Sir Thomas Chaworth, Kt., MP, Lord Wiverton

CHAWORTH, Sir Thomas (d.1459), of Wiverton, Notts. and Alfreton, Derbys.

Family and Education

s. and h. of Sir William Chaworth (d.1398) of Wiverton and Alfreton by his w. Alice (1345-1400), da. and h. of Sir John Caltoft (d.1353) of East Bridgford, Notts. m. (1) by 1400, Nicola, 1da.; (2) by 1416, Isabel (1402-58), da. of Sir Thomas Aylesbury*, aunt and coh. of Hugh Aylesbury ( d.1423) of Milton Keynes, Bucks., at least 5s. 1da. Kntd. by June 1401.1

Offices Held

Commr. to make an arrest, Notts. Nov. 1401; of array, Notts., Derbys. May 1405, Notts. Oct. 1417, Mar. 1419, Mar. 1427, Aug. 1436; inquiry Mar. 1406 (desertions to the Welsh rebels), Jan. 1412 (persons liable to pay taxes), Apr. 1416 (illegal fishing on the Trent), Feb. 1426 (treasons), Apr. 1431 (persons liable to contribute to a royal loan), Mar. 1435 (concealments),2 Notts., Derbys. July 1454 (illegal fishing on the Trent); to raise royal loans, Notts. Nov. 1419, Mar. 1422, July 1426, May 1428, Mar. 1430, Notts., Derbys. Mar. 1431, Notts., Leics. Feb. 1434, Notts. Feb. 1436, Mar. 1439, Nov. 1440, Mar. 1442, Notts., Derbys. June 1446, Notts. Sept. 1449, Notts., Derbys., Rutland June 1453, Notts. May 1455;3 of gaol delivery, Nottingham castle June 1421, Nov. 1432; to distribute a tax rebate as a former shire knight, Notts. May 1437, June 1445, July 1446; of kiddles, Notts., Lancs., Yorks. c.1439, Notts. July 1454; oyer and terminer, Notts., Derbys. July 1440; to treat for payment of a subsidy Feb. 1441; assign archers Dec. 1457; of sewers, Notts., Leics. July 1458.

Sheriff, Notts. and Derbys. 5 Nov. 1403-22 Oct. 1404, 10 Nov. 1417-4 Nov. 1418, 13 Nov. 1423-6 Nov. 1424, Lincs. 15 Nov. 1408-4 Nov. 1409, 4 Nov. 1418-23 Nov. 1419.

J.p. Notts. 12 Nov. 1404-17, 14 July 1419-24, 16 July 1429-d., Derbys. 8 July 1444- d.

Collector of a royal loan, Notts. Sept. 1405, Jan. 1420; a tax, Notts., Derbys. Aug. 1450; assessor of taxes, Notts. Jan. 1436.

Jt. steward of the Leics. and Rutland estates of Henry, duke of Warwick, c.1445-d.4

Biography Sir Thomas Chaworth’s ancestors are reputed to have arrived in England from Brittany during the reign of Henry I, when they began to accumulate extensive estates in Nottinghamshire, largely through marriage. Over the years they acquired the manors of Wiverton (the family seat), Osberton, Edwalton and High and Low Marnham; and before long the Derbyshire manors of Alfreton and Norton, together with widespread appurtenances, were in their hands as well. Their properties in these two counties alone produced over £135 p.a. by the early 15th century; and the family could also rely upon additional revenues from the manor of Wadsworth in Yorkshire and land in Wymeswold, Medbourn and Saxby (Leicestershire) and Easenhall (Warwickshire). These lucrative holdings descended to Thomas in 1398 on the death of his father, and were further augmented two years later when his mother died, leaving him her own not inconsiderable inheritance. This comprised the manor of East Bridgford in Nottinghamshire (worth about £15 p.a.) and land in the Lincolnshire villages of Thoresby, Toynton, Allington and Timberland. Alice Chaworth was, moreover, one of the coheirs of Ralph, Lord Basset of Drayton, who died without issue in 1390, and even though she appears to have disposed of her share of his estates to her distant kinsman, Thomas, earl of Stafford, the connexion alone proved of value to her son in later life.5

Although he must still have been quite young when his father lay dying in December 1398, Thomas was none the less appointed to execute his will. In the following November he became a trustee of part of the Longford estates, and he soon began to play an important part in the business of local government. Indeed, in June 1401 Henry IV considered it expedient to retain him as a knight of the royal body at a fee of 40 marks, charged upon the duchy of Lancaster lordship of Gunthorpe. In the summer of 1403 Sir Thomas was summoned to attend a great council at Westminster, and a few months later he began the first of three terms as sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. During this period he campaigned against both the Welsh and the Scots, being rewarded later with a royal gift of 100 marks and the promise of timber with which to enclose his deer park at Alfreton. According to a complaint made by Sir Thomas in January 1406 this park had been virtually devastated by Lord Darcy and his men; and it was perhaps in revenge that he launched a similar attack upon Darcy’s property at Eckington, allegedly carrying off chests of muniments as well as goods and £100 in cash. Both these raids were investigated by commissions of oyer and terminer, but neither of the chief protagonists was punished.6 Sir Thomas first sat in Parliament at this time, and while the session was still in progress he entered a complex series of recognizances involving several members of the nobility and Thomas Langley, bishop of Durham, the then chancellor, probably in order to raise money for the government. In about 1409 he settled most of his inheritance upon feoffees, among whom was the influential lawyer, William Babington of Chilwell, Nottinghamshire, who had previously offered guarantees on his behalf when he obtained the wardship of a small estate in Medbourn from the Crown, and whose Derbyshire property Sir Thomas later held in trust. He was then serving as sheriff of Lincolnshire, and it was probably in this capacity that he incurred the enmity of Sir Walter Tailboys*, a local landowner, who subsequently tried to murder him at Lincoln. In May 1411, Tailboys was bound over in the unusually large securities of £3,000 to keep the peace, and he had to abandon his vendetta. Chaworth himself fell out of favour in the following autumn and was, indeed, incarcerated for a brief period in the Tower of London together with five other knights, including his friends, (Sir) Roger Leche* (who had just appeared with him as plaintiff in a lawsuit over the ownership of the manor of Hopewell in Derbyshire), Sir John Leek* (with whom he often acted as a trustee) and Sir John Zouche (his colleague in the Parliament of May 1413). It has been suggested that their imprisonment followed an unsuccessful attempt by Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, to persuade Henry IV to abdicate in favour of the prince of Wales, and Chaworth may well by then have become a firm supporter of the prince. The electors of Derbyshire certainly regarded him in this light, for in May 1413 he and Leche were returned together to the first Parliament of the new reign. On the other hand, there is good reason to suppose that the six knights, all of whom had recently posed a serious threat to public order, were then simply being called to account for their various misdeeds.7

