NESHAM, Walter

Nesham’s origins are obscure, but he appears to have begun his career in the supervision of the search for those evading payment of customs dues. Although his early career, probably either as a clerk in the Exchequer at Westminster or as a minor official in one of the ports, is shrouded in mystery, in September 1419 he was appointed as controller of the search in the five most important ports on the east coast of England between Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Great Yarmouth. This appointment, made during the King’s pleasure and against a background of allegations of malpractice in the collection of the customs, demonstrates the high regard in which he was already held by this date. Eighteen months later he was made controller of customs and subsidies in Ipswich, a post he held until new appointments were made at the start of Henry VI’s reign.

Nesham completed his move to the south-east in 1426, when he was appointed searcher in two of the Cinque Ports, Sandwich and Dover. He may have owed this appointment to the influential warden of the Ports, Humphrey, duke of Gloucester. Nesham clearly exercised his office in person and several pieces of evidence point to his activity as searcher in the late 1420s. In August 1429, for example, he confiscated 28 barrels of green ginger from a Genoese carrack anchored in Sandwich. On the following 3 Oct. he reported the seizure to the barons of the Exchequer and, four days later, he brought the goods to the Exchequer in person. There, following the customary public proclamation and valuation, they were sold, the buyers being Thomas Walsingham†, a London vintner, William Warner, Nesham’s colleague in the customs service at both Ipswich and Sandwich, and William Soper*, the keeper of the King’s ships, men with whom Nesham was undoubtedly familiar.5 E159/206, recorda, Mich. rot. 16. Nesham was not always so forthcoming. Shortly after Easter 1430 he rendered account for his seizures in Sandwich and Dover. These amounted to £28 in value and included the green ginger, £13 from some cloth of gold, 6s. 8d. in gold coin taken from a Lombard merchant, and 13s. 4d. from a fine made with a man from Bruges who had attempted to smuggle jewels overseas. Nesham, however, failed to answer for the coins and the duke of Gloucester was ordered to instruct the mayor and bailiff of Dover to arrest him and have him before the barons of the Exchequer. They replied that Nesham could not be found, something which seems unlikely given his strong connexions with the Port, but he reappeared soon afterwards and settled his account.6 E122/183/9; Egerton 2105, f. 41.

On 6 Feb. 1432 Nesham was involved in one of the most notorious events of Henry VI’s minority. While at Dover to meet the King on his return from France, Gloucester learnt that Cardinal Beaufort, then in Calais, had ordered his treasure to be shipped over to him. Since the cardinal had not secured a licence to export precious metals, Gloucester ordered Nesham to seize the four great coffers being secretly loaded on board the Mary of Winchelsea at Sandwich.7 E207/14/4; G. L. Harriss, Cardinal Beaufort, 215-16. This incident, which dominated the exchanges between Beaufort and Gloucester in the Parliament of 1432, provides an explanation for Nesham’s return as one of the parliamentary barons for Dover. On 4 Apr., before Parliament assembled, he was replaced as searcher, following the appointment of a new treasurer on the King’s homecoming.8 CFR, xvi. 55. His election to the Parliament summoned to meet on 12 May must have taken place about the same time. He was already well known to the Portsmen of Dover, having served as deputy bailiff since at least the previous year, and during 1431-2 he paid maltolts there, having been admitted to the liberty of the Ports, a requirement of his election to Parliament.9 Add. 29615, f. 167v. As soon as he arrived in Westminster Nesham was involved in the dispute between Gloucester and Beaufort. On 14 May he accompanied the duke to the Exchequer where he swore to the truth of Gloucester’s account of the seizure of the treasure.10 E159/208, recorda, Easter rot. 2. Sitting in Parliament alongside Gilbert German*, a lawyer who had been retained principally to assist the Portsmen of Dover in their dispute with Faversham, Nesham was away for 72 days, receiving daily wages of 2s. for the first 62 days and thereafter just 20d. a day. The amount due to him totalled £7 0s. 4d., which included expenses for the time spent travelling. Meeting his expenses proved to be a burden for the Portsmen and he was still 60s. in arrears a year later.11 Add. 29615, ff. 168v, 176v, 185v. After his return to Dover Nesham continued to act as deputy bailiff, and in Michaelmas term 1432 he accompanied the mayor, Walter Stratton*, to the Exchequer to render account for forfeitures of Scottish coin at Dover.12 E159/209, recorda, Mich. rot. 11.

In January 1437 Nesham travelled to Westminster for his second Parliament. On this occasion there is nothing to suggest that his election was influenced by Gloucester, although the Parliament’s business was once again dominated by the duke’s concerns, especially regarding the defence of Calais and the war in France. It is not clear how long he attended the Commons and the accounts at Dover merely record the payment of wages of £4 (a round figure probably suggesting that the conditions of his service had been agreed in advance). As in 1432, the payment of his wages was a slow affair and the debt does not seem to have been settled until 1440.13 Add. 29810, ff. 7, 8v, 17v. Nesham clearly stood in high regard at this time, both among his fellow Portsmen and with the royal government. Accordingly, in December 1437 he was granted the office of bailiff of Dover for life. However, the terms of his appointment were changed in September 1439, and he subsequently shared the office in survivorship with Robert Catton, a yeoman of the King’s chamber.14 CPR, 1436-41, pp. 176, 319. At the beginning of his term of office Nesham frequently appointed local men to deputize for him in meetings of the mayor’s court and other business, although he was present in October 1438 to witness the sealing of an indenture settling Dover’s dispute with its member-port of Faversham. From the mid 1440s, however, he played a fuller part in the government of Dover, regularly attending meetings of the mayor’s court in person.15 Add. 29810, ff. 19v, 30, 31v, 32v, 52; Dover Chs. ed. Statham, 196.

In December 1442, after a gap of ten years, Nesham was reappointed searcher in the ports of Dover and Sandwich.16 CFR, xvii. 241. On this occasion he held the office with John Nesham, a Portsman of Sandwich who was almost certainly his son. Walter appears to have left most of the tasks of searcher to John and a deputy, William Clynk, and it was Clynk who appeared at the Exchequer in Easter term 1443 to report on seizures made in Sandwich.17 E159/219, recorda, Easter rot. 1d. The later years of Nesham’s career are obscure. Unlike his putative son, who in 1450 was one of a delegation of Portsmen sent by the Brodhull to meet the warden, the duke of Buckingham, Walter appears never to have been involved in the communal business of the Ports.18 White and Black Bks. of Cinque Ports (Kent Rec. Ser. xix), 28. He continued to act as bailiff in person in the mayor’s court at Dover (where the last reference to him dates from March 1453).19 Egerton 2105, f. 41v.

Little evidence of Nesham’s personal affairs survives. He was occasionally involved in litigation in the court at Dover. For instance, in June 1433 he had brought a plea of debt against Thomas Walcote and submitted, on pain of £100, to the arbitration of a panel of four jurats.20 Add. 29615, f. 210; Egerton 2089, f. 73v. In May 1452 he and John Nesham were replaced as searchers in the ports of Dover and Sandwich, and while John sued out a general pardon later that year, Walter does not appear to have done so.21 CFR, xviii. 242; C67/40, m. 13. He was dead by March 1455 when Thomas Petyt was exercising the office of bailiff of Dover.22 Add. 29810, f. 76v.