BADDELL, William (by 1523-72/73), of Hythe, Kent.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1547
1559

Family and Education

b. by 1523. m. Margaret.2

Offices Held

Bailiff, Hythe 1546-7, jurat from 1547; bailiff to Yarmouth 1548.3

Biography

The Baddell family can be traced at Hythe from at least the 1480s, earning their livelihood from fishing, but William Baddell’s father has not been identified: he can scarcely have been the namesake who attended the Brotherhood of the Cinque Ports in 1517, 1527 and 1529, for this man was a commoner and jurat of Romney. It is known, however, that Baddell had an elder brother John, who died in 1544 leaving him the first refusal of a boat called the John. Baddell himself appeared at the Brotherhood for the first time in 1547 and the following year was selected to go to Yarmouth to represent the Cinque Ports at the annual herring fair; this duty he performed by deputy, perhaps on the plea that his attendance at Parliament should excuse him from further journeying. Of his part in the proceedings of the Commons there is no trace. In 1560 he went to Yarmouth on his own account and was later fined 40s. by the Brotherhood for infringing the regulations at the time of the fair.4

It may be an indication of Baddell’s religious sympathies, or perhaps only of his humanity, that he was among the parishioners of Hythe presented during the reign of Mary for having visited prisoners in gaol for heresy. He remained a jurat but did not attend the Brotherhood again until after the accession of Elizabeth. In 1562 he was allowed by Hythe to build ‘a lodge or storehouse’ upon the town’s common ground. When he came to make his will on 19 Apr. 1572, he left this building to his wife for life, together with a tenement and land in Hythe, a crayer, called the William, of 30 tons and ‘my half boat called the Peter’. He appears to have had no surviving children: one of his fishing nets he bequeathed to a friend but ‘all the rest of my craft’ he left to his wife and executrix. The will was proved on 20 July 1573.5

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: Helen Miller

Notes

  • 1. Hatfield 207.
  • 2. Date of birth estimated from first reference. Canterbury prob. reg. C32, f. 33.
  • 3. Hythe chamberlains’ accts. 1483-1509, f. 117; Cinque Ports White and Black Bks. (Kent Arch. Soc. recs. br. xix), 237, 239.
  • 4. Cinque Ports White and Black Bks. 166, 204, 207, 237, 239, 262; Arch. Cant. xlix. 128-9.
  • 5. Arch. Cant. xxxi. 106; Hythe chamberlains’ accts. 1483-1509, ff. 26, 119v; Canterbury prob. reg. C32, f. 33.