Notwithstanding his evident attachment to Henry V, Chaworth was prepared to throw in his lot with the lollard leader, Sir John Oldcastle*, whose plans for a rising in early January 1414 were promptly and efficiently quashed by the King. Sympathy for the lollards was strong in Derbyshire, and it is worth noting that another of Oldcastle’s leading supporters, the lawyer, Henry Booth*, also had estates there. Orders for Chaworth’s arrest were issued on 8 Jan., and he once again found himself a captive in the Tower. He was at first kept in chains, but at the beginning of February bonds worth 1,000 marks were offered by William Babington and his other friends as security that he would not attempt to escape if his conditions were ameliorated. Throughout this period he and his fellow captives remained under sentence of death, but in May they were pardoned and allowed to go free. It is now impossible to tell how far Sir Thomas shared Oldcastle’s heretical beliefs. His later life was given over to works of conventional piety, most notably with regard to the endowment and assistance of Launde priory in Leicestershire, although the evidence of his will shows him to have possessed a large number of devotional works (some of which were in English), including ‘a graile (gradual) manuell and a litel portose (breviary) the whiche the saide Sir Thomas toke with hym alway when he rode’, so he may well have continued the lollard practice of placing particular emphasis on private prayer. The inclusion of his distant kinsman, William Booth, archbishop of York, among the three supervisors of his will and his appointment, in 1423, of the bishops of Durham and Worcester as his trustees would, however, confirm that, in public at least, he eschewed any suspect doctrines. Once released from prison, Sir Thomas understandably made every effort to re-establish himself in King Henry’s good graces; and he seized the opportunity offered in 1415 by the latter’s invasion of France to prove his loyalty. He indented to serve in the royal army with a personal retinue of eight men-at-arms and 24 archers, and was duly accorded the necessary letters of protection.8

Although he never quite managed to recover the position of trust which he had previously enjoyed, Sir Thomas was in a sense able to compensate for this by making a remarkably lucrative second marriage. By his first wife, Nicola, he had only one child, a daughter named Elizabeth, who married John, Lord Scrope of Masham (d.1455) before 1418, and seems to have become her father’s favourite. Whereas Nicola brought little in the way of property or advancement to the Chaworths, Sir Thomas’s new bride, the daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, added greatly to their territorial possessions. We do not know exactly what Isabel received at the time of her marriage, but her father was extremely rich, and in May 1416 he made his new son-in-law one of his principal trustees. The latter was thus singularly well placed to advance his own interests when Aylesbury died, two years later, and promptly obtained control of the manors of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire and Abinger in Surrey during the minority of his young brother-in-law, John. The successive deaths within the next five years of both John and his baby son caused a dramatic change in Chaworth’s circumstances, for his wife thus became coheir with her sister, Eleanor, of all her late father’s property. Her share comprised the manors of Albury, Wilstone and Tiscott in Hertfordshire, Rousham in Oxfordshire, Sells Green in Wiltshire, Bradwell, Broughton and Drayton Beauchamp in Buckinghamshire, Oxhill in Warwickshire, and Dodford, Blatherwycke, Pytchley and Weston in Northamptonshire. She also inherited various tenements in Cripplegate, London. Altogether, these properties were worth a bare minimum of £93 p.a.; and although part of them remained in the hands of Isabel’s widowed mother until 1436, the improvement in Chaworth’s status and finances was still remarkable.9

In the meantime, Sir Thomas had sufficiently overcome the stigma of past treason to be made sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire for the second time. He actually assumed office just before taking his seat in the Parliament of 1417, and thus technically contravened the statute forbidding the return of sheriffs. Despite his many commitments, Sir Thomas maintained a keen interest in the administration of his estates, and at this time he actually entered an arrangement for the mining of coal on his Derbyshire property. He also kept up a wide and influential range of social connexions. In February 1419, for instance, he stood bail for (Sir) John Pelham* (an executor of Henry IV), and a few weeks later he joined with Sir Ralph Shirley* in offering recognizances worth 200 marks to Sir Richard Stanhope*. His relations with Shirley did not remain cordial for long, since, as one of the heirs of Lord Basset of Drayton, he found himself drawn into an alliance with Humphrey, earl of Stafford, who was determined to secure the entire Basset inheritance for himself. Whereas Chaworth’s mother had been prepared to relinquish her title to the Staffords, Shirley clung on grimly to what was legally his, and thus met with the full force of Earl Humphrey’s displeasure. Shirley was eventually driven out of the property by force majeur, claiming that his eviction had been effected ‘be the procurement and instance of Sir Thomas Chaworth’.10 As we have already seen, another prominent member of Chaworth’s circle was Sir John Zouche, who conveyed his Yorkshire manor of Bolton-upon-Dearne to him, in 1422, as a trustee, and later made him a feoffee-to-uses of other property as well. Zouche’s daughter, Elizabeth, married Sir Nicholas Bowet, a kinsman of Henry Bowet, archbishop of York, and on the latter’s death, in the following year, Chaworth proceeded to exploit this connexion so that he could obtain custody of the temporalities of the archbishopric until the consecration of the next incumbent. He went on, some time later, to consolidate the relationship by arranging a marriage between his eldest son, William, and Sir Nicholas’s daughter. Chaworth’s young ward, William Fitzwilliam of Sprotborough in Yorkshire, meanwhile proved a more than suitable husband for his younger daughter (another Elizabeth), to whom he was betrothed while still a minor. An interesting list of Chaworth’s other intimates is furnished by an enfeoffment of 1423, whereby he conveyed the bulk of his estates to a new body of trustees. As noted above, he probably chose the bishops of Durham and Worcester in order to demonstrate his return to orthodoxy, but his appointment of Thomas, Lord Roos of Helmsley, and Ralph, Lord Cromwell, provides a clear indication of where his temporal loyalties lay. He acted for a long time as Roos’s feoffee-to-uses; and in 1434, some four years after the latter’s death, he was permitted to farm the manor of Orston in Nottinghamshire during the minority of Roos’s next heir.11

It was, however, Chaworth’s association with Lord Cromwell which proved of particular consequence, since through it he became drawn into Cromwell’s longstanding and bitter feud with Sir Henry Pierrepont* (his colleague in the Parliament of 1423). Having wrested the Heriz family inheritance from Pierrepont by highly dubious means, Cromwell secured his title, in 1431, by conveying the property to a panel of influential feoffees, including Chaworth and his friend, Sir Richard Vernon*. Not surprisingly, then, when violence erupted between Pierrepont and his other enemies, the Foljambes, Chaworth threw his not inconsiderable weight behind the Foljambes, and as head of the second jury at the Derby sessions of oyer and terminer, in 1434, he did everything he could to support their allegations. He even offered bail for Richard Brown* of Repton, who stood accused of attempting to procure Thomas Foljambe’s acquittal; and in the following year he and Cromwell capitalized upon their position as royal commissioners of inquiry in Nottinghamshire to question Pierrepont’s title to the manor of Sneinton. Later, in 1440, Sir Henry tried to recover some of his losses by suing Chaworth and Lord Cromwell’s other trustees, but pressure was brought upon him to settle out of court. Chaworth remained close to Cromwell until the latter’s death, for the two men acted together, on New Year’s Day 1448, as witnesses to an oath made by Richard Willoughby, renouncing his inheritance. In later life he was recruited into the service of Henry, duke of Warwick, who made him and one of his sons joint stewards of his property in Leicestershire and Rutland.12

