DAVY, William

Davy’s descent cannot be established with absolute certainty, but he probably came from a family of middling wealth resident in Leechwell Street outside the west gate of Totnes.3 H.R. Watkin, Totnes Priory and Town, i. 326, 329, 340, 391, 404, 417. His indentification is complicated by his alternating use of the names Davy and atte Lake, and on occasion Trelake, a Cornish variant of the latter. Equally, the exact extent of his property cannot be determined, but apart from a house and garden in Leechwell Street he had claims to a burgage and garden in Kingsbridge, perhaps in the right of his wife.4 Totnes deeds, 136M/T/17; Kingsbridge feoffees’ mss, 215M/T41. In addition, it is possible that he was also the man of this name who owned property in Paignton, a short way to the east of Totnes.5 CP40/730, rot. 177; C1/59/108. The annual value of these holdings is uncertain, but it is unlikely to have been substantial, for Davy was for much of his life styled a mere yeoman.

It is not certain how Davy’s first return for the borough of Barnstaple (where he is not known to have had any connexions or property) came about. It is possible that it resulted from the inability of the mayor, Walter Hayne*, to find a local candidate willing to travel with him to the provincial backwater of Bury St. Edmunds. If so, it is possible that it was Thomas Courtenay, earl of Devon (with whom Davy may already have been connected by this date), who promoted his candidature. No such noble patronage was presumably necessary in 1455 when Davy was returned by his neighbours at Totnes.

Nothing is known of Davy’s activities in the Commons, but as he was not implicated in the acts of violence committed by the Courtenay retinue throughout the summer and autumn of 1455, it may be that he did indeed remain at Westminster for most of the first two sessions. However, within four days of the Christmas prorogation on 13 Dec. 1455 he was back in the south-west among an armed band of Courtenay retainers who raided and pillaged the residence of the earl’s enemy William, Lord Bonville*, at Shute and carried off the valuable furnishings.6 KB27/787, rex rot. 4. As Davy is not known to have been in the earl’s army at Clyst on 15 Dec., he may have ridden back in haste immediately after the prorogation. In the interim, Richard, duke of York, had accepted a renewed appointment as Protector of England, but it was some time before he rode west, arrested the earl and imprisoned him in the Tower. Courtenay’s now leaderless retainers, among them Davy, were indicted at the Devon sessions in August 1456, and had to pay heavy fines. It was not until 20 Jan. 1458 that Davy, like the earl and several of his other supporters, was granted a full pardon.7 C67/42, m. 39.

Little else is known of Davy’s career, but he was evidently still alive in the autumn of 1462, when one Robert William appeared in the court of common pleas and sued him for a debt of 40s. resulting from the purchase of certain canvas cloth in January 1461, and a loan made at the same time.8 CP40/806, rot. 210d. It seems unlikely that he was the 50-year-old William Lake who gave evidence near Barnstaple at the proof of age of Elizabeth Dabernon in Nov. 1450: C139/144/51.