Sir William Bereford

Sir William Bereford (died 1326) was an English justice. He was the son of Walter de Bereford, with the family name coming from the village of Barford, Warwickshire. In 1287 his brother, Osbert de Bereford, a previous High Sheriff of Warwickshire and Leicestershire, bought a property in Wishaw, and after his death a few years later the land was left to William. In the 1280s he also married Margaret, daughter of Hugh de Plessy, who brought lands in Wittenham, Berkshire, with whom he had at least one child, Edmund Bereford, who later became a King's Clerk.

biographical notes

From Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 04. Bereford, William de by James McMullen

BEREFORD, WILLIAM de (d. 1326), judge, son of Walter de Bereford and brother of Osbert de Bereford, chief gentleman to the chief justice, Ralph de Hengham, succeeded his brother as tenant-in-tail of certain estates in Warwickshire, a fact which may account for the father and brother being confounded as they are in the pedigree given in Ferrers's 'Manuscript of Antiquities.'

In 1301 he was one of a court of three judges which passed sentence of imprisonment upon the Bishop of Tynemouth for having detained in custody a servant of the prior of Durham, in defiance of letters patent, by which the king had privileged the prior and his retainers from arrest. In the parliament of 1305 he was one of twenty-one English members appointed to confer with the same number of Scotch representatives touching the best means of promoting the stability of Scotland. In the following year he went the northern circuit as one of the commission of trailbaston.

In 1318 he was placed on a special commission to try sheriffs and other officers charged with extortion and other illegal practices in the counties of Oxford, Berkshire, Warwick, and Leicester, and reappointed for the two last-mentioned counties next year. July 1326 appears to be the latest date on which he sat at Westminster for the purpose of taking acknowledgments of fines. He died in the same month and year, leaving two sons, Simon and William. He was a large landed proprietor, holding estates in no fewer than eight counties, the major part, however, being in the midland counties of Warwick, Oxford, and Berkshire. He was succeeded on the bench by Hervey de Staunton. From a royal grant of free piscary at Shillingford to William de Bereford we learn that his wife's name was Margaret.

Family

Sir William de BEREFORD Knight was born 1272 in Wishaw, Warwickshire, England. He died 1326 in Wishaw, Warwickshire, England. William married 7 Margery du PLESSIS on 1288 in Wishaw, Warwickshire, England.

They had the following children:

1.   M i Edmund de BEREFORD 1, 2 was born 1298 in Wishaw, Warwickshire, England. He died 3 1354 in Long Itchington, Warwickshire, England.
2.   F ii Agnes de BEREFORD was born 1300 and died 18 Jul 1375.
3.   F iii Joan de BEREFORD 1 was born 1302 in Wishaw, Warwickshire, England. She died after 12 Feb 1361.
4.   F iv Margaret de BEREFORD 1 was born 1304 in Wishaw, Warwickshire, England. She died after 12 Feb 1361.

Links

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• http://histfam.familysearch.org/getperson.php?personID=I11483&tree=...