In view of his eminent position and important connexions with the nobility, it is hardly surprising to find Sir Thomas named first among the electors who attested the Nottinghamshire returns to the Parliaments of 1425, 1426, 1429, 1432 and 1433. He also headed the list of local gentry who were to take the general oath of May 1434 that they would not assist persons disturbing the peace. Frequently chosen as a royal commissioner for the raising of government loans, he himself contributed £40 to the cost of national defence in the following year. He was at this time preoccupied with arrangements for the release of Sir Thomas Rempston II* from captivity in France; and in 1447 he and William Babington (who often acted with him in such matters) assisted Rempston’s widowed mother to found a chantry dedicated to the memory of his late father. As a man of considerable wealth and widespread possessions, Chaworth inevitably became involved in numerous lawsuits, the majority of which were for the recovery of debts (such as £106 owed to him by two merchants from Banbury), although some concerned acts of trespass and disputes over property. At some unknown date, Chaworth lodged a petition in the court of Chancery against the feoffees of Sir Richard Goldesburgh, whose son was then his ward, claiming that by ‘covyn and confetrecy’ with Sir Richard’s widow they had withheld valuable documents concerning the boy’s estates. In May 1449 he and his sister-in-law (who had married Sir Humphrey Stafford† of Grafton) complained to the King about the damage done by deer from the forest of Rockingham to crops growing on their Northamptonshire estates, and were permitted to enclose the land in question. Sir Thomas was able to consolidate his holdings even further as a result of the death, in about 1457, of John Cressy, whose next heirs were his wife and her sister. In the event, however, he did not enjoy the profits of these new acquisitions for very long, since his own death occurred, shortly after that of his wife, on 10 Feb. 1459. The couple were buried together at the priory of Launde, where they had founded a chantry some seven years before.13

Although he must have been well over 80 when he died, Chaworth remained active in local government until the very end. His will, which is a long and fascinating document, lists many handsome bequests to friends and relatives, among whom he disposed of an impressive library containing psalters, mass books, antiphoners and such works as The Polychronicon of Ralph Higden (in both English and Latin), an ‘English booke called Orilogium Sapienciae’, an ‘Englisse boke called Grace Dieu’, ‘another boke of Notes of Fynes’ and The Lives of the Saints. To Launde priory he left all the contents of his richly furnished chapel at Wiverton, as well as the altar hangings, devotional works and plate which he had acquired from his elder daughter when she took holy orders in 1455. The six executors and three supervisors of his will shared £92 in cash together with a sizeable quantity of plate; and over £266 was set aside for the marriage of his younger children. His eldest son, William, who was then about 28 years old, succeeded to the bulk of the family fortunes. He had already served as sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire during his father’s lifetime, but did not achieve the same distinction as the late Sir Thomas.14

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421 Author: C.R. Notes 1. C138/33/35; C139/10/21, 173/25; Test Ebor. i. 247-8; ii. 220-9; iii. 212; Mon. Brasses ed. Mill Stephenson, 275; CFR , xv. 71; CIPM, x. no. 71; CP, v. 80; DL42/16, f. 34. According to Vis. Notts. 126-7, Sir Thomas’s first wife was the daughter of Sir Gerard Braybrooke II*, but no contemporary evidence of this relationship has come to light. Nor does the MP appear to have had as many children as those named in this source. 2. E199/35/7. 3.PPC , vi. 243. 4. Devon RO, Ch. 722, f. 28v. 5. DL42/17 (pt. 2), f. 114v; E179/159/48; Feudal Aids, i. 291; iii. 122, 336, 348; iv. 124, 126, 133, 134, 136; vi. 279, 413, 483; Thoroton Soc. xvii. 47-49; CCR, 1402-5, p. 229; 1413-19, pp. 270-1; CIPM, xvi. nos. 963-75. 6.Test. Ebor. i. 247-8; DL42/16 (pt. 1), f. 34, (pt. 3), ff. 71, 83; E404/20/134; PPC, ii. 88; Derbys. Chs. ed. Jeayes, no. 1868; CPR, 1405-8, pp. 151, 235-6, 238. 7.CCR, 1405-9, pp. 108-9, 111-12, 128; 1409-13, pp. 243, 244, 261; 1413-19, pp. 270-1; S.M. Wright, Derbys. Gentry (Derbys. Rec. Soc. viii), 218; CFR, xiii. 32; CPR, 1408-13, pp. 316-17; J.H. Wylie, Hen. IV, iv. 40; CP25(1)186/38/4; JUST 1/1514 rot. 72, 87, 1524 rot. 18v, 21, 1537 rot. 24, 25v. 8.CPR, 1413-16, p. 148; CCR, 1413-19, pp. 116, 121, 124; J.H. Wylie, Hen. V, i. 271-4; E404/31/153, 45/5, 69/5/416; CP25(1)291/65/18; DKR, xliv. 561. 9. C138/33/35; C139/10/21, 173/25; CP25(1) 292/69/204; CP, xi. 568; VCH Bucks. iii. 343; VCH Herts. ii. 144, 286; VCH Oxon. xi. 163; VCH Warws. v. 125; CAD, iii. C3721; CFR, xiv. 255, 256; xv. 71, 274; xvi. 306; CCR, 1422-9, p. 139; 1435-41, p. 80. 10.CAD, vi. C5081; CCR, 1413-19, pp. 515, 527; 1419-22, p. 44; E.P. Shirley, Stemmata Shirleiana, 382-3. 11. DL42/18, f. 20; CP25(1)280/154/43, 291/65/18, 293/71/30; PPC, iii. 121; Test. Ebor. ii. 155-6; iii. 212; Yorks. Arch. Jnl. xxx. 337; VCH Herts. ii. 307; CCR, 1422-9, p. 315; 1429-35, pp. 75, 77; CPR, 1429-36, p. 62; CFR, xvi. 76, 199-200; J.C. Cox, Notes on Churches Derbys. iv. 222. 12. CP40/720 rot. 137, 321; E199/35/17; Peds. Plea Rolls ed. Wrottesley, 373; Nottingham Univ. Lib. Mi D1624; Wright, 129; Magdalen Coll. Oxf. Cromwell pprs. misc. 250, 359. 13. C1/70/159; C219/13/3, 4, 14/1, 3, 4; RP, iv. 488-9; Wm. Salt Arch. Soc. xvii. 111; CPR, 1429-36, pp. 409, 467; 1441-6, pp. 19, 116, 214; 1446-52, pp. 49, 274; 1452-61, pp. 87, 182, 449, 457; CFR, xix. 205-6. 14. C139/173/25; CFR, xix. 241-2; CCR, 1454-61, pp. 321-4; Test. Ebor. ii. 220-9.

Thomas Chaworth

Sir Thomas Chaworth (died 1459) was an English landowner and Member of Parliament.

