WESTON, James (c.1525-89), of Lichfield, Staffs.

Weston was a leading Lichfield figure, one of those to whom a warrant was to be addressed in June 1580 for raising musters in the city. Most of his life was spent in the city or in the diocese, whose bishops he served. He was described by Bishop Bentham in 1564 as a man ‘godly and zealous’. He made his will 2 May 1589, and it was proved three weeks later. With sorrowful heart for his transgressions he hoped ‘in perfect faith’ that ‘through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ’ he would have remission of his sins, commending his ‘soul into His merciful hands’. He ordered estates to be sold to pay his debts and legacies.1IMathews thesis; Erdeswick’s Surv. Staffs. 164-5; T Harwood, Church and City of Lichfield, 421; APC, xii. 45; HMC Hatfield, i. 309; PCC 48 Leicester; C142/226/169; Colls. Hist. Staffs. (Wm. Salt Arch. Soc. xiii), 270, 297.