Family and Education

yr. bro. of Sir Richard Peshale^† of Chetwynd, Staffs. and of Sir Adam*. m. (1) c.1375, Alice, da. and h. of Sir Robert Harley of Harley, Salop, by Joan, da. of Sir Robert Corbet^† of Moreton Corbet, 1da.; (2) bef. 1387, Thomasina (d. by 1405), da. and h. of Sir Thomas Wastneys of Colton, Staffs., wid. of Sir Nicholas Gresley of Drakelow, Derbys. Kntd. c.1387.

Offices Held

Biography

Hamon was overshadowed by his quarrelsome elder brothers and was frequently drawn into their disputes. Like Adam he was a retainer of Hugh, earl of Stafford, and he ‘et son compaignon’ (unnamed) were among the esquires mustered for one of the military expeditions in which the earl took part (possibly to Calais in 1373 or to Brittany two years later). In 1373 he joined in the raid on Sir William Trussell’s property at Shifnal, Shropshire, in furtherance of Adam’s territorial ambitions there, and four years later he took an active role in Adam’s quarrel with Sir Hugh Wrottesley, during which, arrayed for war and leading 60 similarly armed men, he pursued Sir Hugh’s supporters from Albrighton out of the shire to Wrottesley, all the while hooting and yelling ‘kill the Wrottesley robbers’. Hamon is not known to have performed any service for the Crown, but he was, nevertheless, knighted shortly after his only return to Parliament in 1386, and it was as Sir Hamon that in the following spring he enlisted in the force which put to sea under command of the admiral, Richard, earl of Arundel.1

Peshale’s interests in land in Shropshire came through his marriage to Alice Harley, niece of Sir Roger Corbet*, which probably took place in 1375 when the reversion of a moiety of the manor of Ashton (Herefordshire) was settled on them. In 1380 they encountered some difficulties when John Lee alleged that Alice was illegitimate, but Bishop Stretton of Coventry and Lichfield certified that this was not the case. Even so, the bulk of Alice’s inheritance remained in the possession of her mother and stepfather, John Darras*, who outlived both her and her husband. Peshale acted as an executor for his wife’s other uncle, Sir Fulk Corbet, who died in 1382.2 His second wife was the heiress of the manors of Colton (Staffordshire), Osgathorpe (Leicestershire) and Seaton (Yorkshire), as well as of two manors and other property in Lincolnshire, which estates were, however, to descend in the family of her son, Sir Thomas Gresley*. In addition, Peshale held land in Much Wenlock, Shropshire, and Trent, Staffordshire, although how he had acquired it is unclear.3

Sir Hamon was still living at Easter 1396 but died before June 1399, by which date his daughter Elizabeth, wife of Henry Grendon, had inherited his first wife’s estates. After Grendon’s death Elizabeth married Richard Lacon*.4

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

• 1. CPR, 1370-4, p. 310; Wm. Salt Arch. Soc. i. 352-4; xiv. 233; E101/41/5.
• 2. Peds. Plea Rolls ed. Wrottesley, 218, 289; Vis. Salop (Harl. Soc. xviii), 134-6; Harl. 2044, f. 15d; Wm. Salt Arch. Soc. xiii. 160-1; xv. 58; C260/110/51.
• 3. Wm. Salt Arch. Soc. xi. 209; xv. 5, 15, 66, 74; Cat. Gresley Chs. ed. Jeayes, pp. vi, 84.
• 4. C260/110/51; CPL, v. 377.