He was the son and heir of Sir William Chaworth of Wiverton and Alfreton. He succeeded his father in 1398 and was knighted in 1401.

From 1401 he served on many public commissions throughout his life.

He was appointed Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire for 1403, 1417 and 1423. He was Sheriff of Lincolnshire for 1408 and 1418.

He was elected to Parliament as knight of the shire (MP) for Nottinghamshire in 1406, followed by a term as MP for Derbyshire in 1413, after which he was again returned for Nottinghamshire several times between 1417 and 1445.

He was a Justice of the Peace for Nottinghamshire from 1404 to 1417, 1419 to 1424 and 1429 to his death and for Derbyshire from 1444 to his death.

He married twice:firstly Nicola, daughter of Sir Reynold Braybrooke, with whom he had a daughter and secondly Isabel, the daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, and coheiress of Hugh Aylesbury of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, with whom he had several sons and a daughter. He was succeeded by his eldest son William.

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Chaworth

_____________

• Sir Thomas Chaworth, Sheriff of Nottingham, Lincolnshire, & Derbyshire1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18
• M, #15278, b. circa 1375, d. 10 February 1459
• Father Sir William Chaworth2,4,7,9,11,14 b. c 1347, d. a 16 Dec 1398
• Mother Alicia Caltoft2,4,7,9,11,14 b. c 1352, d. a 1400
• Sir Thomas Chaworth, Sheriff of Nottingham, Lincolnshire, & Derbyshire was born circa 1375 at of Alfreton & Norton, Derbyshire, England.2 He married Nichole Braybrooke, daughter of Sir Gerald III de Braybrooke, Justice of the Peace for Bedfordshire and Isabel de Meinhill, before 21 September 1394; They had 1 daughter (Elizabeth, wife of Sir John, 4th Lord Scrope of Masham).2,4,6,7,9,11,14,16,17 Sir Thomas Chaworth, Sheriff of Nottingham, Lincolnshire, & Derbyshire married Isabel Aylesbury, daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, Sheriff of Bedfordshire & Buckinghamshire and Katherine Pabenham, before 1416; They had 7 sons (Sir William; John; Sir George; Thomas; Lawrence; Robert; & Henry) and 4 daughters (Joan, wife of Thomas Golesborough; Elizabeth, wife of Sir William FitzWilliam; Margery, wife of John Bensted; & Katherine, wife of William Leeke, Esq.)2,4,5,7,9,10,11,12,14,15 Sir Thomas Chaworth, Sheriff of Nottingham, Lincolnshire, & Derbyshire died on 10 February 1459; Buried at Launde Priory, Leicestershire.2,4,7,9,11,14
• Family 1 Nichole Braybrooke b. c 1381, d. 1411
• Child
  • Elizabeth Chaworth+3,6,7,8,9,19,11,13,16,18 b. c 1400, d. b 12 Mar 1466
• Family 2 Isabel Aylesbury b. c 1401, d. 1458
• Children
  • Katherine Chaworth+20,2,21,4,14
  • Elizabeth II Chaworth+2,22,4,5,14,15
  • Margery Chaworth+2 b. c 1428
• Citations
• [S4058] Unknown author, Lineage and Ancestry of HRH Prince Charles by Paget, Vol. II, p. 433; Plantagenet Ancestry of 17th Century Colonists, by David Faris, p. 249; Wallop Family, Vol. 4, line 888.
• [S5] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 148.
• [S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. III, p. 4.
• [S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. III, p. 12.
• [S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. III, p. 485.
• [S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. IV, p. 11.
• [S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. IV, p. 25.
• [S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. IV, p. 198-199.
• [S6] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry: 2nd Edition, Vol. I, p. 378-379.
• [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. I, p. 266.
• [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. I, p. 515-516.
• [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. II, p. 508.
• [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. III, p. 541.
• [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. III, p. 553.
• [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. IV, p. 546.
• [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. IV, p. 603.
• [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. IV, p. 624.
• [S4] Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry, Vol. V, p. 167.
• [S6] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry: 2nd Edition, Vol. I, p. 618.
• [S11572] The Lineage and Ancestry of H.R.H. Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, by Gerald Paget, Vol. II, p. 450.
• [S5] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 755.
• [S5] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 634.
• From: http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p509.htm#i... ________________
• Sir Thomas Chaworth1
• M, #215703, d. 17 February 1458/59
• Last Edited=10 Jan 2007
• Sir Thomas Chaworth was the son of Sir William Chaworth and Alice Caltofte.1 He married, secondly, Isabel Aylesbury, daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, before 24 August 1449.1 He died on 17 February 1458/59.1
• Children of Sir Thomas Chaworth and Isabel Aylesbury
  • Sir William Chaworth+1
  • Sir George Chaworth1
• Citations
• [S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume III, page 154. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
• From: http://www.thepeerage.com/p21571.htm#i215703 ____________
• Thomas Chaworth
• Birth: 1375, England
• Death: Feb. 10, 1459, England
• Knight, of Wiverton, Alfreton, Norton, Knight of the Shire for Nottingham and Derby. Sheriff of Nottingham and Derbyshire, Sheriff of Lincolnshire, joint steward of the Leicestershire and Rutland Estates of Henry de Beauchamp, Duke or Warwick. Son and heir of William de Chaworth.
• He married before 1400 Nichole Braybrooke, and they had one daughter, Elizabeth who married John le Scrope.
• Secondly, he married Isabel Aylesbury sometime before 1416, daughter of Thomas and Katherine Pabenham. They had seven sons and four daughters:
  • Sir William
  • John
  • Sir George
  • Thomas
  • Lawrence
  • Robert
  • Henry
  • Joan m Thomas Golesborough
  • Elizabeth m Sir William FitzWilliam
  • Margery m John Bensted
  • Katherine m William Leek
• Isabel was co-heiress to her nephew, Hugh Aylesbury, by which she inherited the manors of Bradwell, Broughton, Drayton Beauchamp, Aldbury, Tiscott and Wiltstone. She was also the heiress of her cousin John Cressy and inherited the manor of Oxhill, Warwickshire.
• Family links:
• Parents:
• William Chaworth (____ - 1398)
• Alice Caltoft Chaworth (____ - 1400)
• Spouse:
• Isabel Aylesbury Chaworth (____ - 1458)
• Children:
  • Elizabeth Chaworth Scrope (____ - 1467)*
  • Elizabeth Chaworth Fitzwilliam*
• Burial: Launde Abbey, Launde, Harborough District, Leicestershire, England
• Find A Grave Memorial# 101684585
• From: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=101684585 ______________
• Thomas CHAWORTH (Sir Knight)
• Born: ABT 1370, Wiverton, Nottinghamshire, England
• Died: 17 Feb 1458/1459
