WHEATCROFT, William (by 1517-?58), of Rendlesham and Ipswich, Suff.

According to the will of his grandson Henry Wheatcroft, proved in July 1616, William Wheatcroft had migrated to Suffolk ‘with his special friends the Lord and Lady Willoughby from Lincolnshire’. Wheatcroft is first glimpsed in 1545 when he was assessed for the benevolence at Rendlesham on lands worth £12. Two years later he was made common clerk at Ipswich but another two elapsed before he bought a house there to enable him to carry out the duties of his office with less inconvenience to himself. About the same time the dowager Lady Willoughby sent his son William to Cambridge and Oxford with her grandsons Henry Brandon, and Duke of Suffolk, and his younger brother; she is said to have paid £80 in one year towards young Wheatcroft’s expenses.4PCC 76 Cope; Bacon, 228; E179/181/253; CP25(2)/41/281, no. 26, 63/510, nos. 40, 44; 40/1143, m. 4.

As a municipal officer of 11 years’ standing Wheatcroft was well qualified to sit for Ipswich in the Parliament of 1558. The Journal does not mention him, but the substitution of ‘Withepoll’ for his name on the list of Members in use during the second session suggests that he died during the course of the Parliament. This inference is further borne out by the disappearance of his name as town clerk about the same time. A namesake, presumably his son, is mentioned in May 1562 as ‘now town clerk’.5Ipswich treasurers’ accts. 1557-8, 1559-60; Bacon, 249, 253, 260, 262, 265, 284; William Salt Lib. SMS 264; Add. 37230, ff. 1, 50, 51; Norwich consist. ct. 248 Moyse alias Spicer; E378/358, m. 143; Copinger, Suff. Manors, v. 112.