BOWYER, William, of Knypersley, Staffs.

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

Family and Education

s. of Thomas Bowyer of Newcastle-under-Lyme by his w. Katherine, da. and h. of Robert Knypersley, of Knypersley. m. by June 1396, Margaret, prob. da. of Thomas Trubshaw, 3s.1

Offices Held

Biography

Although he does not seem to have lived in Newcastle after his marriage, Bowyer had strong personal connexions with the borough, where his family had enjoyed considerable influence from 1360 onwards, if not before. His father, Thomas, played a particularly active part in municipal life, being made bailiff in 1384, and subsequently serving two terms as mayor. It was through his wife, Katherine, that Thomas acquired the manor of Knypersley, part (if not all) of which the couple conveyed to their son during the Trinity term of 1396. This settlement, which probably marks the date of William Bowyer’s own marriage, made the young man tenant of three messuages and extensive farmland, which were to revert to him and his heirs after his parents’ death.2

Save for his one return to Parliament several years later, little else is known of Bowyer’s career. A man of the same name was wounded at Stafford in February 1414 while in the service of the sheriff, Sir John Bagot*, although it is now impossible to tell if the subject of this biography was ever employed as an officer of the peace in Staffordshire. Bowyer is said to have left three sons, one of whom reputedly set up in business as a merchant at Kidderminster.3

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: C.R.

Notes

  • 1. Wm. Salt Arch. Soc. v(2), 47-48, xi. 203.
  • 2. T. Pape, Med. Newcastle-under-Lyme, 43, 86, 156, 160-1, 164, 166-7, 169, 170-2, 174-5, 195-6; Wm. Salt Arch. Soc. xi. 194, 196, 203; xiii. 198.
  • 3. Wm. Salt Arch. Soc. xvii. 27.