WILLIAM
BOSTOCK (1468 - 1515)
But
what of William, Ralph de Bostock�s son? According to his proof of age, taken
at Tarvin on 15 October 1468, he was born on 9 October 1468. Thirteen men gave
evidence on the matter before the Escheator of Chester: Ralph Daven of Calveley,
Thomas Crewe of Wimbalds Trafford, Thomas Rotor and Ralph Littleover, each aged
over fifty years, stated that they held torches and candles in Little Budworth
church at the time of William�s baptism and that the celebration details were
entered into the missal of the church. Thomas Hulse of Eton, Robert and Richard
Cotgreave, John Dodd of Broxton and Ralph Done of Crowton, all aged forty years,
agreed as to William�s age and said that they were in the company of Sir
William Stanley and William de Bostock of Wimboldsley, when they were asked to
be god-fathers to William. Robert Bostock, John Hankey of Churton, Thomas Done
and Thomas Bellet, each aged thirty years, also gave evidence.
In
1488/9 William was bound over to keep the peace towards his kinsman William de
Holt, with sureties held by William Kinsey, Robert Bostock and others, in the
sum of �100. Holt was bound over to
keep the peace towards William in the same sum, his surety being Thomas Venables
of Agden. This dispute between neighbours may have had something to do with the
old Venables/Bostock feud or else a dispute over property boundaries. The Holt
family had held lands in Wimboldsley since the time of King John. At this time
they held the manor and lands in Sutton and Occlestone from Thomas Stanley of
Aldford, with lands in Holt and Newton from Sir James Tochet. The Bostocks also
held their lands in Wimboldsley and Occleston from the lords of Aldford. Earlier
in the century the Occleston lands had been described as two messuages and
fifty-six acres of land.
About
the time of William�s prob etat we
hear of him acting as a trustee and feoffee of Ralph Vernon of Haslington and
having custody of that manor. This is an interesting fact as a family of
Bostocks settled in the village about this time or a little later. Otherwise,
the records are silent concerning William Bostock. The pedigree in Landed
Gentry states that William died unmarried in 1487: this cannot be correct
in-view of him being named in the settlement of 1514/5. William died between the
date of that settlement and his mother�s death in February 1516, aged about
forty-nine years.
The
main line of the Bostocks of Bostock had come to an end, succeeded by the Savage
family as lords of the manor of Bostock - a family which rose to become
Viscounts Savage, Viscounts Colchester and Earl Rivers. Anne�s husband John
Savage was knighted in 1497 and was sheriff of Worcester for a total of
twenty-four years. He died on 2 March 1527 and was buried in Macclesfield church
where the armoured effigies of himself, his father and son can be seen. The
Savage family seat was at Clifton near Runcorn; they never lived in Bostock Hall
so it is possible that one of the junior lines of the Bostock family did so as
tenants of the Savages.
There
are no known monuments to any of the medieval members of the Bostock family
within the county. However it is known that there was an inscription with the
painting of an achievement of arms to the memory of Ralph de Bostock in the
parish church of Church Minshull. Sampson Erdswick recorded this in 1572, along
with another fifty or so to be found on the walls and windows of the church, but
none of these have survived.
All
the pedigrees state that Ralph de Bostock had another son named John. Ormerod
suggests that he was illegitimate which would account for his not inheriting his
father's estates; he also says that he was the great-grandfather of Laurence
Bostock, the antiquary, (subject of the next section) whose papers are now
preserved in the British Museum.
The
Bostock family was not to disappear from the area for a few families of the name
continue in the district around the ancient village for many generations. These
are the subjects of the following sections. Branches of the family also settled
in many places around the county at Tattenhall, Huxley, Churton, Woodhead,
Congleton and Macclesfield, as well as at Holt, Denbighshire, Moreton Say,
Salop, and Abingdon, Berkshire - these will be the subject of other chapters.
With
the death of Sir John Savage and the minority of his heir, Sir William Brereton
of Malpas received from the Crown the wardship of the heir and a lease of the
Savage estates in 1529. Sir William then married Sir John's widow, Elizabeth,
daughter of Charles, earl of Worcester, Henry VIII�s cousin and Lord
Chamberlain; he and his wife therefore had full control of the Savage estates
until 1536 when he was executed for treason by virtue of an alleged affair with
King Henry's wife, Anne Boleyn.
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