ASH, William (d.1411), of Dorchester, Dorset.

Ash is first recorded, in 1388, as a feoffee of a plot of land in High Street, Weymouth, but although he may have come from that town (and later held property there in his own right), he was already resident in Dorchester, where as well as being parliamentary burgess in 1394, he later held office as bailiff for no less than three terms. He attested the parliamentary indenture of election for Dorchester in 1407.CAD, ii. C2375; C219/10/4. Over the years Ash was much involved both as grantor and recipient in conveyances of property in Dorchester.Dorchester Recs. 124-5, 127, 130, 135, 140-1, 145, 148, 150, 157. He died shortly after completing one such transaction, in August 1411, when as a trustee of a tenement in ‘la Ulnenelane’ he conveyed it to John Jordan of Wolveton and Reynold Jacob. In his will, made on 16 Apr. 1410, he had named Eleanor, his wife, Richard Bertlot, chaplain, and Geoffrey Mose as his executors. Most of his considerable property in Dorchester passed to his widow, who married again, her second husband being another burgess, Robert Greenleaf alias Baker.Ibid. 192, 204, 207, 211.