William Hankford
SirWilliam Hankford(c.1350 – 1423), also writtenHankeford,ofAnneryinDevon,was an English lawyer who acted asChief Justice of the King's Benchfrom 1413 until 1423.[2]
Origins
[edit]Born about 1350, he came from a minorgentryfamily who took their name from their estate of Hankford, nearBulkworthyin the Devon parish ofBuckland Brewer.The names of his parents are unknown, and he had a younger brother named John who died before him.[2]
Career
[edit]Educated at theMiddle Templeand then practising law, from 1388 he was retained as counsel by theEarl of Devon.Appointed aserjeant-at-lawin that year, he was raised toking's serjeantin 1389. In addition to pleading in the central courts at London, he acted as a royal judge in many provincial courts around southern England. In 1394 he accompanied KingRichard IIto Ireland,[2]where he apparently served asLord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Irelandfrom 1395 to 1396.[3]
In 1398 he was one of the judges asked by Richard II to pronounce on the validity of the opinions given in 1387 by the judges who decided that the actions of theLords Appellantwere unlawful and treasonable. He declared that the responses were sound and loyal and that he would have given the same answers himself.[2][4][5]Shortly after, he was appointed to succeed his friend SirJohn Wadhamas Justice of theCourt of Common Pleas.[2][6]
When KingHenry IVreplaced Richard II in 1399, he reappointed Hankford to the bench and at his coronation made him aKnight of the Bath.[2][7]In the following years he was active as a judge and royal commissioner, at times also attendingParliamentand thePrivy Council.On the accession of KingHenry Vin 1413, he replaced SirWilliam GascoigneasChief Justice of the King's Bench,an appointment that was renewed under KingHenry VIin 1422.[2]
He died on 12 December 1423 and was buried in Monkleigh church, which he had largely rebuilt, where his ornateEaster Sepulchremonument survives in the south wall of the Annery Chapel. A legend claims that he had ordered hisgamekeeperto shoot intruders on sight and that, wandering in his woods at night, he was shot dead. As the same tale is told of another Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, SirRobert Danbywho died 51 years later in 1474, it seems improbable that two heads of the English judiciary should die in the same unusual way in the same century. In his will made two days before his death, in addition to family bequests (including provision for the education of two illegitimate grandsons), he left generous sums to churches, charities, and religious foundations in North Devon. SirWilliam Cheyne,his successor as Chief Justice, was one of his executors.[2]
Family
[edit]By 1380 he had married Christine, who died before him and whose parents are unknown. Their son was:
- Richard Hankford (died 1419),[2]twice MP for Devon, who with his wife Thomasine Stapleton was father of:[8]
- SirRichard Hankford(died 1431), who became his grandfather's heir in 1423.[2][9]
- Jane Hankford (died 1448), who married, as his second wife, SirRobert Cary(died about 1431).[10][11]Having no children from this marriage, in 1433 she then married Sir Theobald Gorges (died 1470) and had three children with him.[12][13]
References
[edit]- ^Tristram Risdon's Notebook
- ^abcdefghijVirgoe, Roger (3 January 2008). "Hankeford [Hankford], Sir William (c. 1350–1423)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/12196.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^Ball, F. Elrington (1926).The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921.London: John Murray. p. 169.
- ^Saul, Nigel(1997).Richard II.New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 378.ISBN0-300-07003-9.
- ^Chrimes, S. B. (1956). "Richard II's questions to the judges".Law Quarterly Review.lxxii: 365–90.
- ^Beatson, Robert(20 May 1788).A Political Index to The Histories of Great Britain and Ireland.p. 414.
- ^Harriss, Gerald(2005).Shaping the Nation: England, 1360–1461.Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 486–8.ISBN0-19-822816-3.
- ^"Hankford, Richard (d.1419), of Hewish, Devon".History of Parliament.
- ^Cokayne, G. E.The Complete Peerage.Vol. 5 (2 ed.). pp. 504–5.
- ^Vivian, J.L.,ed. (1895).The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620.Exeter: Henry S. Eland. p. 150.
- ^"History of Parliament".
- ^Weis, Frederick Lewis(1999).The Magna Charta Sureties, 1215(5 ed.). p. 30.
- ^Roberts, Gary Boyd (2008).The Royal Descent of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States.p. 524.
See also
[edit]- Prince, John,(1643–1723), The Worthies of Devon, 1810 edition, pp. 458–462, biography of Sir William Hankford.