TEMPEST, Sir William (by 1375-1441), of Studley, Yorks.

b. by 1375, In a proof of age taken in 1429, he gave his age as 54 and more: CIPM, xxiii. 309. Such evidence is often wildly unreliable, but in this case it can be taken as a minimum estimate of his age. His parents were married in the mid 1350s, but, since his mother was then only about 15, he may have been born many years later. 2nd s. of Sir Richard Tempest (d.c.1378) of Studley by his 2nd w. Isabel (d.1421), da. and h. of Sir Thomas Bourne of Stanford Rivers, Essex, and Isabel, da. and h. of Sir John le Gras of Studley; yr. bro. and h. of John Tempest (d.c.1390) of Studley. m. Eleanor (d. 2 Jan. 1452), da. and h. of Sir William Wessington (d.1399) of Washington, co. Dur., Eleanor’s mother has been wrongly identified as Margaret, da. and coh. of John de Morville: R. Surtees, Durham, ii. 329. The Morville marriage, through which the Wessingtons acquired a moiety of the manor of Helton Flecket, lies further back in their ped.: J. Nicolson and R. Burn, Westmld. and Cumb. i. 427. 1s. 2da.; 1s. illegit. Kntd. by 8 Apr. 1401.