STOCKDALE, Alexander (by 1509-63), of Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorks.

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

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. by 1509. m. Grace, da. of Thomas Estofte of Eastoft, 1s. 1da.1

Offices Held

Chamberlain, Kingston-upon-Hull 1530-1, sheriff 1540-1, mayor 1544-5, 1551-2, 1558-9; commr. sewers 1543.2

Biography

Alexander Stockdale’s parentage has not been established. He was perhaps related to the West Riding family headed by Christopher Stockdale, who died in 1554 leaving a son and heir Anthony; another Christopher Stockdale was an alderman of Hull in 1563. By profession a merchant, Stockdale appears in the customs accounts for March 1541 as an importer of mixed goods, paying for iron, soap, nuts, prunes, grey paper, oil and herrings carried in one ship from the Netherlands and for madder and alum in another. During his first mayoralty he was one of those who reported to the 5th Earl of Shrewsbury on the impact of the war on shipping at Hull; he himself owned a half-share in a ship when he died. His assessment of £80 on goods for the subsidy of 1547 shows him to have been one of the wealthiest men in the town. He had by then acquired a number of properties within and outside it, including the manor of Lockington; to these he was to add chantry lands (which in 1560 he was absolved in the Exchequer of concealing), and a share in the Charterhouse at Hull and in the manor of Sculcoates bought from Thomas Dalton.3

Stockdale’s two elections to Parliament placed him among the small group of Hull magnates who sat more than once for the town, including his fellow-Members William Johnson and John Thacker. In April 1554 the Vintners’ Company solicited his support in its unsuccessful attempt to repeal the Act of 1553 (7 Edw. VI, c.5) controlling the sale of wine. His suing out of a pardon at the accession of Elizabeth was probably a conventional piece of insurance. The will which he made on 20 Sept. 1563, the day before he died, contains no profession of faith. He asked to be buried in the church of St. Mary, