WHITEHEVED, William

Whiteheved’s origins are unknown, although he appears to have come from a family of some modest means which had interests in Carlisle.2 Little can be discovered about the earlier hist. of the family. A Robert Whiteheved served under Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland, in Scotland in 1384: C71/63, m. 5. He first appears in the records in 1418 when, described as ‘William, son of Matthew Whithede, of Carlisle, esquire’, he was sued by William Strickland, bishop of Durham, for abduction of Joan, daughter and heir of John Dalston (d.1416) of Dalston (Cumberland), whom the bishop claimed as his ward. It is likely that Whiteheved was here acting in the interests of the influential family of Skelton. In March 1416 the Crown had granted the Dalston wardship to Richard, son and heir-apparent of Sir John Skelton*, and the bishop also brought an action against Sir John and Richard for the alleged abduction. Whiteheved’s connexion with the Skeltons was more directly exemplified in June 1420 when he offered surety in a royal grant of the keeping of waste ground in Carlisle to Richard.3 CP40/629, rots. 163d, 325d; CPR, 1416-22, p. 8; CFR, xiv. 340.

Whiteheved may also have had connexions with greater men. It may be that he is to be identified with the namesake who had a modest salary of 6s. 8d. p.a. from Henry Bowet, archbishop of York. He may also have been connected with Ralph Neville, earl of Westmorland: in later law suits he is described as a yeoman of Bolton-in-Allerdale, where the earl was lord.4 Test. Ebor. iii (Surtees Soc. xlv), 82; CP40/662, rot. 21d; 688, rot. 229d. Perhaps these associations served to recommend him to the electors of Carlisle as MP to the Parliament of 1423, which happened to assemble on the very day that the archbishop died. There must, however, be a doubt as to whether he was the citizens’ choice. The Cumberland election indenture of 5 Oct. 1423, a combined return for county and borough, is in standard form, naming, after the county attestors, 15 citizens of Carlisle, headed by the mayor and bailiffs. However, the names of the city’s MPs have been added in a blank left in the indenture, with that of Whiteheved’s colleague, Richard Bristowe*, written over an erasure. Precisely the same irregularity appears on the dorse of the electoral writ, although here their names are in the same hand (albeit in a lighter ink) as the rest of the endorsement, and so it is fair to conclude that the names of the MPs were added before the return left the sheriff’s office.5 C219/13/2. The likelihood is that no citizens of Carlisle were willing to serve, and thus two minor local lawyers, both with interests in the city, were chosen to supply their place. Bristowe was certainly a lawyer, and it may have been Whiteheved’s legal knowledge that had recommended him to Archbishop Bowet.

Little else is known of Whiteheved. Between 1426 and 1433 he was one of several tenants of the manor of Bolton-in-Allerdale sued for debt by Sir Peter Tilliol*. Tilliol claimed to hold the manor as the lessee of the earl of Westmorland, but his right was disputed by the earl’s younger son, Sir George Neville, as the earl’s grantee. The latter’s title was vindicated at a special assize of novel disseisin in December 1433, and it is probable that Whiteheved was sued by Tilliol as a tenant who refused, justifiably as it transpired, to pay him rent.6 CP40/662, rot. 21d; 688, rot. 229d; JUST1/143/3, m. 7.

Further evidence of Whiteheved’s connexions with the Nevilles comes much later, and it may be that it relates to a namesake. On 12 Apr. 1452 the earl’s grandson, Robert Neville, bishop of Durham, appointed for life his servant, William Whiteheved, as parker of his park at Evenwood in the palatinate of Durham.7 DURH3/44, m. 19. If this was not our MP, his last appearance in the records dates from November 1439, when he secured a pardon for outlawry he had incurred for failing to answer the executors of John Chirdane of Carlisle for debt. Here he is described as resident at Poppleton near York and as an estate official of the great Benedictine abbey of St. Mary.8 CP40/709, rot. 59; CPR, 1436-41, p. 326.