CURWEN, Sir Christopher

More can be added to the earlier biography.1 The Commons 1386-1421, ii. 723-4.

In the returns for the subsidy of 1435-6 Sir Christopher was assessed on an annual income of £90, drawn from lands in both Cumberland and Westmorland. When added to the income he derived from the Norman lands granted to him in 1419, leased in 1435 for 100 marks p.a., this made him the richest of the gentry resident in these two counties.2 E179/90/26. His yr. s. William, had an annuity charged on these French lands of 40 francs not 40 marks as stated in the earlier biography: Cumb. and Westmld. Antiq. and Arch. Soc. n.s. xiv. 409-10. There are only a few other details to add to the earlier biography. He acted as executor for both his grandfather, Sir Gilbert Curwen†, and his father, a testimony to the longevity of the heads of the family.3 C67/38, m. 5. If the dating and testimony of an inquisition for proof of age is to be trusted, on 28 Oct. 1419, in the church at Dean, a few miles from Workington, he stood as godfather at the baptism of John, great-grandson and eventual heir of Sir John Skelton*.4 C139/104/44. On 23 Aug. 1428, before royal commissioners at Carlisle, he was one of six knights who sat on a jury which found in favour of William Stapleton* in an important dispute with the baronial family of Dacre; and he also served on the juries at the inquisitions post mortem of Sir Peter Tilliol* at Carlisle in January 1435 and John, Lord Greystoke, at Penrith in September 1436.5 JUST1/143/2, m. 7; CIPM, xxiv. 318, 496. An action sued in the court of common pleas in 1446 identifies him as a feoffee of his neighbour, Sir William Leigh*, with whom he had represented Cumberland in the Parliament of 1423. Later, Sir Christopher named his executors as his wife, his eldest son, (Sir) Thomas, Sir John Pennington* and a local clerk, Hugh Kay.6 CP40/743, rot. 478d; 761, rot. 21d.