WINTERSHALL, Robert

Robert’s father, John, represented their county in the Commons on at least six occasions in the reigns of the first three Lancastrians, and his elder brother Thomas did likewise in 1435 after their father’s death. Robert, a younger son, was first returned for the county town of Guildford in 1429, undoubtedly with the support of his father, who was then serving as sheriff of Surrey and presided over the parliamentary elections.5 C219/14/1. Likewise, it is probable that John’s influence secured Robert’s second return, in 1433, when the father was elected for Surrey for a final time. Yet Robert was not a complete outsider to Guildford. While it is not clear whether he fulfilled the statutory requirements for residency in his constituency at the time of his elections, he was certainly party to property transactions there from the 1430s, and remained associated with Guildford throughout his career, eventually serving two terms as its mayor.6 Surr. Hist Centre, Woking, Loseley mss, LM 341/48; CP25(1)/232/72/76.

Robert’s father died while they were attending the Parliament of 1433, and his elder brother Thomas succeeded to the family lands,7 C139/68/5. only to die too, just five years later in the winter of 1438-9, while serving as escheator in Surrey and Sussex. No inquisition post mortem survives to provide details of Thomas’s lands and heir, but it seems that he left no issue and that Robert now inherited the family estates.8 CFR, xvii. 75. These included the manors of Wintershall in Bramley and Frenches in Worplesdon, as well as land in Godalming, Wittle and Aldbury.9 VCH Surr. iii. 84-85, 392-3; C140/62/48. Earlier, while his father was still alive, Robert had acquired the manor of Catteshall from John Brantingham, probably by purchase.10 Loseley mss, LM 339/45/2, 341/18-19, 25, 43; CPR, 1429-36, p. 62. The value of these holdings is uncertain, but, like his father before him, he was distrained for failing to take up knighthood, so they must have been considered to be worth at least £40 p.a.

Robert assumed his family’s traditional place in county society. In November 1441 he took office as escheator, and thereafter was sporadically appointed to ad hoc commissions of local government. His standing in the locality appears to have been high, and although he was never returned to Parliament for the county, he did attest the election of the shire knights, conducted at Guildford, on no fewer than nine occasions between September 1435 (when his elder brother was returned) and September 1472.11 C219/14/5; 15/2-7; 16/2, 5; 17/1-2. Meanwhile, in July 1449 he entered the royal household as serjeant of the King’s hounds, where he remained for at least six years.12 CPR, 1446-52, p. 235; E361/6, rot. 50. There he came into contact with Bernard Janyn* (a yeoman in the same household office) who was later to act as his feoffee of the family manor of Wintershall.

In spite of his membership of Henry VI’s household, Wintershall may have been an early convert to the Yorkist cause. In late 1460, after the duke of York and his allies had taken over the government, he was appointed to deliver the royal gaol of Guildford, and he received further such appointments after Edward IV’s accession, when he was also added to the county bench. It is not certain whether he continued in his household office throughout this period, but the terms of its grant to his younger son Thomas in June 1464 may suggest that he did.13 CPR, 1461-7, p. 334.

Little else is known of Wintershall’s career. He was well connected among the county gentry, at various times serving or employing as a feoffee men like Thomas Slyfield* and William Redstone*.14 Loseley mss, LM 341/76/1-3; 342/28; CCR, 1461-8, p. 201; C140/62/48. Although he was included in a commission of inquiry during Henry VI’s brief readeption of 1470-1, it does not seem that his loyalty to Edward IV had in fact lapsed, and he retained his place on the Surrey bench after Edward’s restoration. He was, however, by this time advancing in years, which may explain his replacement as a j.p. by his son Thomas in the autumn of 1472. Robert nevertheless seems to have lived on for several years and is last recorded in July 1475.15 Loseley mss, LM/342/28. He was succeeded by the elder of his two sons named Thomas, who himself died in March 1477, leaving as his heir a 19-year-old son, called Robert like his grandfather.16 C140/62/48.