• Notes: Sheriff of Lincoln. Prepared to throw in his lot with the lollard leader, Sir John Oldcastle, whose plans for a rising in early Jan 1414 were promptly and efficiently quashed by the King. Sympathy for the lollards was strong in Derbyshire, and it is worth noting that another of Oldcastle's leading supporters, the lawyer, Henry Booth, also had estates there. Orders for Chaworth's arrest were issued on 8 Jan, and he once again found himself a captive in the Tower. He was at first kept in chains, but at the beginning of Feb bonds worth 1,000 marks were offered by William Babington and his other friends as security that he would not attempt to escape if his conditions were ameliorated. Throughout this period he and his fellow captives remained under sentence of death, but in May they were pardoned and allowed to go free. It is now impossible to tell how far Sir Thomas shared Oldcastle's heretical beliefs. His later life was given over to works of conventional piety, most notably with regard to the endowment and assistance of Launde priory in Leicestershire, although the evidence of his will shows him to have possessed a large number of devotional works (some of which were in English), including ‘a graile (gradual) manuell and a litel portose (breviary) the whiche the saide Sir Thomas toke with hym alway when he rode’, so he may well have continued the lollard practice of placing particular emphasis on private prayer. The inclusion of his distant kinsman, William Booth, Archbishop of York, among the three supervisors of his will and his appointment, in 1423, of the bishops of Durham and Worcester as his trustees would, however, confirm that, in public at least, he eschewed any suspect doctrines. Once released from prison, Sir Thomas understandably made every effort to re-establish himself in King Henry's good graces; and he seized the opportunity offered in 1415 by the latter's invasion of France to prove his loyalty. He indented to serve in the royal army with a personal retinue of eight men-at-arms and 24 archers, and was duly accorded the necessary letters of protection.
• Although he never quite managed to recover the position of trust which he had previously enjoyed, Sir Thomas was in a sense able to compensate for this by making a remarkably lucrative second marriage. By his first wife, Nicola, he had only one child, a daughter named Elizabeth, who married John, Lord Scrope of Masham (d.1455) before 1418, and seems to have become her father's favourite. Whereas Nicola brought little in the way of property or advancement to the Chaworths, Sir Thomas's new bride, the daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, added greatly to their territorial possessions. We do not know exactly what Isabel received at the time of her marriage, but her father was extremely rich, and in May 1416 he made his new son-in-law one of his principal trustees. The latter was thus singularly well placed to advance his own interests when Aylesbury died, two years later, and promptly obtained control of the manors of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire and Abinger in Surrey during the minority of his young brother-in-law, John. The successive deaths within the next five years of both John and his baby son caused a dramatic change in Chaworth's circumstances, for his wife thus became coheir with her sister, Eleanor, of all her late father's property. Her share comprised the manors of Albury, Wilstone and Tiscott in Hertfordshire, Rousham in Oxfordshire, Sells Green in Wiltshire, Bradwell, Broughton and Drayton Beauchamp in Buckinghamshire, Oxhill in Warwickshire, and Dodford, Blatherwycke, Pytchley and Weston in Northamptonshire. She also inherited various tenements in Cripplegate, London. Altogether, these properties were worth a bare minimum of £93 p.a.; and although part of them remained in the hands of Isabel's widowed mother until 1436, the improvement in Chaworth's status and finances was still remarkable. He also kept up a wide and influential range of social connexions. In February 1419 he stood bail for Sir John Pelham (an executor of Henry IV), and a few weeks later he joined with Sir Ralph Shirley in offering recognizances worth 200 marks to Sir Richard Stanhope. His relations with Shirley did not remain cordial for long, since, as one of the heirs of Lord Basset of Drayton, he found himself drawn into an alliance with Humphrey, earl of Stafford, who was determined to secure the entire Basset inheritance for himself. Whereas Chaworth's mother had been prepared to relinquish her title to the Staffords, Shirley clung on grimly to what was legally his, and thus met with the full force of Earl Humphrey's displeasure. Shirley was eventually driven out of the property by force majeur, claiming that his eviction had been effected ‘be the procurement and instance of Sir Thomas Chaworth’.10 As we have already seen, another prominent member of Chaworth's circle was Sir John Zouche, who conveyed his Yorkshire manor of Bolton-upon-Dearne to him, in 1422, as a trustee, and later made him a feoffee-to-uses of other property as well. Zouche's daughter, Elizabeth, married Sir Nicholas Bowet, a kinsman of Henry Bowet, Archbishop of York, and on the latter's death, in the following year, Chaworth proceeded to exploit this connexion so that he could obtain custody of the temporalities of the archbishopric until the consecration of the next incumbent. He went on, some time later, to consolidate the relationship by arranging a marriage between his eldest son, William, and Sir Nicholas's daughter. Chaworth's young ward, William Fitzwilliam of Sprotborough in Yorkshire, meanwhile proved a more than suitable husband for his younger daughter (another Elizabeth), to whom he was betrothed while still a minor. An interesting list of Chaworth's other intimates is furnished by an enfeoffment of 1423, whereby he conveyed the bulk of his estates to a new body of trustees. As noted above, he probably chose the bishops of Durham and Worcester in order to demonstrate his return to orthodoxy, but his appointment of Thomas, Lord Roos of Helmsley, and Ralph, Lord Cromwell, provides a clear indication of where his temporal loyalties lay. He acted for a long time as Roos's feoffee-to-uses; and in 1434, some four years after the latter's death, he was permitted to farm the manor of Orston in Nottinghamshire during the minority of Roos's next heir. It was, however, Chaworth's association with Lord Cromwell which proved of particular consequence, since through it he became drawn into Cromwell's longstanding and bitter feud with Sir Henry Pierrepont (his colleague in the Parliament of 1423). Having wrested the Heriz family inheritance from Pierrepont by highly dubious means, Cromwell secured his title, in 1431, by conveying the property to a panel of influential feoffees, including Chaworth and his friend, Sir Richard Vernon. Not surprisingly, then, when violence erupted between Pierrepont and his other enemies, the Foljambes, Chaworth threw his not inconsiderable weight behind the Foljambes, and as head of the second jury at the Derby sessions of oyer and terminer, in 1434, he did everything he could to support their allegations. He even offered bail for Richard Brown of Repton, who stood accused of attempting to procure Thomas Foljambe's acquittal; and in the following year he and Cromwell capitalized upon their position as royal commissioners of inquiry in Nottinghamshire to question Pierrepont's title to the manor of Sneinton. Later, in 1440, Sir Henry tried to recover some of his losses by suing Chaworth and Lord Cromwell's other trustees, but pressure was brought upon him to settle out of court. Chaworth remained close to Cromwell until the latter's death, for the two men acted together, on New Year's Day 1448, as witnesses to an oath made by Richard Willoughby, renouncing his inheritance. In later life he was recruited into the service of Henry, duke of Warwick, who made him and one of his sons joint stewards of his property in Leicestershire and Rutland.
• In May 1449 he and his sister-in-law (who had married Sir Humphrey Stafford of Grafton) complained to the King about the damage done by deer from the forest of Rockingham to crops growing on their Northamptonshire estates, and were permitted to enclose the land in question. Sir Thomas was able to consolidate his holdings even further as a result of the death, in about 1457, of John Cressy, whose next heirs were his wife and her sister. In the event, however, he did not enjoy the profits of these new acquisitions for very long, since his own death occurred, shortly after that of his wife, on 10 Feb 1459. The couple were buried together at the priory of Launde, where they had founded a chantry some seven years before.
