MILFORD, William I

Milford originally lived at Wickington in the parish of South Tawton (where he held to farm the lands belonging to the royal college of St. George in Windsor castle). Later in life he also acquired property in the town of Totnes, where by 1442 he owned a garden adjacent to that of the guildhall,2 H.R. Watkin, Totnes Priory and Town, i. 379; St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, recs., XV.48.8. and – probably by marriage – in Tavistock.3 CP40/852, rot. 460d. He first occurs in the records in the reign of Henry V, when he was convicted of a trespass against Roger Wyke†, probably in connexion with the latter’s property in South Tawton.4 CPR, 1422-9, p. 426. Although Wyke was closely connected with the Courtenay earls of Devon, this clash does not seem to have affected Milford’s own relations with the comital family and in 1420 he went to France as a man-at-arms in Earl Hugh’s retinue.5 E101/49/34, m. 1. As the earl died not long after, leaving his son and heir a minor, it is likely that Milford’s credentials as a local man, rather than any interference by the Courtenays, secured him election to the Commons of 1425. There is nothing to suggest that he distinguished himself in Parliament, and he certainly never attracted Crown office, although he was occasionally empanelled on local juries.6 C139/156/4. In the meantime Milford’s old conviction from his dispute with Wyke had led to his being outlawed, and it was only after he had paid his opponent’s damages and formally surrendered to the Marshalsea that, in October 1427, he received a royal pardon.7 CPR, 1422-9, p. 426.

Many of Milford’s later activities are difficult to distinguish from those of his synonymous son. Nevertheless, it was probably he who in early 1450 was suing a South Tawton husbandman and his associates for a trespass, and who two years later challenged a Totnes butcher for allegedly breaking into his close.8 KB27/755, rots. 3, 52; 758, rot. 43; CP40/760, rot. 210d. Likewise, it may be thought to have been the older man whom one John Symond accused of falsely depriving him of property by litigation in the manor court of Totnes.9 C1/16/183. It is possible that Symond succeeded in defeating Milford on this occasion, for by the 1470s the younger William Milford had resorted to purchasing the holdings of his father’s former opponent.10 C1/58/236.

The date of Milford’s death is not known, but he was still alive in October 1456, when he was named on a jury as ‘William Milford senior’.11 C139/156/4.