LAMBOURNE, Sir William, of Lambourne and Trerice, Cornw.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421, ed. J.S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe., 1993
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Jan. 1377
Oct. 1383
Sept. 1388
Jan. 1390

Family and Education

m. (1) by 1370, Joan, da. and coh. of John Lanhadron (or Nansladron) by his w. Amy, 1da.;1 (2) Joan (d.c.1397), da. and coh. of Sir William Luscote of Luscote in Braunton and Loddiswell, Devon, wid. of Sir John Arundell (d.c.1375) of Lanherne; (3) by 1400, Sibyl (or Isabel), 1s. Kntd. by Nov. 1376.2

Offices Held

Tax collector, Cornw. July 1360, Mar. 1404.

J.p. Cornw. ?-June 1373, 20 May 1384-Feb. 1385, Apr. 1385-July 1387, July-Nov. 1389, Feb. 1400-Dec. 1405, Feb. 1407-Mar. 1410.

Commr. of array, Cornw. Apr., July 1377, Feb. 1385, Dec. 1399, July 1402, Aug., Sept. 1403, July 1405; arrest Aug. 1383, July 1384; inquiry Oct. 1385 (eviction), Jan. 1386 (concealments), Nov. 1389 (mill rights at Tintagel), Mar. 1390 (seizure of wines), Som., Dorset, Devon, Cornw. Jan. 1405 (smuggling), Jan. 1406 (unlawful assemblies), May 1406 (payment of ransoms in Brittany), June 1406 (concealments), July 1407 (piracy), Feb. 1408 ( John Chenduyt’s* claims to Bodannan); to make proclamation for good government, Cornw. May 1402; raise loans Sept. 1405, Devon, Cornw. June 1406.

Lt. to Sir Thomas Rempston I*, admiral of the west, by Dec. 1402.

Biography

Not only are Lambourne’s origins obscure, but there is little trace of his activities before the end of Edward III’s reign. However, he and his first wife had settled on their properties at least by 1372. Before his first appearance in Parliament in 1377 Lambourne had had little experience in county matters, though his knighthood may suggest that he had seen military service abroad. For the first decade of Richard II’s reign he was fully immersed in Cornish affairs, despite the fact that his service on the peace commission lacked continuity. It was during this period, too, that he certainly saw military action: in March 1381 he took out royal letters of protection as about to serve abroad, and in the autumn of 1386 he was preparing to go to Spain under John of Gaunt. Meanwhile, the invasion alarm of 1383 had resulted in his being ordered to reside near the sea, and with his household armed, presumably at Lambourne, which is just over a mile from the coast near Truro. For the last ten years of Richard II’s reign, in contrast, Lambourne apparently ceased all kinds of official activity, and it was only under Henry IV that he was again prominent. His career in this later period culminated in his appointment as lieutenant to Sir Thomas Rempston, admiral in the west.3

The extent of Lambourne’s property is difficult to trace, no inquisition post mortem having been found. His first wife inherited lands worth more than £10 a year from her father, who died in 1369; and by a legal transaction of 1376 she and Lambourne established their right to some of this premises including the manors of Lanhadron in St. Ewe and Langoron. An episcopal licence for oratories granted in the same year shows them holding Lambourne and Trereise, and Sir William is also known to have owned land in Venton Vaise and premises in Grampound. His second wife was heir to Loddiswell and other properties in Devon, and when she died in 1397 she also left holdings in Gloucestershire at Redwick and Magor. Lambourne subsequently shared possession of these with his stepson, (Sir) John Arundell I* of Lanherne, who, by marriage to a daughter by his first wife, also became his son-in-law.4

Lambourne’s private activities were hardly creditable. He showed a proclivity for abducting heirs, two cases being brought against him in 1376 and another in 1389. On one occasion he was alleged to be in wrongful possession of three tuns of wine, and in 1389-90 a writ of debt was sued against him in London on a recognizance of £500. Seven years later both he and his son were gaoled at Exeter for illegal entry into a moiety of the manor of Loddiswell.

Nevertheless, as usual with a man of his prominence, appearances as a witness, surety and feoffee were common. Sir William was present at the Cornish elections in 1407. He is not recorded after 1411, and the date of his death is not known.5

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Notes

Variants: Lambron, Lambruyn.

  • 1. Cornw. Feet of Fines (Devon and Cornw. Rec. Soc. 1950), 1062; SC6/818/1; Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 3. It is unlikely that Joan was the heiress of Ralph Soor of Tolverne, as suggested in Devon and Cornw. N. and Q. xx. 154-6.
  • 2. Cornw. Feet of Fines, 830; Reg. Stafford ed. Hingeston-Randolph, 277.
  • 3. CCR, 1381-5, pp. 269-70; 1402-5, p. 32; Rot. Gasc. et Franc. ed. Carte, ii. 135, 154.
  • 4. Reg. Brantingham ed. Hingeston-Randolph, III, 267; Cornw. Feet of Fines (ibid. 1914), 673, 695; ibid. (1950), 830; CIMisc. iii. 394; SC6/818/1; CPR, 1408-13, p. 275; CFR, xi. 217.
  • 5. Vis. Cornw. 11n, 182n; CPR, 1388-92, pp. 60, 212; CCR, 1369-74, p. 560; 1385-9, p. 675; 1392-6, p. 243; CAD, iv. A8711, 9605, 9968, 10426; Cornw. Feet of Fines (1950), 855, 857, 867; Yr. Bk. 1389-90 ed. Plucknett, 148-9; C47/96/4; C219/10/4.