• Although he must have been well over 80 when he died, Chaworth remained active in local government until the very end.
• Father: William CHAWORTH (Sir)
• Mother: Alice CALTOFT
• Married 1: Nicola BRAYBROOKE (dau. of Reginald Braybrooke and Joan De la Pole) ABT 1377 / ABT 1403, Annesley, Nottinghamshire, England
• Children:
  • 1. Elizabeth CHAWORTH (B. Scrope of Masham)
• Married 2: Isabel AYLESBURY (dau. of Sir Thomas Aylesbury and Catherine Pabenham) ABT 1429, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England
• Children:
  • 2. George CHAWORTH (Sir Knight)
  • 3. William CHAWORTH (Sir Knight)
  • 4. Elizabeth CHAWORTH
  • 5. John CHAWORTH
  • 6. Catherine CHAWORTH
  • 7. Thomas CHAWORTH
  • 8. Lawrence CHAWORTH (b. ABT 1441)
  • 9. Robert CHAWORTH (b. ABT 1443)
  • 10. Henry CHAWORTH (b. ABT 1445)
  • 11. Joan CHAWORTH (b. ABT 1447)
  • 12. Margery CHAWORTH (b. ABT 1449)
• From: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/CHAWORTH.htm#Thomas CHAWORTH (Sir Knight)1 ___________
• CHAWORTH, Sir Thomas (d.1459), of Wiverton, Notts. and Alfreton, Derbys.
• s. and h. of Sir William Chaworth (d.1398) of Wiverton and Alfreton by his w. Alice (1345-1400), da. and h. of Sir John Caltoft (d.1353) of East Bridgford, Notts. m. (1) by 1400, Nicola, 1da.; (2) by 1416, Isabel (1402-58), da. of Sir Thomas Aylesbury*, aunt and coh. of Hugh Aylesbury ( d.1423) of Milton Keynes, Bucks., at least 5s. 1da. Kntd. by June 1401.1
• Offices Held
  • Commr. to make an arrest, Notts. Nov. 1401; of array, Notts., Derbys. May 1405, Notts. Oct. 1417, Mar. 1419, Mar. 1427, Aug. 1436; inquiry Mar. 1406 (desertions to the Welsh rebels), Jan. 1412 (persons liable to pay taxes), Apr. 1416 (illegal fishing on the Trent), Feb. 1426 (treasons), Apr. 1431 (persons liable to contribute to a royal loan), Mar. 1435 (concealments),2 Notts., Derbys. July 1454 (illegal fishing on the Trent); to raise royal loans, Notts. Nov. 1419, Mar. 1422, July 1426, May 1428, Mar. 1430, Notts., Derbys. Mar. 1431, Notts., Leics. Feb. 1434, Notts. Feb. 1436, Mar. 1439, Nov. 1440, Mar. 1442, Notts., Derbys. June 1446, Notts. Sept. 1449, Notts., Derbys., Rutland June 1453, Notts. May 1455;3 of gaol delivery, Nottingham castle June 1421, Nov. 1432; to distribute a tax rebate as a former shire knight, Notts. May 1437, June 1445, July 1446; of kiddles, Notts., Lancs., Yorks. c.1439, Notts. July 1454; oyer and terminer, Notts., Derbys. July 1440; to treat for payment of a subsidy Feb. 1441; assign archers Dec. 1457; of sewers, Notts., Leics. July 1458.
  • Sheriff, Notts. and Derbys. 5 Nov. 1403-22 Oct. 1404, 10 Nov. 1417-4 Nov. 1418, 13 Nov. 1423-6 Nov. 1424, Lincs. 15 Nov. 1408-4 Nov. 1409, 4 Nov. 1418-23 Nov. 1419.
  • J.p. Notts. 12 Nov. 1404-17, 14 July 1419-24, 16 July 1429-d., Derbys. 8 July 1444- d.
  • Collector of a royal loan, Notts. Sept. 1405, Jan. 1420; a tax, Notts., Derbys. Aug. 1450; assessor of taxes, Notts. Jan. 1436.
  • Jt. steward of the Leics. and Rutland estates of Henry, duke of Warwick, c.1445-d.4
• Sir Thomas Chaworth’s ancestors are reputed to have arrived in England from Brittany during the reign of Henry I, when they began to accumulate extensive estates in Nottinghamshire, largely through marriage. Over the years they acquired the manors of Wiverton (the family seat), Osberton, Edwalton and High and Low Marnham; and before long the Derbyshire manors of Alfreton and Norton, together with widespread appurtenances, were in their hands as well. Their properties in these two counties alone produced over £135 p.a. by the early 15th century; and the family could also rely upon additional revenues from the manor of Wadsworth in Yorkshire and land in Wymeswold, Medbourn and Saxby (Leicestershire) and Easenhall (Warwickshire). These lucrative holdings descended to Thomas in 1398 on the death of his father, and were further augmented two years later when his mother died, leaving him her own not inconsiderable inheritance. This comprised the manor of East Bridgford in Nottinghamshire (worth about £15 p.a.) and land in the Lincolnshire villages of Thoresby, Toynton, Allington and Timberland. Alice Chaworth was, moreover, one of the coheirs of Ralph, Lord Basset of Drayton, who died without issue in 1390, and even though she appears to have disposed of her share of his estates to her distant kinsman, Thomas, earl of Stafford, the connexion alone proved of value to her son in later life.5
• Although he must still have been quite young when his father lay dying in December 1398, Thomas was none the less appointed to execute his will. In the following November he became a trustee of part of the Longford estates, and he soon began to play an important part in the business of local government. Indeed, in June 1401 Henry IV considered it expedient to retain him as a knight of the royal body at a fee of 40 marks, charged upon the duchy of Lancaster lordship of Gunthorpe. In the summer of 1403 Sir Thomas was summoned to attend a great council at Westminster, and a few months later he began the first of three terms as sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. During this period he campaigned against both the Welsh and the Scots, being rewarded later with a royal gift of 100 marks and the promise of timber with which to enclose his deer park at Alfreton. According to a complaint made by Sir Thomas in January 1406 this park had been virtually devastated by Lord Darcy and his men; and it was perhaps in revenge that he launched a similar attack upon Darcy’s property at Eckington, allegedly carrying off chests of muniments as well as goods and £100 in cash. Both these raids were investigated by commissions of oyer and terminer, but neither of the chief protagonists was punished.6 Sir Thomas first sat in Parliament at this time, and while the session was still in progress he entered a complex series of recognizances involving several members of the nobility and Thomas Langley, bishop of Durham, the then chancellor, probably in order to raise money for the government. In about 1409 he settled most of his inheritance upon feoffees, among whom was the influential lawyer, William Babington of Chilwell, Nottinghamshire, who had previously offered guarantees on his behalf when he obtained the wardship of a small estate in Medbourn from the Crown, and whose Derbyshire property Sir Thomas later held in trust. He was then serving as sheriff of Lincolnshire, and it was probably in this capacity that he incurred the enmity of Sir Walter Tailboys*, a local landowner, who subsequently tried to murder him at Lincoln. In May 1411, Tailboys was bound over in the unusually large securities of £3,000 to keep the peace, and he had to abandon his vendetta. Chaworth himself fell out of favour in the following autumn and was, indeed, incarcerated for a brief period in the Tower of London together with five other knights, including his friends, (Sir) Roger Leche* (who had just appeared with him as plaintiff in a lawsuit over the ownership of the manor of Hopewell in Derbyshire), Sir John Leek* (with whom he often acted as a trustee) and Sir John Zouche (his colleague in the Parliament of May 1413). It has been suggested that their imprisonment followed an unsuccessful attempt by Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, to persuade Henry IV to abdicate in favour of the prince of Wales, and Chaworth may well by then have become a firm supporter of the prince. The electors of Derbyshire certainly regarded him in this light, for in May 1413 he and Leche were returned together to the first Parliament of the new reign. On the other hand, there is good reason to suppose that the six knights, all of whom had recently posed a serious threat to public order, were then simply being called to account for their various misdeeds.7
