THRELKELD, Geoffrey

Geoffrey Threlkeld’s parentage is not known, but there is every reason to suppose that he was descended from another Geoffrey, a younger son of Sir William Threlkeld (d.1371) of Threlkeld in Cumberland and Crosby Ravensworth in Westmorland. In all probability he was the son and heir of the elder Geoffrey’s own son and heir, Richard, who sued out a royal pardon in June 1415.1 C67/37, m. 38. Whatever the precise relationship, he was certainly a cousin to successive heads of the Threlkeld clan, another Sir William† (d.1408) and Sir Henry*. Only incidental references survive to illuminate his career. He first appears in the records in February 1420, when he shared a royal grant of the keeping of 60 acres of land called ‘Castelfeld’ by Carlisle with William Lowther†. Lowther had leased the property since 1407, but surrendered his letters so that the two of them might hold it for a long term of 40 years at an annual rent of £3. His death about a year later left our MP as the sole lessee.2 CFR, xiv. 327.

No more is known of Threlkeld until his election to represent Appleby in the Parliament which met at Westminster on 22 Sept. 1429. In the return, in which the county and borough elections for Westmorland are conflated together (as they generally were at this period), his name has been added over an erasure, but there was nothing particularly surprising about his nomination. The borough was often represented by the junior members of leading county families, and his election, like that of the other Appleby MP, Robert Leybourne*, falls into the same category.3 C219/14/1. Further, he may have had the additional recommendation of a connexion with one of the leading local gentry, Sir Thomas Strickland*, elected to the same Parliament for Westmorland. The two men certainly acted together during the course of the assembly’s first session: on 29 Nov. 1429 they appeared personally in the court of King’s bench, alongside Strickland’s brother, Walter I*, to offer surety that a chaplain and William Nyanser would keep the peace to John Cavendish, the King’s embroiderer.4 KB27/674, rex rot. 12d. Here our MP is described as ‘of Greystoke, gentleman’, a few miles from his family’s manor at Threlkeld in Cumberland, but if this description implies a connexion with the lord there, John, Lord Greystoke, there is no other evidence of such a link. A similar comment might be made in respect of his designation as ‘of Kendal’ in a bond of 1437 in which he was joined with another Appleby MP, Robert Ingleton*; but if, like Ingleton, he was a servant of the lord of Kendal, (Sir) Thomas Parr*, there is no evidence of the association beyond what may have been an occasional residence there.5 CAD, vi. C5244.

Only three other references to Threlkeld have been found, but the first of them is striking one. On 10 Feb. 1439 he and another of the minor county gentry, Roland Cliburne, allegedly murdered one William Walker at Crackenthorpe, near Appleby. After indictment before the county’s j.p.s, they were acquitted before the justices of gaol delivery at Appleby on 30 July 1440. Unfortunately there is no evidence to give a context to their alleged crime, but the indictment provides what is probably the best indication of our MP’s main place of residence. He is said to have lived at Patterdale not far from Cliburne’s home at Bampton Cundale and some miles to the north of Kendal.6 JUST3/70/13, mm. 2-3; 211, rot. 47. Later he was present before the gaol delivery justices at Appleby in another capacity: on 11 Aug. 1447 he sat as juror. He last appears in the records in Easter term 1457 when, again described as ‘of Kendal’ he was sued for debt by the administrator of the goods of John Wotton, a London draper.7 JUST3/70/19; CP40/785, rot. 440.