BOSON, Henry

The Bosons had been established at Screveton in south Nottinghamshire and Long Clawson in north Leicestershire since the time of Henry III,3 R. Thoroton, Notts. ed. Throsby, i. 246-7; Leics. Village Notes ed. Farnham, ii. 24-26. and had come to play an important role in the affairs of both Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire in the mid fourteenth century. Our MP’s great-grandfather, Sir John Bozoun†, sat twice in Parliament for the former shire and his grandfather, another Sir John† (d.1402), sat for Lincolnshire on four occasions, although their ill-documented landed estate in that county does not appear to have been sufficient to have justified such a role.4 The Commons 1386-1421, ii. 323-4. The relationship of the two Sir Johns as father and son is proved by a fine of 1361; that of the younger Sir John to our MP’s father by a writ of dower pending in 1410: Thoroton, i. 246; CP40/598, rots. 126, 140d. Henry’s father was a more obscure figure who died relatively young – for, at his death, our MP was just short of his 12th birthday – but he did forward the family fortunes by marrying one who later fell coheiress to a Yorkshire knightly family.5 This marriage took place after 5 Sept. 1405 when Anne’s father bequeathed her 100 marks for her marriage: Test. Ebor. i (Surtees Soc. iv), 340-1. For Thomas’s will, dated 17 Jan. 1434, of which Anne was one of the three executors: Borthwick Inst., Univ. of York, Abp. Reg. 5A (sede vacante), f. 364. On his death, Henry’s mother married Robert Willoughby, probably a cadet of the baronial family of Willoughby of Eresby, and Henry may have spent his early years in their custody or else in the household of Thomas, Lord Roos, of whom the family were tenants.6 CP40/682, rot. 137; J.T. Godfrey, Notes Notts. Churches: Bingham, 385; CIPM, xxii. 383-4; SC6/1121/16. It was fortunate for his prospects that both his mother and stepfather died very soon after he came of age: the latter drowned in the river Trent shortly before 4 Sept. 1434, and the former died shortly before 14 July 1435.7 Yorks. Peds. (Harl. Soc. xcvi), 404; Test. Ebor. ii (Surtees Soc. xxx), 141; CFR, xvi. 217. Equally fortunate from his point of view was the death of a more senior dowager, Ellen, widow of his father’s elder brother, John. John had died young and childless before 1410 but she survived until 1431.8 CP40/598, rot. 140d; 682, rot. 137.

In December 1435 the young Henry secured royal letters of protection as about to depart for France in the retinue of the old soldier, Richard Wastnes, who was very probably a relative of his present or future brother-in-law, John Wastnes*, but this is the only evidence that he saw military service. He was assessed on an annual income of £40 in the tax returns of 1436, a level of wealth sufficient to make it surprising that he was appointed to a lowly commission of tax collection in 1437.9 DKR, xlviii. 307; E179/240/266. But, although the surviving records portray him as a somewhat obscure figure during the 1430s, he cannot have been without important connexions. By 1 Jan. 1440, when he sued out letters of privy seal discharging him of the fine due to him for distraint of knighthood, he was an esquire of the royal household and he was to remain in receipt of household robes until his death. As such he was one of those to whom the King entrusted the task of escorting his new queen from France. Between 17 July 1444 and 16 Oct. 1445, as one of the esquires of Margaret of Anjou’s hall and chamber, he received wages of 18d. a day.10 E159/216, brevia Hil. rot. 24; E101/409/9, 11, 16; 410/1, 3, 6; Add. 23938.

