LAURENCE, Robert (c.1399-1450), of Ashton, Lancs.

The Laurences, who originally bore the family name ‘Lancaster’, had been settled at Ashton near Lancaster since the late thirteenth century. VCH Lancs. viii. 52. By the time of our MP they had an impressive record of parliamentary service: John Lawrence† represented Lancaster in the Parliament of 1301; William Lawrence† was MP for the same borough and the county in the 1320s; our MP’s grandfather, Edmund†, sat for Lancashire in 1362; and his father and uncle, John†, were knights of the shire under the first two Lancastrian Kings. Biog. Sketches MPs of Lancs. (Chetham Soc. ser. 2, xciii), 64-8; The Commons 1386-1421, iii. 563-6. Their estates, augmented by Edmund’s marriage to the heiress of the family of Washington of Carnforth, were largely confined to the north of the county. They also held property just across its northern border at Dillicar, Routhworth and Natland in Westmorland. VCH Lancs. viii. 134, 168. These holdings underpinned the long and active career of our MP’s father, whose wealth was supplemented by an annuity of 40 marks granted to him by Henry IV in 1403. Aside from representing his native county in three Parliaments, he had a noteworthy record as an office-holder there, serving as coroner, escheator, j.p. and, for as long as 12 years, sheriff. The Commons 1386-1421, iii. 564-6.

By contrast, our MP had a very much more modest career. In 1427 his father arranged his marriage to a daughter of his near neighbour, Nicholas Croft, settling on the couple in tail male lands in Lancaster, Middleton and Heysham, all in the vicinity of Ashton. Lancs. RO, Towneley of Towneley mss, DDTo/ 0(2)/74. These modest holdings went a little way to justifying the young Robert’s election to represent the county in Parliament, but there can be no doubt that his return only came about because his father was sheriff. Sir Robert conducted the hustings held at Lancaster on 15 Aug. 1429 when his son was returned in company with a much more important man, Sir John Byron. Among the attestors was our MP’s father-in-law, Nicholas Croft, yet there are no irregularities in the list of attestors, headed by two knights, Sir Edmund Trafford and Sir William Atherton, and including other of the leading county gentry. There is thus no reason to suppose that Laurence, poorly qualified as he was, was improperly returned. The probability is that better-qualified candidates were unwilling to serve, and the choice thus fell on the untried Robert, perhaps as the representative of his father, who was disbarred from election himself as the sheriff. Lancs. Knights of the Shire (Chetham Soc. xcvi), 216.

The curiosity of Robert Laurence’s career is that these promising early beginnings were never built upon. His father’s survival until the autumn of 1439 probably explains his apparent anonymity in the 1430s. He was later hampered by settlements made by Sir Robert shortly before death: in December 1438 he granted his three younger sons a life interest in the manor of Dillicar and the family’s other lands in Westmorland, valued in his inquisition post mortem at £20 p.a. CIPM, xxv. 408. To a depleted inheritance may also have been added the problem of debt: during his long term as sheriff Sir Robert had fallen into arrears significant enough to prompt his removal from office in 1437 and it is possible that these debts were charged against the heir. R. Somerville, Duchy, i. 462. Whatever the reason, Robert played little part in public affairs even after his father’s death, and he makes only sporadic appearances in the records in the 1440s. At Michaelmas 1442 he farmed the tithes of corn of Ashton and Stodday in the parish of Lancaster for four years at 100s. p.a. from Thomas Haryngton I*. PL15/33, rot. 15. On 16 Mar. 1443 a dispute between him and Matthew Newton over some minor holdings in Dillicar, purchased from Newton’s grandfather by our MP’s grandfather Edmund, was put to the arbitration of Haryngton and other lesser men: they ruled that Laurence should have the lands but that Newton should be compensated with a payment of £20. On the following 4 July Laurence was summoned to appear in Chancery on pain of £100, but the reason for this summons is not known. DL25/1083; PL14/155/3/39. More positively, on 1 June 1446 he secured a general pardon as heir and tenant of the lands of his late father, thus effectively bringing to an end any financial claims outstanding against him from his father’s term as sheriff. DL10/384; C67/39, m. 43.

Laurence did not long survive this apparent improvement in his affairs. He died on 3 Apr. 1450 and was succeeded by his son, James. Lancs. Inqs. ii (Chetham Soc. xcix), 56-57. His widow Agnes survived at least until as late as March 1469, when she was acquitted in an action brought by Haryngton’s executors for non-payment of the farm due for the tithes of Ashton. PL15/33, rot. 15. Despite the charge on his estate occasioned by his mother’s survival, James made a highly favourable marriage outside his native county to Eleanor, daughter of Lionel, Lord Welles, and widow of Thomas Hoo I*, Lord Hoo and Hastings. CP, vi. 564; PL15/20, rot. 24d; C67/45, m. 8. He was knighted on the Scottish campaign of 1482. The family failed in the main male line when his son, John, was killed at the battle of Flodden in 1513. Their inheritance was divided among the representatives of our MP’s four daughters. All four had married into Lancashire families of the middle rank – Boteler of Rawcliffe, Clifton of Salwick, Rigmayden of Wedacre and Skillicorne of Presse – but it is not known whether these marriages were contracted by our MP. VCH Lancs. viii. 52n.; PL15/163, rot. 20.