ECTON, Richard

When first recorded, on 12 Sept. 1414, Ecton was already a ‘King’s esquire’, and had evidently done Henry V noteworthy service, for he was then granted two annuities for life: one of 20 marks from the issues of estates in Heyshott, Sussex, forfeited by the late earl of Northumberland, and the other of £10 from the fee farm of the manor of Rowley in Staffordshire, due from the abbot of Halesowen.4 CPR, 1413-16, p. 239. However, the first annuity may not have been paid to him for long, for the Percy estates were returned to the earl’s heir not long afterwards. There are no clues as to his origins, and nothing to encourage speculation that he belonged to the Yorkshire family which had spawned his contemporary, Sir John Etton†. Richard contracted to cross the Channel in the spring of 1415 for the King’s invasion of France, taking with him his own small body of three archers, although whether he went on to fight at Agincourt has not been ascertained.5 E404/31/216. Nevertheless, he must have performed his military duties satisfactorily for in February 1416, after the army returned home, he was given the post of launder at Clarendon park, his tasks involving general supervision of the deer and coneys throughout Wiltshire. His salary was 3½ d. a day. Ecton obtained confirmation from Henry VI’s council of both this grant of office and his two annuities (even though one of them may have become invalid) in March 1423.6 CPR, 1413-16, p. 404; 1422-9, p. 79.

Having been introduced to Wiltshire, Ecton settled in Salisbury and married a woman who was either an heiress or a widow with a dower, perhaps both. In the spring of 1423 the couple were party to a final concord whereby 20 messuages, four acres of land and annual rents of just under £4 in Salisbury and Old Sarum were settled on Joan Ecton for life, and another messuage and 300 acres of land in North Tidworth and Ludgershall were allotted to them both in jointure. Remainders in the premises were assigned to William Ludlow II* and his wife and their issue, with reversion to Joan’s right heirs. Presumably the Ludlows were relations of hers, as too was Robert Warmwell, a former mayor of Salisbury, who was party to the fine.7 Wilts. Feet of Fines, 386; VCH Wilts. xv. 159. Joan may have been the woman who as da. and h. of William Warmwell had received in 1415 possession of her late father’s property at the corner of St. Mark Street and Gigor Street, Salisbury: Wilts. Hist. Centre, Salisbury Domesday bk. 3, G23/1/215, f. 13. The Ectons were again associated with Warmwell in a conveyance of some land in Salisbury 13 years later.8 Wilts. Feet of Fines, 494.

Despite his links with Warmwell and his property in the city, Ecton only became involved in the affairs of Salisbury to a limited extent. He contributed 6s. 8d. towards a loan to the Crown made by the citizens in the summer of 1426, and that autumn he was one of several arbiters who made an award in the disputes between the mayor William Warwick* and the quarrelsome mercer Thomas Freeman*. This suggests that he had become a member of the city’s council of 24, yet he is only recorded attending two civic assemblies, those held in October 1428 and December 1435, and on those occasions his status (whether of the 24 or the 48) is not made clear.9 First General Entry Bk. nos. 254, 256, 258, 300.

Ecton was probably kept busy at his post in the forests of Wiltshire, which involved supervising the cutting down of underwood and oaks in ‘Wentlewode’,10 CPR, 1429-36, p. 37. but he resigned from his office at Clarendon in February 1433 so that Edmund Langto might have it.11 CPR, 1429-36, pp. 263-4. Meanwhile, he had formed connexions of importance in the region, most notably with (Sir) John Stourton II*, who made him a feoffee of certain of his holdings in Somerset,12 CPR, 1429-36, p. 112. and it is possible that this association played a part in his election to Parliament for Salisbury in 1435. In several respects he was an unusual choice for the citizens to send to the Commons, even though, as we have seen, he was not a stranger there. He seems to have been given additional tasks to perform while up at Westminster, for on 7 Nov., during the parliamentary session, the sum of £1 13s. 4d. was sent to him, but for what reason is not stated. Almost certainly, he was involved in negotiations over sums demanded by the Crown from the city as a loan for the defence of the realm, and at some point he delivered £25 into the Exchequer. The Exchequer records show that such a payment had been made three months before the Parliament met, and it may be that he was the person who had handed over the money on that occasion. Perhaps he had even contributed it himself, in advance of its collection in Salisbury. Although the Parliament was dissolved before Christmas it was not until 12 Feb. 1436 that a writ was recorded in the city’s ledger book for payment for the expenses of Ecton and his companion John Bromley*, instructing that the two men should each be paid £8 2s. for 81 days’ service. On the question of the Crown’s demands, the mayor Stephen Coupere was summoned before the royal council on 22 Apr. together with other mayors from around the country to be asked what sum of money his commonalty could provide, but the Council was informed by Walter, Lord Hungerford†, about the burdens already shouldered by Salisbury, and asked that the city would be excused from providing more. The matter was discussed by the mayor and citizens with Hungerford in the chapter house of the cathedral, and won a deferral, although a further £25 was to be raised that spring.13 First General Entry Bk. nos. 308, 312, 316; E401/743, m. 13. The money was chiefly needed to send a relief force to Calais, under threat of attack by the duke of Burgundy, and later in the year Salisbury was required to raise men-at-arms and archers to go overseas to help resist the siege. Ecton was the man recruited to lead the force of three men-at-arms and 24 archers, at a cost to the city of £30. Each soldier received at the city’s expense a coat bearing a sign of a red cross with an ‘S’ front and back.14 First General Entry Bk. no. 317. In the event, when the army led by the duke of Gloucester eventually landed in France, the siege had already been raised, and there was little for it to do save rampage through Picardy and Flanders.

All this while Ecton had continued to receive his annuity from Rowley, and in April 1437 he was given another office, that of woodward of two woods in Wiltshire, to hold during royal pleasure. For a brief time in the summer of 1438 he held the post under a grant for life, but this concession was subsequently withdrawn. Two years later, on 22 June 1440, he agreed to share his £10 annuity from Rowley with his wife’s kinsman William Ludlow (who had attracted royal favour and was now holding a number of crown offices),15 CPR, 1436-41, pp. 50, 337, 420. but he died before the following 10 Oct.16 CCR, 1435-41, p. 392. Presumably the property he had held under the terms of the final concords of 1423 now reverted as planned: Ecton’s cottage in Castle Street, Salisbury, came to Robert Warmwell before he made his will in 1447, and a tenement of his was in William Ludlow’s possession by 1455.17 Tropenell Cart. ed. Davies, i. 236; Wilts. Arch. Mag. xxxvii. 78.