WORTH, William

Early in 1411 Worth conveyed to Roger atte Gate* of Winchelsea and Robert Onewyn† of Rye a tenement and 11 acres of land which he had purchased in the denes of Acre and Halden, 30 acres which he had inherited from his mother at Hawkhurst and certain lands which had been settled on him by his late father.5 Cat. Rye Recs. 228. Although he was then called ‘of Tenterden’, he had evidently already moved the few miles to Winchelsea, for as a Portsman in the previous year he had been able to claim exemption from taxation on his moveable possessions in the hundred of Guestling. Subsequently, he held land at Icklesham, Fairlight and Pett.6 E179/225/34a, 36, 50, 69, 71; 227/94. A merchant and shipowner, he petitioned Henry IV for redress after his vessel Le Leonard of Winchelsea was captured by the French on 11 Oct. 1411 and its crew and the merchants on board held to ransom, costing him 1,400 marks. On their voyage back to England the freed mariners had themselves taken prisoner some Frenchmen, whom they brought to Worth at Winchelsea. Accordingly, he now requested that these prisoners should be granted to him in part recompense of his losses. The King’s mother-in-law, Joan de Bohun, countess of Hereford, supported his petition, which was granted on 21 Dec.7 CPR, 1408-13, p. 357. Little is recorded about Worth’s trading interests, which may have been quite profitable, although on one occasion the abbot of Robertsbridge sued him for a debt of £40.8 CP40/691, rot. 245.

Worth served on the jury which in 1415 provided detailed evidence to royal commissioners investigating the proposal to enclose Winchelsea with a wall within a narrower ambit than the original one.9 Cat. Rye Recs. 272. The names of the jurats of Winchelsea at this date are not recorded, but it seems likely that Worth had joined their number soon after taking up residence there. He was returned to Parliament as one of the barons of the Cinque Ports in 1423, and four years later elected as mayor of Winchelsea. His place in the hierarchy well established, he witnessed conveyances made by William Skele† to a local chantry at the end of 1430,10 Cott. Julius BIV, f. 40v. and is known to have been a jurat for at least six of the years between then and 1444. However, in the spring of 1433 he fell out with another member of this advisory body, the privateer William Morfote*, with whom he had entered the Commons ten years earlier. On 31 May Morfote had to find three sureties, each under a pain of 100 marks, that he would keep the peace towards his opponent, and it is worthy of note that although the new mayor, William Fynch*, removed Morfote from the body of jurats he nominated a few days later, he asked Worth to continue serving in this capacity.11 Ibid. ff. 42, 51v. Furthermore, at the assembly of Portsmen held in July Worth was elected by Winchelsea and Rye to officiate as their bailiff at the Yarmouth herring fair that autumn, and he attended the Brodhull which duly confirmed his appointment. On his return home from the fair, on 7 Dec. he and his fellow bailiffs presented to the Brodhull a schedule of injuries caused by men of Great Yarmouth against the liberties of the Ports, which included assaults and threats to the delegates and their servants so that they could not exercise their office and dared not go out at night. It was decided that a suit should be prosecuted in London to gain redress. Matters were markedly improved when Worth returned to the herring fair two years later, this time as deputy for Fynch. He and the other bailiffs reported to the Brodhull of 16 Dec. 1435 that they had been honestly received by the provost and bailiff of Yarmouth, that the keys of the prison had been handed over to them, and that everything else during the time of the fishing had been conducted according to the Ports’ liberties and ancient custom.12 Ibid. f. 59; White and Black Bks. 1-3, 6-7. Subsequently, Worth attended two more Brodhulls, in April and December 1436,13 White and Black Bks. 8. and continued to play a role in the government of Winchelsea for eight more years.