BALCHIEF, William, of Portsmouth, Hants.

Members of the Balchief family had resided in Portsmouth since the late 13th century.CAD, ii. B2946, 2935, 2960. William was perhaps the son of another

William

†, bailiff of Portsmouth in 1393-4, who, described as ‘the elder’ in 1410, was then among the borough tenants who refused to contribute towards the wages of one of the parliamentary burgesses, Henry Abraham.C219/9/10; Sel. Cases King’s Bench (Selden Soc. lxxxviii), 197-8. On 12 Oct. 1414 at the Exchequer William Balchief obtained the lease of a cottage in Kingston (within the liberty of Portsmouth) at a rent of 2d. p.a. and for as long as it should be in the Crown’s possession. Among his sureties was Henry Preston I, a lawyer from Nottingham, who like Balchief was to sit in the forthcoming Parliament. Balchief most likely made his living from trade; in 1423 the royal searcher of Southampton Water discovered 12 barrels of herring, worth £6, which had been smuggled into England by him, and he was fined accordingly.CFR, xiv. 76; E122/184/3 file 1, f. 47d.

Much later, in 1469, lands at Kingston were said to be in the possession of the heirs of William Balchief.Portsmouth Recs. ed. East, 498. A John Balchief was bailiff of Portsmouth in 1442-3 (SC6/1280/6).