HAKELEY, Richard, of Winchelsea, Suss.

Hakeley was living in Winchelsea by the summer of 1445, when he obtained royal letters of protection as a member of the retinue of Henry, Lord Bourgchier, the captain of the fortress of Le Crotoy in Picardy. Presumably, he was engaged in victualling the garrison, by making shipments across the Channel from Winchelsea. C76/127, m. 4. That HP Biogs. ed. Wedgwood and Holt, 406, is mistaken in assuming that the MP was Richard Hakedey, the King’s apothecary, is clear from Hakeley’s continuing career at Winchelsea after the apothecary’s death. Hakedy, a prominent citizen and grocer of London who as royal apothecary was granted a life-annuity of 40 marks, held office as joint garbler of spices in London, Southampton and Sandwich from 1442 to 1449, and was exempted from the Act of Resumption granted in the Parliament of 1449 (Nov.): CPR, 1436-41, p. 525; PROME, xii. 125. His will, dated 1 Dec. 1455, was proved on 24 Mar. 1456: PCC 15 Stokton (PROB11/4, ff. 117v-118); and his wid. Joan died in 1475: PCC 30 Wattys (PROB11/6, ff. 229v-30) His service in the Parliament of 1450-1 as one of the barons of the Cinque Ports evidently proved acceptable, for he was subsequently sent as a delegate from his home town to as many as 17 Brodhulls, the last one taking place in July 1470. White and Black Bks. 32, 34, 36, 40, 42, 44, 50, 52, 54-56, 58, 59, 61. On four of these occasions he was acting in the capacity of deputy to the mayor of Winchelsea, but he never, so far as is known, officiated as mayor himself. He may have died not long after his final appearance at the Brodhull. In June 1481 two messuages which had once belonged to him in the parish of St. Thomas, Winchelsea, were among the properties granted to the chantry founded by Simon Farnecombe’s widow Malina, the only daughter of John Godfrey*, CPR, 1467-77, p. 283. but whether Hakeley was a kinsman of hers is not recorded.