• Notwithstanding his evident attachment to Henry V, Chaworth was prepared to throw in his lot with the lollard leader, Sir John Oldcastle*, whose plans for a rising in early January 1414 were promptly and efficiently quashed by the King. Sympathy for the lollards was strong in Derbyshire, and it is worth noting that another of Oldcastle’s leading supporters, the lawyer, Henry Booth*, also had estates there. Orders for Chaworth’s arrest were issued on 8 Jan., and he once again found himself a captive in the Tower. He was at first kept in chains, but at the beginning of February bonds worth 1,000 marks were offered by William Babington and his other friends as security that he would not attempt to escape if his conditions were ameliorated. Throughout this period he and his fellow captives remained under sentence of death, but in May they were pardoned and allowed to go free. It is now impossible to tell how far Sir Thomas shared Oldcastle’s heretical beliefs. His later life was given over to works of conventional piety, most notably with regard to the endowment and assistance of Launde priory in Leicestershire, although the evidence of his will shows him to have possessed a large number of devotional works (some of which were in English), including ‘a graile (gradual) manuell and a litel portose (breviary) the whiche the saide Sir Thomas toke with hym alway when he rode’, so he may well have continued the lollard practice of placing particular emphasis on private prayer. The inclusion of his distant kinsman, William Booth, archbishop of York, among the three supervisors of his will and his appointment, in 1423, of the bishops of Durham and Worcester as his trustees would, however, confirm that, in public at least, he eschewed any suspect doctrines. Once released from prison, Sir Thomas understandably made every effort to re-establish himself in King Henry’s good graces; and he seized the opportunity offered in 1415 by the latter’s invasion of France to prove his loyalty. He indented to serve in the royal army with a personal retinue of eight men-at-arms and 24 archers, and was duly accorded the necessary letters of protection.8
• Although he never quite managed to recover the position of trust which he had previously enjoyed, Sir Thomas was in a sense able to compensate for this by making a remarkably lucrative second marriage. By his first wife, Nicola, he had only one child, a daughter named Elizabeth, who married John, Lord Scrope of Masham (d.1455) before 1418, and seems to have become her father’s favourite. Whereas Nicola brought little in the way of property or advancement to the Chaworths, Sir Thomas’s new bride, the daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, added greatly to their territorial possessions. We do not know exactly what Isabel received at the time of her marriage, but her father was extremely rich, and in May 1416 he made his new son-in-law one of his principal trustees. The latter was thus singularly well placed to advance his own interests when Aylesbury died, two years later, and promptly obtained control of the manors of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire and Abinger in Surrey during the minority of his young brother-in-law, John. The successive deaths within the next five years of both John and his baby son caused a dramatic change in Chaworth’s circumstances, for his wife thus became coheir with her sister, Eleanor, of all her late father’s property. Her share comprised the manors of Albury, Wilstone and Tiscott in Hertfordshire, Rousham in Oxfordshire, Sells Green in Wiltshire, Bradwell, Broughton and Drayton Beauchamp in Buckinghamshire, Oxhill in Warwickshire, and Dodford, Blatherwycke, Pytchley and Weston in Northamptonshire. She also inherited various tenements in Cripplegate, London. Altogether, these properties were worth a bare minimum of £93 p.a.; and although part of them remained in the hands of Isabel’s widowed mother until 1436, the improvement in Chaworth’s status and finances was still remarkable.9
• In the meantime, Sir Thomas had sufficiently overcome the stigma of past treason to be made sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire for the second time. He actually assumed office just before taking his seat in the Parliament of 1417, and thus technically contravened the statute forbidding the return of sheriffs. Despite his many commitments, Sir Thomas maintained a keen interest in the administration of his estates, and at this time he actually entered an arrangement for the mining of coal on his Derbyshire property. He also kept up a wide and influential range of social connexions. In February 1419, for instance, he stood bail for (Sir) John Pelham* (an executor of Henry IV), and a few weeks later he joined with Sir Ralph Shirley* in offering recognizances worth 200 marks to Sir Richard Stanhope*. His relations with Shirley did not remain cordial for long, since, as one of the heirs of Lord Basset of Drayton, he found himself drawn into an alliance with Humphrey, earl of Stafford, who was determined to secure the entire Basset inheritance for himself. Whereas Chaworth’s mother had been prepared to relinquish her title to the Staffords, Shirley clung on grimly to what was legally his, and thus met with the full force of Earl Humphrey’s displeasure. Shirley was eventually driven out of the property by force majeur, claiming that his eviction had been effected ‘be the procurement and instance of Sir Thomas Chaworth’.10 As we have already seen, another prominent member of Chaworth’s circle was Sir John Zouche, who conveyed his Yorkshire manor of Bolton-upon-Dearne to him, in 1422, as a trustee, and later made him a feoffee-to-uses of other property as well. Zouche’s daughter, Elizabeth, married Sir Nicholas Bowet, a kinsman of Henry Bowet, archbishop of York, and on the latter’s death, in the following year, Chaworth proceeded to exploit this connexion so that he could obtain custody of the temporalities of the archbishopric until the consecration of the next incumbent. He went on, some time later, to consolidate the relationship by arranging a marriage between his eldest son, William, and Sir Nicholas’s daughter. Chaworth’s young ward, William Fitzwilliam of Sprotborough in Yorkshire, meanwhile proved a more than suitable husband for his younger daughter (another Elizabeth), to whom he was betrothed while still a minor. An interesting list of Chaworth’s other intimates is furnished by an enfeoffment of 1423, whereby he conveyed the bulk of his estates to a new body of trustees. As noted above, he probably chose the bishops of Durham and Worcester in order to demonstrate his return to orthodoxy, but his appointment of Thomas, Lord Roos of Helmsley, and Ralph, Lord Cromwell, provides a clear indication of where his temporal loyalties lay. He acted for a long time as Roos’s feoffee-to-uses; and in 1434, some four years after the latter’s death, he was permitted to farm the manor of Orston in Nottinghamshire during the minority of Roos’s next heir.11
