NEWDYK, Henry

Of unknown parentage, Newdyk was active at Worcester from at least the later 1420s. In June 1429 the Crown assigned to him the keeping of a garden outside the Foregate, confiscated from Sir John Beauchamp† (exec. 1388) of Holt, to hold for as long as it should remain in the King’s hands. In return, he undertook to pay a rent of 8d. p.a. for the garden, the custody of which was re-granted to him in April 1432.3 CFR, xv. 269; xvi. 99. During both of his known terms as a bailiff of Worcester, Newdyk held office with John Hall I*, who was also his fellow MP in the Parliament of 1435. Hall, who had pursued a career in London while retaining his connexions with Worcester, was a grocer, but Newdyk’s occupation is unrecorded.

As far as the evidence goes, Newdyk did not hold any office after the 1430s. Presumably, this was by choice since in the spring of 1448 he secured an exemption for life from any appointment by the Crown.4 CPR, 1446-52, p. 253. He lived for at least a decade and a half after that date, for he made his will in 1464. The surviving copy of this is now largely illegible, although it does reveal that he married twice, first to Margaret Oseney and secondly to a lady named Anne, then still alive. It also shows that he possessed a house on Birdport Street, and that he had two sons, Richard and Thomas.5 Trans. Worcs. Arch. Soc. n.s. xxi. 52. Richard died some time before May 1504 when his eldest son George, described as his heir, made a release of lands to his brother, another Thomas Newdyk. These estates included holdings in Worcester, Peopleton, Leigh and elsewhere in Worcestershire and at Westminster and Hammersmith in Middlesex.6 CCR, 1500-9, no. 401. It is unclear whether the Westminster and Hammersmith properties had once belonged to the MP or had come to the Newdyks after his death. Later generations of Newdyks resided at Newdicke Court in Worcester but the family died out in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century.7 W.R. Williams, Parlty. Hist. Worcs. 88.