WIDDRINGTON, Gerard

The Widdringtons were a long-established Northumberland family who had lived at the manor from which they took their name since the twelfth century. They had a distinguished record of military and parliamentary service. From the election of the famous soldier, Sir Gerard Widdrington† (d.1362), to the Parliament of March 1336 to that of our MP’s grandfather, Sir John†, to the Parliament of 1414 (Nov.), members of the family represented the county on at least eight occasions and the borough of Newcastle-upon-Tyne at least once. Gerard was the eldest son of Sir John’s son, Roger. Although Roger did not sit in the Commons, he nevertheless played an active role in county affairs, serving as sheriff of Northumberland on as many as four occasions.2 The Commons 1386-1421, iv. 854. He played an important role on the Anglo-Scottish marches, and in April 1438 Walter Tailboys* appointed him as his lieutenant of the barony of Redesdale and constable of Harbottle castle. He was required by the terms of this grant to live in the donjon of the castle and it was ‘of Harbottle, esquire’ that he was sued in 1441 by Sir William Euer* for a debt of £10.3 Northumb. and Durham Deeds (Newcastle-upon-Tyne Recs. Cttee. vii), 222; CP40/711, rot. 419d; 720, rot. 647. He also acted as Archbishop Kemp of York’s bailiff in Northumberland from at least Easter 1448, and probably continued to hold the office until his death in 1451.4 E368/220, rot. 8; 222, rot. 2.

The first mention of our MP dates from 1 Oct. 1450, when he attested the parliamentary election overseen by his father, then serving his final term as sheriff. The electors returned John Ogle* and William Bertram*, both retainers of the Percys, and Gerard’s presence on this occasion may suggest an early attachment to the county’s leading magnate family.5 C219/16/1. He did not have to wait much longer to inherit his patrimony, for his father died on the following 2 Aug. The jurors at the inquisition post mortem stated that Roger died seised of the manor of Woodhorn, held in chief, the manor of Widdrington, held of the Scrope barony of Whatton, the vill of East Chevington, held of the earl of Northumberland, and various other landed holdings throughout Northumberland. The value of the estate was assessed at a mere £17 11s. 5d., with many properties, including Woodhorn, said to be worth nothing because of Scottish raids and the poor quality of the land. These valuations are, however, to be disregarded: in the subsidy returns of 1436 Sir John had been assessed on an annual income of £80 (albeit one derived from both Northumberland and additional lands in Cumberland) and Roger on one of £60. In short, our MP came into a very valuable inheritance when, on 1 Oct. 1451 the King ordered the escheator to deliver seisin of the estates to him, excepting his mother’s reasonable dower.6 CFR, xviii. 178, 258; C139/143/25; 147/31; E179/158/38.

Widdrington was still a young man when, on 1 Mar. 1453 at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he was elected as one of the knights of the shire for Northumberland alongside John Ogle.7 C219/16/2. Like Ogle, it seems likely that he secured election to the Commons as a servant of the earl of Northumberland. On the following 10 July, just eight days after the end of the Parliament’s second session, at Westminster, he joined his cousin, Ralph Gray II*, in entering a recognizance for the payment of 40 marks to Thomas Thorpe*, a baron of the Exchequer and Speaker in the assembly. The reason for the debt is unknown.8 E159/229, recogniciones Trin. Gerard’s mother, Elizabeth, died on 12 July 1454. On 28 Oct. the King ordered the escheator of Northumberland to deliver seisin of her dower lands (comprising certain cottages in the manor of Woodhorn, the hamlet of Druridge, parcel of the manor of Widdrington, and the vill of Linton) to him, while confirming the reversion of the manors of North Dissington and Callerton (her dower from her first husband) to Sir John Burcestre and his wife. Widdrington also received the manor of Plessey and the neighbouring vill of Shotton which had been settled on his mother in jointure in 1446.9 CFR, xix. 56, 117-18; C139/153/20.

Little evidence survives of Widdrington’s career over the next few years. He had married by September 1454, making a good match to Elizabeth, the daughter of the Yorkshire landowner, Christopher Boynton. In that month his father’s feoffees delivered seisin of the castle, lordship and manor of Haughton in the liberty of Tynedale to the couple. On 15 Oct. 1455 Widdrington settled the manor of Plessey, as well as certain property which he had leased from the prior of Brinkburn, on feoffees, and in April 1457 he made a six-year lease to the same prior of a tenement called ‘Gerardsclose by Stokclose’. A year later he was pardoned his outlawry for his failure to answer William Latoner, a London tailor, with regard to a debt of as much as £200.10 Northumb. and Durham Deeds, 239-40; CPR, 1452-61, p. 380; Hedley, i. 98.

During this period Widdrington continued in the service of the Percy family. On 6 Apr. 1457 at Durham he and three other Percy servants entered into a recognizance for 1,000 marks as a guarantee that the new earl of Northumberland, who had succeeded his father in 1455, would abide by an important agreement with the King: the earl was to recoup money owed to him as warden of the east and middle marches through the export of wool at a reduced rate of customs, for which he was to make due account.11 CCR, 1454-61, p. 227. This Percy connexion was, however, not strong enough to prompt Widdrington to follow the earl in his support for the Lancastrians. His activities during the crisis of 1459-61 are unknown, but it seems he transferred his allegiance to the house of York. On 7 Oct. 1460 he was present at Newcastle-upon-Tyne and set his seal to the elections to the Yorkist Parliament which witnessed the duke of York make his claim to the throne. Following Edward IV’s accession, he was appointed to a commission of array in Northumberland in May 1461 and late in the same year he was both knighted and added to the commission of the peace.12 C219/16/6; CPR, 1461-7, pp. 66, 569. The explanation for this volte face may perhaps be found in the marriage of one of his younger brothers, John, to Isabel, a daughter of the Neville retainer and Yorkist supporter, Sir Robert Ogle II*, but whatever the reason, Gerard was clearly trusted by the Yorkists, as was again exemplified by his pricking as sheriff in 1464.13 Hedley, i. 104.

Little is known of the last years of Widdrington’s career. He died shortly before 20 Feb. 1471 when a writ of diem clausit extremum was issued in respect of his lands in Northumberland.14 CFR, xx. 268. If an inquisition was held in response to this writ, it is no longer extant, but it is clear that his son and heir, Ralph (d.1503), was a minor. During Ralph’s minority the family seems to have re-established its connexion to the Percy family, now restored to the earldom of Northumberland, and on 22 July 1475 the restored earl was granted £200 p.a. – an excessive valuation that could not be realized – out of the Widdrington estates to meet his costs as warden of the east and middle marches. Ralph eventually entered the earl’s service and on 22 Aug. 1481 he was knighted by him.15 CPR, 1467-77, p. 545; 1476-85, p. 38; Northern Hist. xiv. 106; CIPM Hen. VII, ii. 547. The family had a long later history. The royalist Sir William Widdrington† was elevated to the peerage in 1643. His great-grandson, another William, was attainted for involvement in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.16 CP, xii (2), 625-30.