STOUTE, William, of Horsham, Suss.

Stoute was often associated with members of the family of Bradbrigge, to whom he was no doubt related. Thus, in June 1414 he, his wife, and his putative father received a settlement of four messuages and ten acres of land in Horsham, to hold to them and William’s heirs, by gift of Richard and Agnes Bradbrigge; and four months later he and his wife conveyed to the same couple property to keep for their lives with reversion to himself. At the time of his first Parliament, in the autumn of 1419, he was enfeoffed of some crofts called ‘Pyllynges’, which Agnes Bradbrigge had formerly held, subsequently retaining them for his own use for over 20 years. Other transactions in which he was involved included his acquisition, in 1424, in association with John and Isabel Bradbrigge, of ‘Mascales’ in Horsham, by grant of Thomas Wodehach.CP25(1)240/83/11, 84/25; Bodl. Chs. Suss. 151-2, 219; CAD, i. C131, 1144; C1/29/324.

Stoute occasionally witnessed deeds at Horsham,Cat. Wiston Archs. ed. Booker, no. 1347; Add. Chs. 18716; Bodl. Ch. Suss. 154. and he served on the jury which, at Bramber in October 1426, gave evidence concerning certain lands pertaining to Horsham’s lord, John Mowbray, duke of Norfolk. In 1433 he returned to Thomas Coupere property at Roffey with which he had been entrusted by Coupere’s feoffees eight years previously. Finally, on 1 Nov. 1457, he and Thomas Herteley, clerk, released to Thomas Hoo all their right to certain lands and tenements called ‘Edwardes’. This was shortly before Hoo, as one of a group headed by William, earl of Arundel, secured a royal licence to found a guild at Horsham in honour of the Virgin Mary and St. John, with its own chantry at the altar of St. John in St. Mary’s church. Although Stoute was not named in the licence, he did make additions to the original endowment to ensure that three obits were celebrated at the altar, and special prayers said there for his own soul as a benefactor of the fraternity.C139/25/40; CAD, i. B1541, 1591, 1618; iii. B4042; Suss. Arch. Colls. xxii. 149, 152.