SOTEWELL, Richard

This MP’s family had long been connected with Ludgershall, for his forebear (perhaps father or grandfather) Roger Sotewell, a servant of Edward III’s daughter Isabel, was granted by her in 1364 keeping of the park at Ludgershall for term of her life, and continued to hold the keepership until his own death after being confirmed in office by Richard II in 1382.4 CPR, 1364-7, p. 123; 1377-81, p. 101; 1381-5, p. 175; Wilts. Arch. Mag. lxxxv. 78. Roger was elected to every one of the eight Parliaments to which Ludgershall made returns between 1380 and 1385. Alice Sotewell, recorded in 1412 as holding lands worth £8 p.a. in nearby Tidworth, may have been his widow or daughter-in-law, and was certainly the mother of our MP. Her own inheritance descended in the Sotewell family.5 Feudal Aids, vi. 539; VCH Wilts. xv. 159. This included land which she held together with Anastasia, widow of Thomas Semeley, by serjeanty of the King, so that in 1427, following the deaths of the two women, a ‘mounter’ (comprised of his best horse, saddle, gown and dog) was required from Richard Sotewell, as Alice’s son and heir, by the lord of Savernake forest, Humphrey, duke of Gloucester. When Sotewell failed to deliver these symbols of fiefdom, the steward in the forest was ordered to make distraint on the goods and chattels of the heirs, executors or tenants of the deceased.6 Marquis of Ailesbury mss, 1300/53.

Richard lived at Chute (some three miles from Ludgershall), and was among the parishioners there who in 1409 reported to the bishop of Salisbury’s commissary that the chancel roof, windows, walls and door of the church were defective through the negligence of the prebendary. He and members of his family continued to hold land there until the seventeenth century.7 Reg. John Chandler (Wilts. Rec. Soc. xxxix), 745; VCH Wilts. xvi. 114. Ludgershall straddled the border of Wiltshire and Hampshire, so it is not surprising that Sotewell witnessed deeds for the gentry of both counties.8 Wilts. Hist. Centre, Savernake Estate mss, 9/27/2; 13/1. In 1421 as one of the ‘nearest friends’ of the three-year-old son and heir of the late Sir Thomas Pole (d.1420), he was present when the child’s mother was assigned dower in the manor of Ramridge (situated between Ludgershall and Andover).9 CIPM, xxi. 683. Of greater significance in the context of his election to the Commons, however, was his close connexion with Sir William Sturmy* of Wolf Hall, the distinguished parliamentarian who was keeper of the manor and borough of Ludgershall at the time of Sotewell’s return to the Parliament which assembled at Leicester on 18 Feb. 1426. Ten days later, he was associated with Sturmy and others of his circle such as Richard Hardene* (the elected representative of Great Bedwyn), who were named as witnesses to a conveyance of lands at Collingbourne ‘Valence’. Whether this means that he and Hardene were late arriving at Leicester or that their names were added to the deed in their absence is unclear.10 Savernake Estate mss, 9/12/7. There can be no doubt that Sturmy had been influential in securing the elections of the two men. Sir William died just over a year later, but before he did so he had named Sotewell as a feoffee of his manor of Huish in Wiltshire, in company with Bishops John Stafford and Thomas Polton; clearly, he was someone in whom Sturmy could place his trust. On 1 Nov. 1427, having paid £5 into the hanaper, the feoffees obtained pardons for their trespass in entering the manor without royal licence, and were granted livery. They made a presentation to the vacant living at Huish shortly afterwards, but this was apparently set aside in favour of a priest promoted by John Bird*, who successfully laid claim to the manor.11 CIPM, xxii. 716; CPR, 1422-9, p. 450; 1422-9, p. 355; Wilts. Arch. Mag. xxxix. 95-96. Meanwhile, shortly after Sturmy’s death Sotewell had witnessed the transfer by Polton, Hardene and other feoffees of different parts of the knight’s estates to his grandson and coheir John Seymour I*.12 Marquis of Ailesbury mss, 1300/43. Sturmy’s followers formed a close-knit group. At an unknown date (although perhaps not until after our MP’s death) Sotewell’s daughter Anne was married to John Benger*, the son and heir of the John Benger† who had been among the knight’s most intimate and trusted servants.13 Coventry of Burgate mss, 1M53/1423.

Subsequently, Sotewell served as a juror at Winchester in January 1429 for the post mortem of Robert Avenell, but it was as one of the gentry of Wiltshire that five years later he was listed to take the generally-administered oath not to maintain malefactors,14 CIPM, xxiii. 217; CPR, 1429-36, p. 371. and he attended the parliamentary elections for that county which were held at Wilton on 6 Sept. 1435, then endorsing the election of Sturmy’s grandson Seymour as a knight of the shire.15 C219/14/5. Sotewell died a few months later. The only official position he is known to have held was the verderership of Chute forest, which he occupied at the time of his death. The sheriff was ordered on 4 Feb. 1436 to arrange the election of a replacement.16 CCR, 1435-41, p. 28.

Nothing is known about the family of Sotewell’s wife Joan, who brought to the marriage land and property at Faccombe in Hampshire, which in January 1447 she leased to their daughter Anne and son-in-law John Benger for ten years. At the same time John Benger the elder settled on the couple the manor of Collingbourne Sunton and land at Shaw in Chute. John and Robert Sotewell, probably both sons of the late MP, witnessed the transaction. John, certainly Richard’s son and heir, received from his widowed mother her holdings in Faccombe and Andover in August 1460.17 Coventry of Burgate mss, 1M53/1423, 1425; Savernake Estate mss, 9/11/6. He died before September 1471 when his son and namesake conveyed to feoffees these same properties together with his manors and other landed possessions in Ludgershall, North Tidworth, Burbage, Chute and Grafton. These were later settled on the younger John and his wife Elizabeth, sister of William Pece.18 Coventry of Burgate mss, 1M53/1432-4. The ped. in Vis. Wilts. 185 missed out the second of these John Sotewells.