PLUSH, William

Plush probably took his name from the hamlet in the Dorset parish of Buckland Newton, but his origins and paternity are otherwise obscure. Equally, no details of his early career have been discovered. It appears likely that – like other Taunton MPs – he owed his two successive elections for that borough to a connexion with Bishop Waynflete of Winchester, even though only tenuous hints of such a link have been found. Plush’s return for Bridgwater in 1455 may have resulted from his ties with the prominent Somerset lawyer Alexander Hody*, one of the most distinguished parliamentarians of his day, whose service he entered about this time; while Hody himself was probably already acquainted with Waynflete, who within a few months would appoint him deputy constable of his castle at Taunton.2 The William Plush, styled a ‘groom’ of Cannington, whom Hody had sued in late 1447 for driving off his livestock from Cannington in association with William Dodesham*, was probably a namesake: KB27/746, rot. 78.

Plush was evidently part of Hody’s inner circle, for alongside his possible parliamentary colleague, Robert Cotys II*, he was among those of the lawyer’s servants towards whom James Luttrell of Dunster (then engaged in a prolonged dispute with Hody and Bishop Waynflete) and his men were explicitly bound to keep the peace in November 1457.3 CCR, 1454-61, p. 262. In the light of their relationship, it is all the more surprising that after Edward IV’s accession Plush appears to have made a smooth transition from the service of the die-hard Lancastrian loyalist Hody (attainted for his presence at the battle of Wakefield) to that of the new King’s favourite, Humphrey Stafford IV*, now Lord Stafford of Southwick. It is indeed possible that the dramatic circumstance of Plush’s death owed something to his change of allegiance. On 29 June 1462 at four o’clock in the afternoon Plush was set upon at Cannington and stabbed to death by Joan, the wife of the local gentleman Leonard Tylly of Whethill, and two yeomen from Taunton. According to the version of events later given by the murdered man’s widow, Joan Tylly had used Plush’s own dagger which she had somehow managed to extract from its sheath. That autumn, Isabel Plush appealed the murderers in the court of King’s bench, but after a series of procedural delays (the first of which was caused by Joan Tylly’s pregnancy) the defendants were cleared at the Ilchester assizes in July 1463, and to add insult to injury Isabel was ordered to pay £7 in damages.4 KB9/300/85, 86; KB27/806, rot. 22. Now, however, she called on the assistance of her late husband’s lord, Stafford, who for his part brought litigation against Leonard Tylly and his wife, claiming £100 damages for the loss of Plush’s services. Faced with as formidable an opponent as Edward IV’s favourite, within weeks the Tyllys asked to negotiate a settlement.5 CP40/810, rots. 129, 307, 374. Some ten years after her first husband’s death Isabel decided to remarry, taking as her new spouse one Peter Ravysworth.6 Apostolic Penitentiary, ii (Canterbury and York Soc. civ), 1836.