Shortly after his return, Boson received, in May 1446, a small grant of royal favour in the form of an exemption from local administrative office.11 CPR, 1441-6, p. 428. This did not, however, deter him from taking a new part in public life. He successfully stood for election to Parliament for Nottinghamshire on 20 Oct. 1449 in company with John Stanhope*, another of the Household esquires who had accompanied the queen to England. The electoral return presents several unusual features. In a departure from custom the election was held not at Nottingham but at Newark, and, more significantly, as many as 223 attestors were named, including both the successful candidates. These are sure signs of either contest or irregularity. It may be that the election witnessed a conflict between supporters and opponents of the government. Its resolution in favour of the former is noteworthy in view of the number of the latter who were returned to this Parliament from elsewhere. The result of the Nottinghamshire election departed from the national norm for two reasons: the returning sheriff was the prominent Household official, Thomas Staunton*, and, more importantly, Stanhope (a far more prominent man than Boson) wielded very considerable electoral influence, bringing to the hustings many lesser freeholders from the vicinity of his estates in the north of the county. No doubt their mutual service in the Household explains why the latter adopted Boson as his fellow MP. It is relevant in this regard that Henry’s uncle, William Boson, stood surety for Stanhope’s attendance at Parliament, a further indication that the two men stood as a joint ticket.12 S.J. Payling, Political Society in Lancastrian Eng. 163; C219/15/7.

Boson’s election to Parliament marked the pinnacle of his brief career. He went on to attest the next Nottinghamshire election in October 1450, when John Wastnes was returned, and two months later, despite his exemption from office, he was appointed escheator. By this date, however, he was probably already ailing and he was not destined to see out his term of office. On 17 Feb. 1451, when not yet 40 years old, he drew up his will, and, on the following day, Wastnes was appointed to replace him as escheator.13 C219/16/1; CFR, xviii. 187; E136/167/5.

Boson wished to be buried in the church of Long Clawson next to the tomb of his father. His bequests were remarkably modest: £2 to the fabric of the church, the same sum to his uncle, William, £1 to John Draper of Flintham; and to his sister, Joan Wastnes, a bowl called ‘le Note’ decorated with the Boson arms. He appointed his wife, his uncle and Draper as his executors, with the Yorkshire esquire, Nicholas Wortley of Wortley, as supervisor. A week later his will was proved. Its bequests are no reflection of the testator’s wealth. Very shortly before his death Boson had been assessed for taxation on an annual income of as much as £74. This increase in comparison with his assessment of 1436 is particularly significant in the context of the under-assessment which characterized the later tax, and strongly suggests that his landed resources had been considerably augmented between the two dates. It is unfortunate that his landholdings are not better documented, but there can be little doubt that, at an unknown date between 1436 and 1450, he inherited his mother’s Usflete lands, which, presumably, had not come into his possession on her death in 1435 because they had been in the hands of feoffees seised to the use of her will. The acquisition of this property explains why his will was drafted, not at Syerston or Long Clawson, but at Ousefleet in the West Riding.14 Borthwick Inst., Univ. of York, York registry wills, prob. reg. 2, ff. 216v-217; E179/159/84. Very soon after his death, his widow married her neighbour, John Portington of Portington near Ousefleet, who was presumably the s. and h. of John Portington (d.1454), j.c.p.: CP40/768, rot. 7.

A Chancery petition dating from after Boson’s death provides a revealing insight into his career. A Lincolnshire gentleman, Richard Halmer of Weston near Spalding, complained that, as an eight-year-old boy in about 1443, he had been forcibly abducted from his mother by the Household servant, Hugh Wythom*, and taken into Nottinghamshire, where he was sold to our MP. Boson mistreated him, putting him to the plough and other servile occupations, while his mother laboured against both abductor and purchaser for his return. Although she spent 40 marks, which she raised through the sale of part of her son’s landed inheritance, the defendants ‘were of suche myght and power and gat them suche assistence’ that she could not prevail, and hence he remained in Boson’s custody until his death. If this petition is to be taken at face value, it suggests that the misdeeds of Household men in the localities in the 1440s were not confined to the servants of William, duke of Suffolk, and James Fiennes*, Lord Saye and Sele.15 C1/28/471.

Boson’s will does not mention a son and heir, but he appears to have been succeeded by another Henry, who, it is said in the pedigrees, married Katherine, daughter of the Nottinghamshire knight Sir Robert Markham (d.1446) of Cotham. Their son, Sir Richard, extended the family’s estates through marriage to the daughter and heiress of James Dene of Barrowby near Grantham, but, on his death in 1524, he left five daughters as his coheiresses.16 C142/43/83; Lincs. Peds. ed. Maddison, 167-8.