HALLEY, Robert

Halley is almost un-documented, but it may be inferred that he owed his election for Appleby in 1455 to a connexion with the Nevilles.1 The names of Appleby’s MPs in this Parliament are known only from the endorsement of the writ ordering the election: C219/16/3. The MP is to be distinguished from his namesake, a kinsman of Bartholomew Halley*: CPR, 1452-61, p. 57; 1461-7, p. 278. In the wake of their part in the Yorkist victory at the first battle of St. Albans, the Nevilles were in an even stronger position than they generally were to influence elections in the north, and there is one piece of evidence that connects Halley with that great family. On 18 Oct. 1458 he offered mainprise for the appearance in Chancery of (Sir) Thomas Haryngton I*, who was a Neville man as were the other mainpernors, John Huddleston†, John, son and heir-apparent of Sir John Saville*, and Thomas Huddleston. The Lancastrian government sought to extract payment, but on 18 Nov. 1460, with the Yorkists in control, our MP and the others were pardoned.2 In the pardon he is described as ‘of Whitihethorp, Yorks.’, identified in the calendar as Wythop in Cumb.: CPR, 1452-61, p. 636. Wythop was in Percy territory, but the manor was held by Hugh Lowther*, whose connexions were with Neville rather than Percy. Halley makes only one other certain appearance in the records, namely when he came to draw up his will on 21 Oct. 1466. This shows that he then lived at Thorganby in the East Riding and that he was a man of slender means. He wanted to be buried in the cemetery of the church of St. Ellen there, and his bequests were, to say the least, modest. He left 4d. to each of the fabrics of the cathedral church of York and the chapel of Thorganby with 6d. to the chaplain of the latter parish. He named his wife, Isabel, and his son, Richard, as his executors, and was dead by the following 21 Nov. when his will was proved.3 Borthwick Inst., Univ. of York, York registry wills, prob. reg. 4, f. 69.