BEAUFITZ, Richard, of Exeter, Devon.

Nothing is recorded of Richard Beaufitz apart from his return to Parliament. It is possible, however, that the MP was related to Thomas Beaufitz, who served as coroner of London from 1438 until 1459. KB9/230B/147; 941/109; 998/108; C.M. Barron, London in the Middle Ages, 374. This office was in the patronage of the chief butler of England, Ralph, Lord Sudeley, whose principal deputy was William Beaufitz*, the clerk of the King’s cellars. It seems very likely, therefore, that Thomas was a kinsman of William, who was influential not only in the royal household but also in the Exchequer, where from 1446 Thomas was clerk of the estreats, a post which he shared from 1448 to 1452 with his son, Robert. CPR, 1441-6, p. 454; 1446-52, p. 166; PRO List ‘Exchequer Offs.’, 89. The latter, having served briefly as a filacer in the common pleas in 1457-8, CP40/785-9; 790, rot. 561d; M. Hastings, Ct. Common Pleas, 147. took over the coronership of London from his father in 1459, and remained in post until formally replaced in July 1461 by (Sir) John Wenlock*, the Yorkist who had been appointed chief butler during the Parliament of 1460-1. KB9/942/39; 941/66, 109d; CCR, 1461-8, p. 9.

It is possible that the name of the man elected for Farnham was given incorrectly on the return, C219/16/6. and that it was Robert rather than Richard who was the MP. The borough, which had not been represented since 1311, belonged to William Waynflete, bishop of Winchester, who having been removed from the chancellorship following the Yorkist victory at Northampton in July 1460, may well have sought to influence the composition of the Commons, to redress the balance of power in favour of the Lancastrian Crown. Perhaps he enlisted the help of the sheriff of Surrey, Robert Fiennes*, to do so. But this is speculation.