• It was, however, Chaworth’s association with Lord Cromwell which proved of particular consequence, since through it he became drawn into Cromwell’s longstanding and bitter feud with Sir Henry Pierrepont* (his colleague in the Parliament of 1423). Having wrested the Heriz family inheritance from Pierrepont by highly dubious means, Cromwell secured his title, in 1431, by conveying the property to a panel of influential feoffees, including Chaworth and his friend, Sir Richard Vernon*. Not surprisingly, then, when violence erupted between Pierrepont and his other enemies, the Foljambes, Chaworth threw his not inconsiderable weight behind the Foljambes, and as head of the second jury at the Derby sessions of oyer and terminer, in 1434, he did everything he could to support their allegations. He even offered bail for Richard Brown* of Repton, who stood accused of attempting to procure Thomas Foljambe’s acquittal; and in the following year he and Cromwell capitalized upon their position as royal commissioners of inquiry in Nottinghamshire to question Pierrepont’s title to the manor of Sneinton. Later, in 1440, Sir Henry tried to recover some of his losses by suing Chaworth and Lord Cromwell’s other trustees, but pressure was brought upon him to settle out of court. Chaworth remained close to Cromwell until the latter’s death, for the two men acted together, on New Year’s Day 1448, as witnesses to an oath made by Richard Willoughby, renouncing his inheritance. In later life he was recruited into the service of Henry, duke of Warwick, who made him and one of his sons joint stewards of his property in Leicestershire and Rutland.12
• In view of his eminent position and important connexions with the nobility, it is hardly surprising to find Sir Thomas named first among the electors who attested the Nottinghamshire returns to the Parliaments of 1425, 1426, 1429, 1432 and 1433. He also headed the list of local gentry who were to take the general oath of May 1434 that they would not assist persons disturbing the peace. Frequently chosen as a royal commissioner for the raising of government loans, he himself contributed £40 to the cost of national defence in the following year. He was at this time preoccupied with arrangements for the release of Sir Thomas Rempston II* from captivity in France; and in 1447 he and William Babington (who often acted with him in such matters) assisted Rempston’s widowed mother to found a chantry dedicated to the memory of his late father. As a man of considerable wealth and widespread possessions, Chaworth inevitably became involved in numerous lawsuits, the majority of which were for the recovery of debts (such as £106 owed to him by two merchants from Banbury), although some concerned acts of trespass and disputes over property. At some unknown date, Chaworth lodged a petition in the court of Chancery against the feoffees of Sir Richard Goldesburgh, whose son was then his ward, claiming that by ‘covyn and confetrecy’ with Sir Richard’s widow they had withheld valuable documents concerning the boy’s estates. In May 1449 he and his sister-in-law (who had married Sir Humphrey Stafford† of Grafton) complained to the King about the damage done by deer from the forest of Rockingham to crops growing on their Northamptonshire estates, and were permitted to enclose the land in question. Sir Thomas was able to consolidate his holdings even further as a result of the death, in about 1457, of John Cressy, whose next heirs were his wife and her sister. In the event, however, he did not enjoy the profits of these new acquisitions for very long, since his own death occurred, shortly after that of his wife, on 10 Feb. 1459. The couple were buried together at the priory of Launde, where they had founded a chantry some seven years before.13
• Although he must have been well over 80 when he died, Chaworth remained active in local government until the very end. His will, which is a long and fascinating document, lists many handsome bequests to friends and relatives, among whom he disposed of an impressive library containing psalters, mass books, antiphoners and such works as The Polychronicon of Ralph Higden (in both English and Latin), an ‘English booke called Orilogium Sapienciae’, an ‘Englisse boke called Grace Dieu’, ‘another boke of Notes of Fynes’ and The Lives of the Saints. To Launde priory he left all the contents of his richly furnished chapel at Wiverton, as well as the altar hangings, devotional works and plate which he had acquired from his elder daughter when she took holy orders in 1455. The six executors and three supervisors of his will shared £92 in cash together with a sizeable quantity of plate; and over £266 was set aside for the marriage of his younger children. His eldest son, William, who was then about 28 years old, succeeded to the bulk of the family fortunes. He had already served as sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire during his father’s lifetime, but did not achieve the same distinction as the late Sir Thomas.14
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/member/ch... ___________
• Joan Chaworth (died 29 August 1507) was the heiress of the manor of Alfreton.[1][2] Her father was Sir William Chaworth.
• Joan Chaworth was the daughter of Sir William Chaworth (d.1467) and Elizabeth Bowett, daughter and coheir of Nicholas Bowett of Rippingale, Lincolnshire.[3] She was the granddaughter of Sir Thomas Chaworth (d.1459), who had four sons, Sir William Chaworth (d.1467), John Chaworth (d. 1464), Sir Thomas Chaworth (d. May 1465), and George Chaworth (d.1466).[4]
• In 1465 Joan's father, Sir William, was described as 'a sickly man', unable even to ride,[4] and died within two years. Joan's only brother, Thomas Chaworth (1457–1483), married Margaret Talbot, daughter of John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury, and sister of John Talbot, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury,[5] but became a lunatic and died without issue in 1483.[3][4]
• Sir Thomas Chaworth's three younger sons had all also died by that time, and only the fourth son, George, had left surviving male issue. John Chaworth had been murdered in 1464, leaving an only son, Thomas, who died without issue in December 1485; Sir Thomas Chaworth had died without issue in May 1465; and George Chaworth had died in 1466, leaving a young grandson, George Chaworth (d.1521), who inherited the manors of Wiverton and Edwalton, and was ancestor of George Chaworth (d.1639), created Viscount Chaworth of Armagh in 1628.[4] With the death of Joan's brother Thomas in 1483, the male Chaworth line was thus all but extinguished, and Joan, as her brother's heir at law, inherited most of the extensive Chaworth estates.[3][4]
• By her marriage to John Ormond (d.1503), Joan had three daughters, among whom any barony of Chaworth which had been created by a writ in 1299 to her ancestor, Thomas de Chaworth (d.1315), is considered to have fallen into abeyance.[6]
• Joan died 29 August 1507. In the chancel of the parish church of Alfreton a memorial tablet inlaid with brass plates bears the engraved effigies of Joan and her husband, John Ormond.[7][8] The arms of Chaworth of Alfreton were Barry of ten, argent and gules, three martlets sable.[9]
• .... etc.
• From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Chaworth __________

High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire

1. 1424: Sir Thomas Chaworth of Wiverton Nottinghamshire[5]

[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Sheriff_of_Nottinghamshire,_Derby... ]

_________________

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• http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/member/sh...
• The visitations of the county of Nottingham in the years 1569and 1614 : with many other descents of the same county by (Flower, William), d. 1588; Saint-George, Richard, Sir, d. 1635; Mundy, Richard; Withie, John; Marshall, George William, 1839-1905; College of Arms (Great Britain). “Aylesbury.” Page 126 Archive.Org, page 127 Archive.Org