Family and Education

b. by 1515.1

Offices Held

Servant of Sir Ralph Eure by 1537; bailiff, Scarborough 1544-5.2

Biography

William Lockwood lived at Scarborough, where his goods were assessed for subsidy at £20 in 1541 and at two thirds that figure four years later, but his election for the borough in 1545 was probably due less to his municipal standing than to his previous service with Sir Ralph Eure, constable of Scarborough castle. When early in 1537 Sir Francis Bigod attempted to capture the castle Lockwood was one of those whom the rebels wished to see put to death for having defended it during the rebellion of the previous autumn. Later in the year Lockwood himself came under suspicion, and was temporarily put in custody, after the 3rd Duke of Norfolk concluded that he had forged a letter in Eure’s name criticizing government policy, but nothing more is heard of the episode.3

Eure himself sat for Scarborough in the Parliament of 1542 and may have been re-elected to its successor of 1545 before his death preceded the delayed opening in October of that year. This would explain the belatedness of Lockwood’s election with Reginald Beseley, the indenture being dated 17 Sept.; Lockwood could then be regarded as having replaced Eure, with Beseley either being confirmed as his senior partner or filling a second, unexplained, vacancy.

The obscurity which surrounds Lockwood’s origin is matched by that of his further career and death. The William Lockwood of Almondbury, near Huddersfield, who made his will in June 1556 made no mention in it of either Scarborough or the Eure family.4

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: P. S. Edwards

Notes

• 1. Date of birth estimated from first reference.
• 2. LP Hen. VIII, xii, xix; C219/18C/154.
• 3. E179/212/139, 187; LP Hen. VIII, xii, xix.
• 4. York wills 15(1), f. 60; LP Hen. VIII, iv; CPR, 1549-51, p. 372; 1554-5, p. 257; Knaresborough Wills, i (Surtees Soc. civ), 23; Gloer’s Vis. Yorks. ed. Foster, 549.