Sir Nicholas Harrington, of Hornby

Nicholas Harrington

• Birth: c. 1345/6 in Farleton, Lancashire, England
• Death: Bef 8 Feb 1404
• Father: John de Harrington b: Abt 1304 in Aldingham, Lancashire, England
• Mother: Katherine Banastre

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Family

Nicholas Harrington, Lord of Farleton m.1 (ante Sep 1369) Isabel English (Sir William English of Appleby, Little Strickland, and Hasket, Westmorland, Knight of the Shire for Westmoreland and Margaret le Brun, b. abt.1345)[2]

Issue: 3 sons; 5 dau.[10]

1. Sir William m. Margaret Neville
2. James m. [Ellen Urswick]
3. Nicholas (no further information)
4. Elizabeth m. John Stanley
5. Margaret m. Sir Richard Huddleston
6. Agnes m. Richard Sherburne
7. Mary m. John Redman
8. Isabel m. Thomas Tunstall

m.2 (ante Aug 1397)[4] Joan (Jennet) Venables (father: Hugh Venables, of Kinderton, Cheshire).[5] Joan/Jennet was widow successively of Thomas de Lathom, Knt. (died 1382), of Lathom, Knowsley, and Huyton, co. Lancaster, and Roger Fazakerley.[5]. No issue.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Harrington-91

Occupation

Knight of the Shire for Lancashire.[12]
Sheriff of Lancashire.[13]
master forester of Quernmore, Lancaster.[14]

Property

He was heir in 1361 to his older brother, Thomas Haverington, by which he inherited the manors of Farleton (in Melling), Bolton-le-Moors, Heath Charnock, Aighton, etc., co. Lancaster and Farleton in Kendale, co. Westmorland.

Timeline

1369: went to Ireland in the retinue of William de Windsor, Knt., where he fought for the next two years.

1373: he and William Curwen, knt. (husband of his wife's aunt, Ellen le Brun) caused major devastation on the estates at Beaumont, co. Cumberland of Ralph de Dacre, Lord Dacre.

1375: implicated in Lord Dacre's murder ... subsequently excommunicated by the Archbishop of York.[15]

Biography

Sir Nicholas Harrington of Hornby, Lancashire (c. 1345/6 - ~1404), was an English Member of Parliament. He was the third and youngest son of Sir John Harrington of Hornby and Katherine Banaster (d. 1359).

Early life

His father died in 1358, and his elder brothers, Robert and Thomas, both followed their father, in rapid succession; dying, supposedly, 'in parts beyond the sea' in two separate events (February and then August 1361 respectively. Harrington then being the remaining heir, he entered his inheritance in circa 1360, having been a ward of Sir James Pickering , who had purchased the wardship from John of Gaunt. He fought in Ireland for at least two years, accompanied in service by his former guardian,under one William Windsor (who was married to Alice Perrers, King Edward III 's mistress ).

Career and illegal activities

In 1373, Harrington was party, with Sir William Curwen, to a raid on Beaumont (near Carlisle, Cumberland ). This specifically attacked the lands of Ralph, Lord Dacre , and the large attacking force carried away much of value. Called a 'a rapidly escalating vendetta,' it was doubtless part of the same Dacre family feud that saw Ralph Dacre murdered by his own brother Hugh two years later; indeed, it has been suggested that Harrington was probably implicated in his murder, as he was within a short time excommunicated by the Archbishop of York. Still retained by John of Gaunt, and with Pickering acting as his mainprisor - putting up Harrington's bail, more or less - he returned to Crown favour by 1379, with his appointment as Lancashire sheriff, and was finally issued an official pardon by Gaunt. In 1393, he received another pardon from Gaunt, this time for repeatedly poaching game and holding illegal hunts in Gaunt's ducal forests , which was then reissued four years later.

Royal service

Knighted by April 1369, he was five-time MP for Lancashire; his final entry to the House of Commons of England was less than two years before his death. In 1379 was appointed Sheriff, an office he held for the next five years. He sat on a multitude of royal commissions of array, Oyer and terminer, assize, and shipwreck over thirty years until 1398.

Family and death

Harrington was twice wed, firstly to Isabel English (by September 1369),[1] and by August 1397,[1] he had married the twice-widowed Joan Venable.

By his first wife he had several children, William, James, Nicholas, Isabel I, Margaret, Agnes, Mary and Elizabeth (Isabel II).[3]

His second marriage brought him an augmentation of his estates, as Joan was a widow, and controlled her dead husband's estates in Huyton and Knowsley. There was no issue from his second marriage.

