ESSEX, William (b.c..1358), of Wallingford, Berks.

Essex appears in the records of the borough court from 1378 onwards, there frequently acting as an attorney for his fellow burgesses. However, his principal occupation was that of tailor. On the occasion of his return to Parliament in 1406, John Coterell was his surety. Thereafter he witnessed the Wallingford elections of 1410, 1413 (May), 1420, 1421, 1431, 1432, 1433, 1435 and 1437. In 1428 Essex was one of the assessors of the subsidy for the parish of St. Mary Major, Wallingford, and he was still alive and a householder in 1438, when his age was stated to be 80.2Ibid. W/JBb/34, 53-58; C219/10/3, 5, 11/2, 12/4-6, 14/2-5, 15/1; E179/73/8; C145/307/5.