LILBORNE, Sir John (b.1341), of Milton Lilborne, Wilts.

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

b. Shermanbury, Suss. 21 Oct. 1341, s. and h. of John Lilborne of Milton Lilborne by Sibyl, da. and coh. of Sir Hugh Boucy of Shermanbury. m. by 1380, Isabel, ?1da. Kntd. by May 1383.

Offices Held

Commr. to put down rebellion, Berks. Dec. 1381, Mar., Dec. 1382; of array Apr. 1385, Mar. 1392, Wilts. Dec. 1399, July 1402; gaol delivery, Marlborough Feb. 1393; weirs, Wilts. June 1398; to govern Amesbury priory May 1400; of arrest, Wilts. June 1402; inquiry Nov. 1402 (lands of St. Thomas’s hospital, Marlborough).

J.p. Wilts. 15 July 1389-91, 26 Oct. 1397-Nov. 1399, May 1401-4.

Coroner, Wilts. bef. Feb. 1393.

Biography

Lilborne’s father died in 1348 when he was a minor. On coming of age in 1363 he entered into possession of Milton Lilborne (from his father) and of lands lately belonging to his paternal grandmother, Anastasia (d.1353), including the manors of Westcourt in Shalbourne and East Wick. Another part of his inheritance, the forestership of the west bailiwick of Savernake forest, he subsequently exchanged, along with property at East Wick and Wootton Rivers, for 110 acres of land and £10 rent in Ramsbury, Milton and elsewhere belonging to Sir Thomas Hungerford*. Outside Wiltshire, Lilborne inherited the manor of Kitchen in Pulloxhill, Bedfordshire, which, however, he sold 20 years later. In 1369 he began a suit against Sir William Fifhide, a cousin on his mother’s side, for possession of moieties of the manors of Shermanbury, ‘Ifeld’ and Kingston near Shoreham, all in Sussex, which had once belonged to their grandfather, Sir Hugh Boucy. In fact the latter had evidently wanted the estates to descend to the Fifhides, and eventually, in July 1383, Lilborne formally gave up his title to them, at the same time relinquishing his right to bear Boucy’s arms and crest. Fifhide apparently paid him £100. This was not the end of the matter, however, for after Fifhide’s death Lilborne disputed possession with Sir John Sandys*, who had married his heir. In February 1389 they entered into mutual recognizances for £1,000, agreeing to abide by the arbitration of the chancellor, Archbishop but it was not until November 1391 that Lilborne finally gave up his claim, evidently in return for a payment of 200 marks.1

Lilborne may have served abroad in the early part of 1381, and he was knighted about two years later. In March 1387 he joined the army about to put to sea under the command of Richard, earl of Arundel. Otherwise, his service to the Crown was more or less restricted to commissions not only in Wiltshire but also in Berkshire where he held, for the life of his wife, the manor of West Lockinge. It was in Wiltshire, however, that he undertook the greater part of his administrative activity, and from Wiltshire that he was returned to Parliament in 1395 and summoned to great councils in 1401 and 1403. He had earlier been replaced as a coroner of the shire on the ground that he was ‘too much occupied with the King’s business’ to attend to the office, but the precise nature of this ‘business’ is unknown.2

There is little record of Lilborne after 1403. He witnessed a deed on behalf of Sir William Sturmy* in May 1405, and three years later he settled the manor of Milton Lilborne on Edward Cowdray* of Herriard, Hampshire, and his wife Maud (probably his own daughter), in return for a rent of £20 13s.4d. a year for the lifetimes of himself and his wife. In 1412 he was stated to be holding property in Langstock and elsewhere in Hampshire worth £20 a year, but the manor of Westcourt in Shalbourne was by this time in the possession of William Changton (probably his half-brother). The date of Lilborne’s death is not known.3

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: Richmond

Notes

Variants: Lislebon, Lysbon.

  • 1. CIPM, x. 180-2, 248, 506; xi. 22, 548; CPR, 1367-70, p. 106; VCH Beds. ii. 378; Peds. Plea Rolls ed. Wrottesley, 159; CCR, 1360-4, p. 128; 1381-5, p. 399; 1385-9, p. 639; 1389-92, pp. 480, 505; Suss. Arch. Colls. lxii. 135-8.
  • 2. PPC, i. 161; ii. 87; VCH Berks. iv. 231-2, 308; Rot. Gasc. et Franc. ed. Carte, ii. 135; E101/40/33 m. 1.
  • 3. CCR, 1402-5, p. 511; Feudal Aids, vi. 453; Wilts. Feet of Fines (Wilts. Rec. Soc. xli), 282; VCH Berks. iv. 231-2.