Harrington appears to have died sometime before February 1404, after which he leaves no official trace.[2] His estates passed to his eldest son, Sir William, and Nicholas and James entered the household of Henry IV as squires.[1]

Sir William became a Knight of the Garter displaying the arms Sable a fret argent, while Sir James combined the tinctures of his paternal arms (sable and argent) with the arms of Henry IV to create differenced arms, blazoned: Sable three leopards argent.

Via his daughter Isabel, he is the G/G/G grandfather of Queen Catherine Parr and G/G grandfather to Bishop of Durham Cuthbert Tunstall. Via his daughter Elizabeth he is the great grandfather of Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby (husband of Lady Margaret Beaufort and step-father to Henry VII of England).

Notes

From : 'Farleton', Records relating to the Barony of Kendale: volume 2 (1924), pp. 266-273. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=49320 Date accessed: 02 July 2014.

”The mesne manor of Farleton appears to have been given by Thomas de Bethum in the time of Henry III to his daughter, Eleanor, who held it in 1254. It appears to have passed to Eleanor's sister, Hawise, the wife of Thomas Banastre of Bretherton, co. Lanc., who had received a considerable maritagium in Beetham. Thomas Banastre their son, was father of Adam Banastre, whose daughter Katherine married John de Harrington, younger, of Farleton in Lonsdale. (fn. 1) Lands in Faileton in Kendale were held by a local family. The first was Thomas de Farleton in the reign of John and the last was Ralph de Farleton, named in 1349, who had a daughter Cecily, named in 1352. Ralph appears to have alienated his lands before 1343 to John de Harrington, younger, named above, son of Sir John de Harrington of Aldingham. The younger John died in 1359 seised of the manor, which descended in his posterity as shown in the annexed pedigree:— ....."

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from http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/families/tempest/tempest4.shtml

"The identity of Agnes (Harrington) Sherburne was the topic of an article on the Soc. Gen. Med. newsgroup (http://groups.google.com/group/soc.genealogy.medieval) on 24 May 2004 by Douglas Hickling, building on work reported by Douglas Richardson in the recent Plantagenet Ancestry (2004, p. 678). Many sources show Agnes as a Stanley, but Hickling has shown that she was the daughter of Sir Nicholas Harrington."

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Descent of the manor of Farleton

Source: 'Farleton', in Records Relating To the Barony of Kendale: Volume 2, ed. William Farrer and John F Curwen (Kendal, 1924), pp. 266-273. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/kendale-barony/vol2/pp266-273 [accessed 15 September 2023].

References

• Richardson, Douglas. Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families, 2nd Edition. (2011). Page 265. 12. John Stanley. < GoogleBooks >
• Richardson, Douglas. Magna Carta ancestry : a study in colonial and medieval families. (2005) Page 770-771. 9. John Stanley < Archive.Org >
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Harrington-91 cites
  • 1. 3rd son; proved age in 1365.[1]
  • 2. Margaret's father is Richard le Brun.[2]
  • 3. co-heiress c. 1369 to uncle Robert le Brun ...inherited manor of Drumburgh (in Bowness), Bowness, Cardurnock, etc., and a one-third share in the manors of Bothel (in Torpenhow), Beaumont, and Brunskaith, co. Cumberland.[3]
  • 4. date of fine.[4]
  • 5. Joan/Jennet was widow successively of Thomas de Lathom, Knt. (died 1382), of Lathom, Knowsley, and Huyton, co. Lancaster, and Roger Fazakerley.[5] See also:
• Flower, W. (1881). "Tunstall." The Visitation of Yorkshire in the Years 1563 and 1564. The Harleian Society, Vol 16. Charles Best Norcliffe, Ed. London. Google Books.[16]
• Haryngton, Sir Nicholas (c.1344-c.1404), of Farleton in Lonsdale, Lancs. and Farleton in Kendal, Westmld. HOP. Web.[17]
• Richardson, D. (2011). "Thomas Parr." Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd ed. Google Books.[18]
• Richardson, D. (2011). Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families, 2nd ed, pp. 265.[19]
• Richardson, D. (2010, July 21). "Sir Nicholas Harrington's wife." soc.genealogy.medieval. Google Groups. Weblog.[20]
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Harrington cites
  • 1. "HARYNGTON, Sir Nicholas (c.1344-c.1404), of Farleton in Lonsdale, Lancs. and Farleton in Kendal, Westmld". < History of Parliament biography >
  • 2. "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/61175. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  • 3.Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. p. 265 < GoogleBooks >