BRADMORE, William

William came from a family established in Nottingham from the late thirteenth century if not before, which, on the evidence of surname, hailed from Bradmore a few miles to the south of the town. Henry Bradmore† was MP for Nottingham in the Parliament of 1371 (Feb.), and Richard Bradmore, who was probably our MP’s father, was bailiff of the town in 1374-5. During its long residence in Nottingham the family had acquired extensive holdings: a deed of 1466 shows that these included property in High Pavement, Pilchergate and Narrow Marsh and a later Chancery suit shows that they also had holdings just outside the town in Sneinton.2 Nottingham Recs. ed. Stevenson, i. 365-6, 425; ii. 415; C1/51/315-16.

In the tax returns of 1435-6 our MP was assessed on a taxable annual income of as much as £9 and he long held a prominent place in the town’s affairs. He first appears in the records in April 1408 when a presentment was laid against him in the great tourn for obstructing a lane with dung. Soon after he served successive terms as chamberlain and bailiff, but, in 1413, he was again in trouble both for nuisance and extortion. It was alleged that he had so obstructed ‘Belwardlane’ (probably Bellar Gate) ‘ex jactatione terrae’ that carts could no longer pass through.3 E179/240/266; Nottingham Recs. ii. 38, 62, 427. Of greater interest is an action sued against him in the borough court in the same year. A townsman, Richard Sawyer, claimed that Bradmore, when bailiff, had imprisoned him by order of the town’s j.p.s and then refused to release him on mainprise until he had paid him 20d. It is to this plea that we have the only evidence of Bradmore’s trade for he was described as a skinner.4 Notts. Archs., Nottingham recs., ct. rolls CA1307, sown to rot. 17.

Some years later Bradmore was one of those against whom Alice, widow of Robert Stapleton, complained to Sir Henry Pierrepont*, whom she no doubt considered as having influence in the town by virtue of his residence in its immediate vicinity. In a written petition she asserted that, whereas her late husband had willed that she should have for term of her life his tenement in the Weekday Market in the tenure of one William Lemeryng, our MP and others had not only kept her late husband’s testament but had prevailed on Lemeryng to withhold the due rent until she had produced her muniments for inspection. Her petition is undated but can with reasonable certainty be attributed to the 1420s.5 Nottingham recs. CA7571.

By that date Bradmore was one of the town’s coroners. He had been in office at least since 7 Feb. 1415 when he took an indictment of an apprentice-at-law, Richard Statham of Morley (Derbyshire), for a brutal murder. He continued as coroner at least until the early 1420s and probably for some years thereafter. In his will of 16 Nov. 1428 a leading townsman, Thomas Poge*, left £3 to our MP and John Bingham†, who had been Bradmore’s fellow coroner in 1421, to distribute in alms for the soul of a local gentleman, William Clerk of Gedling.6 JUST3/195, rot. 58d; 203, rot. 36d; Borthwick Inst. York, Abps. Regs. 19 (Kemp), f. 337v. It is likely that the two men were joined in this charge because they were still coroners. If so, Bradmore was coroner when elected to represent Nottingham in the Parliament of 1426. Thereafter he makes only a few more appearances in the records. In May 1427 John Samon, nephew of the wealthy merchant, Richard Samon†, named him as one of his executors, but he disappointed the trust placed in him by refusing to act.7 C219/13/4; Borthwick, York registry wills, prob. reg. 2, f. 504v. On 19 Nov. 1429 he headed the jury which sat at Nottingham to inquire into the lands held there by Margaret, wife of Sir John Gra*, at her death, and he attested three Nottingham parliamentary elections in the early 1430s. He last appears in an active role in March 1437 when he had an action pending in the borough court against a watchman for failure to return a loaned pair of spurs worth 8d. He was dead by December 1446, when his widow was plaintiff in a plea of debt in that court.8 CIPM, xxiii. 401; C219/14/2, 3, 5; Nottingham recs., ct. rolls CA1329/II, rot. 13; CA1336/II, rot. 4.

At an unknown date Bradmore, or at least so it was later alleged, conveyed all his property to his wife and others, including a local esquire, John Whatton, and a priest, John Edwards, to hold to her use for the term of her life, and then the survivors were to make estate to his son, Thomas. The son was assessed at £5 p.a. to the subsidy return of 1450-1, and he went on to serve as chamberlain of the town in 1451-2 and sheriff in 1453-4.9 C1/51/315; E179/238/78, no. 6; Nottingham Recs. ii. 429-30. Thomas was alive as late as 1466: Nottingham Recs. ii. 415. A dispute followed Thomas’s death. In a Chancery petition of the late 1470s or early 1480s our MP’s nephew, Nicholas Bradmore, claimed that he had been defrauded of his inheritance by Thomas’s widow, Agnes Mapperley. By producing false evidences she had persuaded our MP’s surviving feoffees, Whatton and Edwards, to make estate to her and her heirs. Agnes and her new husband, John Mapperley†, gave a different account, claimed Agnes had a legitimate life interest and that it was Thomas’s intention that his lands in Nottingham should be sold after her death. A deed of 1486 implies that Nicholas’s claim failed.10 C1/51/315-16; Nottingham Recs. iii. 427-8.