BORDE, William

More can be added to the earlier biography. The Commons 1386-1421, ii. 293-4. In 1438 John Rokes*, the receiver of the lordship of Wallingford, conveyed land in Wantage to Borde and his wife Alice. The couple were confirmed in possession of property in the same place and elsewhere in Berkshire in June 1453 by Richard Chalcote II*, who had married their widowed daughter-in-law. The property had probably formed part of the settlement when she married Borde’s son and heir. Jervoise of Herriard mss, 44M69/C/615, 625.

Among the actions for debt Borde brought in the court of common pleas was one in 1425 against a dyer of Taunton for £10, others in 1445 against a Newbury man for £10, an Oxfordshire fuller for £2 and the abbot of Beaulieu in Hampshire for eight marks; and another in 1451 against a Wiltshire bailiff for £14 10s. CP40/657, rot. 22d; 737, rot. 77; 739, rot. 389; 760, rot. 321. However, as his pardon of outlawry of May 1453 makes clear, he himself ran up much more substantial debts than these, amounting to more than £83. At the same time he was also facing a different sort of charge. In Trinity term that year Thomas Brown IV* accused him of breach of the statute of 1 Henry V for conspiring to deprive him of land in Wantage. As with the suits for debt, he failed to appear in court, so the sheriff was instructed to make distraint on his property and ensure his attendance in the Michaelmas term. CP40/770, rot. 216d. Borde died at an unknown date before July 1457. His widow then acknowledged that John Newburgh II* and others were the new possessors of the lands at Wantage which she held for life. Jervoise of Herriard mss, 44M69/C/756.