicholas Brook, John Dikonson, William Wygland, Thomas Bailey, Richard Wolf and
William Hainson. In April of that same year he once again had 'letters of
protection', this time stating that he was going to France with the duke of
Exeter and naming John Huxley, David Bostock and others as his attorneys. Ralph
may have been at the siege of Rouen which came to a successful conclusion, under
the leadership of Exeter, in January 1419. If he was, then he may have died as a
result of injuries received during the fighting, or else of disease, for the
date of his death was that January.
Ralph
is heard of in matters other than military ones. In 1412 a dispute over lands in
Pulford and elsewhere led to a feud between the Leghs of Adlington and the
Grosvenors of Eaton which was finally resolved at a ceremony in Macclesfield
church which was attended by both Ralph and his father: the ceremony was
performed after the celebration of Mass before fifty-eight of the Cheshire
gentry. In 1419 Ralph Bostock, John Done and others assisted Sir Peter de Dutton
to raid the lands of Sir William Atherton. The rioters stole forty oxen, forty
cows, assaulted Atherton�s servants and did some damage. Atherton later
retaliated by seizing the raider�s horses and saddles. On 9 April 1420 the
dispute was settled by the arbitration of John, duke of Bedford.
Ralph
died as a young man in his late 20s on 22 January 1419. His inquisition
post mortem was heard that year but much of the document is too defaced to
read the places where he held lands in right of his wife; but the following we
do know. Sir Ralph held the manor of Bostock together with lands in Occleston,
Calveley, Alsager, Moulton and Tetton, two properties and eighty acres in Church
Lawton by right of his wife, and half the manor of Wettenhall; all worth �8
6s 8d. His son and heir was Adam then aged 7 years.
From
succeeding generations it is known that from his wife Ralph inherited lands and
salt-pits in Wygland, Malpas, Iscoyd, Agden, Chidlow, Cuddington, Foulwich and
Bradley. He may also have had an interest in the mills at Bradley and Oldcastle,
inherited from David de Wygland. A hundred years later these lands were
described as consisting of thirty messuages and 1340 acres, which included 500
of wood, 100 of marsh and 200 of heath, with a water mill. An inquisition of 1424 recorded that Ralph held a half of the manor of
Wettenhall from the king.
By
an inquisition ex officio dated 1433 it was recorded that Ralph had
died seized of the lands mentioned above and that the lands had been in the
wardship of the late king (Henry V) during the heirs minority, and, further,
that the wardship and marriage were granted to John de Kingsley, the escheator
of Chester, esquire. It was also stated that the heir, Adam, was then of age,
having been aged twenty-one on Wednesday, 3 October 1430. This then means that
Adam was born on, or before, October 1409 which
conflicts with his prob etat referred
to later.
Mention
has been made of Ralph�s brothers and sisters already, but the following extra
details may be worth mentioning. Hugh, the youngest brother, about whom little
is known, may have lived at Hassall, a small place near Alsager, and been the
progenitor of the family which resided at Moreton Say, Salop. The sister
Margaret may have been older than Ralph by about five years, for in 1405 she was
old enough to bear her husband, Hugh Davenport, a son named Thomas. Agnes
married Thomas Brett, son of Thomas and brother of Alice, who married Hugh
Bostock. There was another daughter named Matilda who was the subject of a
marriage settlement dated l402 between Adam de Bostock and Hugh Holme of
Middlewich, by which she married Roger de Holme. William, son and heir of Henry
Bostock of Huxley, Ralph�s other brother, was contracted to marry Margery,
daughter of Thomas Mason of Middlewich; whereby Thomas covenanted, in the sum of
�100, to invest the couple with the
perpetual right to all his lands in Middlewich (both Adam (V) de Bostock and an
Adam son of David de Bostock witnessed the deed).