POLE, Sir Walter de la

More may be added to the earlier biography. The Commons 1386-1421, iv. 103-5.

It failed to note that de la Pole purchased a royal pardon in the autumn of 1415 although it is impossible to tell what prompted him to acquire one. C67/37, m. 2 (1 Oct.). During his second term as sheriff, de la Pole was sued by Roger Hunt* and Sir Nicholas Styuecle*, both of whom brought separate actions against him in the Exchequer for their wages as knights of the shire for Huntingdonshire in the Parliament of 1423. E13/136, rots. 18d, 19. There survives an undated petition that de la Pole presented to the Commons, perhaps during the final session of his own last Parliament. In the petition, which is damaged and impossible to read in full, he referred to his past service to the Crown and (apparently) sought an exemption from office. SC8/135/6727. In the event, he continued to serve the Crown at home and abroad thereafter and he was still a j.p. at his death.

As a substantial landowner de la Pole was a figure of some means, and at the beginning of 1429 he lent the Crown the sum of £33 6s. 8d. E401/720, m. 15. It was perhaps in connexion with the affairs of his kinsman, William de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, that de la Pole was among those who joined Thomas Hoo I* in entering into a recognizance for 500 marks to Sir William Phelip† and others a year later. CCR, 1429-35, p. 30.