FAYRWELL, Michael

Given the distinctive name, it is likely that Fayrwell was the man who sat for Bramber in Sussex a decade after representing his home borough. It is possible that he was a lawyer like his eldest son, Thomas, and that he gained election for Bramber either as an out an out ‘carpet-bagger’ or because its burgesses wished to make use of his professional expertise. Bramber’s other MP in the strongly loyalist Parliament of 1459 was Richard Stargrave* of the King’s household but there is no evidence that the obscure Fayrwell had a like connexion with the royal establishment.

Whatever his antecedents, Fayrwell certainly resided at Wycombe, where in the summer of 1451 he, his wife and Thomas acquired a cottage, toft and lands formerly held by Isabel Aversdell. These were copyhold properties situated on the manor of Bassetsbury, and in early August that year Isabel appeared in the manor court to surrender them to the King in his capacity as duke of Lancaster. The King then granted them to the Fayrwells for a term of 60 years, in return for an entry fine of 4s. and a rent of 12s. 3d. p.a. By the early 1470s, the MP also held a tenement at Paul’s Row in Wycombe, and it is possible that Thomas Fayrwell inherited his messuage in the town (held in free burgage of the dean and canons of St. George’s Windsor) and lands at nearby Loudwater from him.2 Ibid.; First Ledger Bk. High Wycombe (Bucks. Rec. Soc. xi), no. 53; CIPM Hen. VII, i. 107.

There is no evidence that Fayrwell ever held office at Wycombe but contemporaries recognized him as one of the leading men of the town. A Chancery suit initiated by a fellow townsman, John Welsbourne II*, in the early 1460s provides the evidence of his local status. Acting in his capacity as the executor of Margaret, widow of John Hill II*, Welsbourne sued two of her feoffees, Walter Colard* and the priest Thomas Skaryngton, for refusing to make a release of certain properties in Wycombe which she had conveyed to them in trust. In due course the court commissioned the abbot of Thame and the judge Robert Danvers* to question local witnesses and the examinations were held in Danvers’ presence at Wycombe on 5 Sept. 1461. The seven witnesses, who included the mayor and Fayrwell, owed their selection to their good reputation as ‘the saddyst and wurshypfullest men’ of the borough. Their testimony upheld Welsbourne’s claims and a few weeks later the court decreed that Colard and Skaryngton should make the desired release.3 C1/27/300-1; 29/23-24.

The date of Fayrwell’s death is unknown, although he was certainly still alive in October 1472 when he attested the return of his son Thomas to Parliament as a burgess for Wycombe. Thomas, whom Richard Fowler†, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, employed as a man-at-law, died in 1485 and was succeeded by his eight-year old daughter.4 CIPM Hen. VII, i. 107.