Constituency Dates
Yorkshire [1423]
Family and Education
prob. s. and h. of Sir Thomas Rokeby (fl.1389), ‘le neveu’, of Rokeby and Mortham. m. Joan, da. and h. of Sir John Strother of Felton, Northumb., by Mary (fl.1415), da. and coh. of Sir Alan Heton† (d.1388) of Ingram, Northumb.,1 Northumb. RO, Swinburne (Capheaton) mss, ZSW/1/79, 149; 4/29. Joan did not fall heir to a share of the Heton lands for Mary had male issue by her 2nd husband, Sir William Swinburne† (d.1404) of Capheaton, Northumb.: The Commons 1386-1421, iv. 551-3. Under the terms of the 1351 contract for Mary’s marriage to Strother, the lands of Strother’s father, Henry, in Kirknewton, Felton and elsewhere in Northumb. should have passed to the issue of the couple, but title appears to have been disputed: Swinburne mss, ZSW/4/29. By a fine levied in 1415 Rokeby and his wife alienated their interest in her inheritance to feoffees headed by the wealthy Newcastle merchant, Roger Thornton*: CP25(1)/291/63/44. poss. 2s. 1da. Kntd. by Jan. 1405.
Offices Held

Parlty. proxy for the prior of Durham 1406.

Collector of a tax, Yorks. (N. Riding) Mar. 1401.

Sheriff, Northumb. 21 Jan. – 22 Nov. 1405, Yorks. 23 Nov. 1407 – 15 Nov. 1408, 10 Dec. 1411 – 3 Nov. 1412.

Commr. Cumb., Northumb., Westmld., Yorks., Normandy, Louviers Aug. 1407 – June 1418.

Address
Main residences: Rokeby; Mortham, Yorks.
biography text

More may be added to the earlier biography.2 The Commons 1386-1421, iv. 228-30.

Rokeby’s close connexion with Ralph, Lord Neville and (from 1397), earl of Westmorland, began earlier than allowed in the original biography. In March 1396, described as ‘our esquire’, he was named by Neville as his attorney in an important land transaction.3 E210/11151. The prior of Durham was another who employed his services, nominating him as his parliamentary proxy in the Parliament of 1406, of which Rokeby himself was a Member.4 SC10/42/2098.

The most curious aspect of Rokeby’s career is the near complete obscurity of its last years. Although he was alive as late as 1444, he took no recorded role in public affairs after his election to Parliament in 1423. Most of the later references to him relate to legal and financial difficulties. On 16 Oct. 1427, through his attorney John Cerf*, he successfully pleaded a pardon when the Exchequer pursued him for money he had allegedly collected as sheriff of Northumberland in respect of the 1404 subsidy and as sheriff of Yorkshire in respect of that of 1412. Later, in 1438, he was sued by the abbot of the monastery of St. Mary, York, for taking his goods worth £20 at Mortham.5 E159/204, brevia Mich. rot. 48d, recorda Mich. rots. 6, 12d; CP40/708, rot. 12d; 709, rot. 12. He last appears in the records on 14 Apr. 1444, when he had a papal licence for the celebration of mass in his oratory within his manor of Mortham.6 Yorks. Arch. Jnl. xxx. 81-82.

One of his sons, another Thomas Rokeby, served in the garrison at Caen under the duke of York in 1437 and then under Henry Percy, Lord Poynings, at Berwick in 1448.7 Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, fr. 25773/1192; C71/92, m. 5.

Author
S.J.P.
Volume
Commons 1422-1461
Notes
  • 1. Northumb. RO, Swinburne (Capheaton) mss, ZSW/1/79, 149; 4/29. Joan did not fall heir to a share of the Heton lands for Mary had male issue by her 2nd husband, Sir William Swinburne† (d.1404) of Capheaton, Northumb.: The Commons 1386-1421, iv. 551-3. Under the terms of the 1351 contract for Mary’s marriage to Strother, the lands of Strother’s father, Henry, in Kirknewton, Felton and elsewhere in Northumb. should have passed to the issue of the couple, but title appears to have been disputed: Swinburne mss, ZSW/4/29. By a fine levied in 1415 Rokeby and his wife alienated their interest in her inheritance to feoffees headed by the wealthy Newcastle merchant, Roger Thornton*: CP25(1)/291/63/44.
  • 2. The Commons 1386-1421, iv. 228-30.
  • 3. E210/11151.
  • 4. SC10/42/2098.
  • 5. E159/204, brevia Mich. rot. 48d, recorda Mich. rots. 6, 12d; CP40/708, rot. 12d; 709, rot. 12.
  • 6. Yorks. Arch. Jnl. xxx. 81-82.
  • 7. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, fr. 25773/1192; C71/92, m. 5.