SPECULATIVE RELATIONSHIPS
CHART
XVIII
We shall introduce this conjectural
set of pedigrees with the recorded account of a 1462 inquest:
"Inquiry held at
Ludlow by the oath of John Leighton, Esq, Robert Cresset, Esq, Roger Eyton, Esq, Edward Dalamar, Esq, Maurice Ludlow, Esq,
Edward Leighton, William Mynton, Richard James, Thos Rowley, Thos Waryng, John Hewes, Wm Legge of Wenlock and Thos Hudson
"who say on their
oath that Edward Plowden of Plowden Co. Salop, Gentleman and Roger Plowden of Plowden, Gent. on Saturday before the Feast
of St Bartholomew 2 Edward IV at 4.0 p.m. at the town of Walcot in a certain lane called Mershlane of the same town, with
bills[1] attacked William Walcot, and the said Edward Plowden threw a bill worth 4d which he held in his hand at the said
William Walcot and so gave him a mortal wound of which he died on the Tuesday after the Feast of the Beheadiing of John the
Baptist
"and they further
say that Edw Plowden of Plowden, Gent, John Plowden of Plowden, Gent, Roger Corbet of Bishop's Castle, Gent, Richard Burley
of Shrewsbury, Gent, Roger Betley of Betley, yeoman received and conforted the murderers. March 20th, 3rd Edw IV"
1340 Thomas Wilcotes==Elisabeth Hall
l
1374 John Wilcotes[2]==Elisabeth Cheney
l
1405
Elisabeth==Henry Raynford, Sr 1390
___________l___________
l
l
1430 William Walcot=/=daughter 1430 1420 Henry Jr
(next chart)
ob 1501
ob 1480
The only speculative parts of this chart are (1) where we posit a daughter of Henry Raynford Sr
as the mistress of William Walcot; and (2) where we show that lady dying in 1501 at Wreyland manor in Devonshire. We
also suggest that phonetic spellings of names in Devonshire turned "Raynford" into "Wreyford" and Walcot into Wolcott
1325 Evan de Walcot
l
1360 Roger Walcot
l
1390 Sir Philip CHART I
1430
l 1440
1435
Raynford lady==/==William===Elisabeth===Humphrey Plowden
(see above) l [4] 1430 l
Stury [3] CHART XIII
l l CHART XIII
l
l
1460 Thomas Wolcott William Wulcut
1455
of Wreyland[5] of Dulverton
l
1487 Thomas of Tolland, lv 1525
l
1516 John Wolcott
l
1545
John, Jr
l
1578
Henry Wolcott, emigrated to America in 1630
Speculative portions of this chart include (1) identifying the William Walcot
who was born c. 1430 and killed in 1462 as a son of Sir Philip;(2) identifying the 'William Willascot' who was married
to Elisabeth Stury as that same William Walcot;(3) identifying the Thomas Wolcott who leased Wreyland manor in Devonshire
from 1480 to 1501 as a base son of that William Walcot;(4) identifying the Thomas Wolcott who lived at Tolland in Somersetshire in 1525 as a son of the foregoing Thomas;and (5) identifying the William who was a
son of Elisabeth Stury and 'William Willascot' as the William Wulcut of Dulverton, Somersetshire
NOTES:
[1] A bill was similar to a modern-day brick, so called due to its shape
(a rectangle formed by two squares side by side) which resembled a billet or letter when stood on end
[2] A branch of the Wilcotes family resided at Great Tew in Oxfordshire,
which manor passed by marriage to the Raynford family. John Wilcotes represented the shire in parliament from 1399 to
1421, apparently replacing a William Wilcotes, who had been the MP from 1385 to 1397. That John Wilcotes is possibly
the John Walcot who married Matilda Cornwall of nearby Burford, Oxfordshire; Elisabeth Cheney was his first
wife and mother of Elisabeth, but he is credited with a second marriage to an unnamed lady. However, the
Wilcotes family may have been unrelated to the Walcot family of Shropshire, but were certainly contemporaries and both
married into Oxfordshire families
[3] The maternal grandfather of Elisabeth Stury was Roger Corbet of Moreton-Corbet;
see chart referenced
[4] We suggest the "William Willascot" who was the first husband of Elisabeth
Stury was actually William Walcot, the man killed in 1462 by the Plowden boys. We have considered 15th century reasons
(1) why powerful local men would not only condone this murder, but shelter the perpetrators from prosecution; and (2) why
others of the Walcot family had such amicable relations with the Plowden family that less than 50 years after 1462, a Walcot
married a Plowden. We would speculate that a William Walcot, in his low 30's and with a young son, had an affair
with the Raynford lady who may have been either widowed or divorced and was near his age. When it became known that
the father of her child was William, Roger Corbet was incensed that his grand-daughter had been so dishonored. A powerful
man in his own right, as well as friend of the politically well-connected Mortimers, we suggest Roger recruited the Plowden
boys (who were likely in his service) to kill the cheater and then arranged for an "innocent" Plowden boy to marry the
widow (yet in her early 20's). Considered by men of the era to have been an "honor killing" carried out by men chosen
by the offended family, other Walcots may have thought William had it coming and harbored no grudges. His legitimate son William, we theorize, eventually settled in Dulverton, Somersetshire where
he married Elizabeth Whetchill and died without issue. We suggest the Raynford lady took his base son, Thomas, to live
with her brother Henry 'Wreyford' Jr in Devonshire where he leased a property which was called "Wreyland".
When her brother died in 1480, he probably left his sister a life interest in that lease. Her son, Thomas Wolcott, took
it over and resided there until his mother died, probably in 1501, at which time he relocated to Tolland in Somersetshire with
a few friends and in-laws where they set up a textile fulling mill. One son
of that Thomas was born c. 1487 and also named Thomas. His son, John, was born c. 1516 and had John, Jr about 1545.
The latter was father to Henry, born 1578, who emigrated to America in 1630.
[5] Wreyland manor records, which end in 1501, indicate the lease was held by
Henry Wreyford, Sr and then by Henry Wreyford, Jr who died in 1480. No family with a surname of that spelling occurs
anywhere in England, and we suggest they were actually the Raynford/Raynsford family of Oxfordshire
SOURCES:
[1] New England Historic Genealogical Register, vol 139, pp 228 "Edward Raynsford
of Boston - English Ancestry & American Descendants: by James A. Rasmussen: for the Wilcotes/Raynford data; the latter
surname is rendered as both Raynsford and Raynford depending on the source and both spellings are assigned the same coat of
arms
[2] Visitation of Shropshire of 1623, pp 448 for the two marriages of Elisabeth
Stury and the child William by her first marriage.
