Family and Education

s. of Robert Pepper and his w. Marjorie. educ. G. Inn 1570, called 1578. m. Margaret, da. of Robert Wild of East Cowton, 3s. 3da. Kntd. 1604.1

Offices Held

J.p. Yorks (N. Riding) from c.1582; Summer reader, G. Inn 1595, treasurer 1604; recorder, Richmond 1596-1603; attorney in the north 1598-1603; member, council in the north 1599; member, high commission, province of York 1599, 1603; surveyor of court of wards 1600-7, attorney from 1607; judge in the northern court from 1603.2

Biography

Pepper, who sat twice for Richmond during his recordership, was a lawyer from a minor Yorkshire family. His appointment as attorney in the north following the death of William Paler, who had been ailing for some time, was as much ‘in respect of his years and strength of body’, as of his legal qualifications. He died 11 Aug. 1608, having made his will 24 Sept. 1606. He expressed the hope, through Christ, to be ‘adopted a co-heir in the Kingdom where the Holy and Blessed Trinity shall be praised eternally’. His daughter Dorothy received £500, his younger sons annuities of £50 each, and his mother an annuity of £15. He was succeeded by his eldest son Robert, the sole executor, who lost no time in writing to inform Lord Salisbury that his father, on his deathbed, ‘earnestly prayed his Lordship’s favour for his children’.3

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N.M.S.

Notes

• 1. Whitaker, Richmondshire, i. 246.
• 2. Lansd. 53, f. 195; G. Inn Pens. Bk. i. 109, 500; Clarkson, Richmond, app. xlvii; CSP Dom. 1598-1601, p. 5; Add. 1580-1625, p. 428; 1603-10, pp. 363, 380; Reid, Council of the North, 245; J. Hurstfield, Queen’s Wards, 224; HMC Hatfield, ix. 396; x. 369; xv. 394.
• 3. Al. Cant. iii. 343; Richmond Wills and Inventories (Surtees Soc. xxvi), 180; HMC Hatfield, vii. 506; York wills 31/72; C142/310/64; CSP Dom. 1603-10, p. 451.