Family and Education

b. c.1512, 1st s. of Robert Baynard of Lackham by Anne, da. of Robert Blake of Calne. m. (1) Mary, da. of Leonard Poole of Sapperton, Glos., s.p.; (2) Eleanor (d.1559), da. of Edmund Walsingham^† of Chislehurst, Kent, s.p.; (3) Elizabeth, da. of John Warnford of Sevenhampton, 8s. inc. Robert 2da. suc. fa. 1536.1

Offices Held

Commr. gaol delivery, Fisherton Anger 1543; j.p. Wilts. 1543, q. by 1554; commr. musters 1546, sheriff July-Nov. 1553, custos. rot.2

Biography

Baynard owned property in Chippenham, and his seat at Lackham was only two miles away. He succeeded to Lackham in the year that Henry VIII, newly married to Jane Seymour, is said to have visited it. There are several references to his buying or exchanging land in the county, but he did not add greatly to his inheritance. As well as Lackham, his inquisition post mortem mentions lands in Chippenham, Calne, Reybridge and elsewhere in Wiltshire.3

He was an active country gentleman in four reigns. In addition to his regular membership of the commission of the peace he carried out various ad hoc duties in Wiltshire, such as the collection of a relief, or the supervision of county levies raised for special purposes. He was appointed sheriff when Sir William Sharington died a few days after Edward VI, and an undated bill for his patent of office survives, signed ‘Jane the Queen’: the writ, however, bore the name of Mary. Though Baynard was discreet enough about his religion to have held important local offices under Queen Mary, the bishop of Salisbury described him early in Elizabeth’s reign as a ‘furtherer earnest’ of sound religion, and his will, which laid emphasis on a funeral sermon rather than almsgiving or mourning gowns, is protestant in tone. He bequeathed 400 marks to hisdaughter Mary as her marriage portion if her mother approved of her choice of husband, and half that amount if she did not. Other legatees included Nicholas St. John and Ralph Rycroft, vicar of Lacock. Michael Erneley, probably the son of John Erneley, was appointed one of the trustees of Baynard’s lands, to administer the estates for the eldest surviving son Robert, who was only 12 years old.4

Baynard died 12 Dec. 1575, and was buried on 21st of that month. His epitaph describes him as bountiful to his family, liberal to his servants and ‘an enemy to no man’.5

Wilts. Arch. Mag. iii. 213; iv. 4 seq.; xxxvii. 614-15; Wilts. Vis. Peds. (Harl. Soc. cv, cvi), 15; E. A. Webb, G. W. Miller, J. Beckwith, Hist. Chislehurst, ped. opp. p. 112; Wilts. N. and Q. iii. 59 seq.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N. M. Fuidge

Notes

• 1. Rylands Eng. ms 311; PCC 8 Lawe; Chippenham Recs. 18.
• 2. LP Hen. VIII, xx(1), pp. 314, 316, 321; xxi(1), p. 40; CPR, 1553-4, p. 25.
• 3. C142/175/101; Wilts. N. and Q. iii. 59 seq.; v. 26; CPR , 1560-3, p. 514.
• 4. CPR , 1553 and App. Edw. VI, p. 359; LP Hen. VIII , xxi(1), p. 40; Cam. Misc. ix(3), p. 38; PCC 58 Pyckering.
• 5. C142/175/101.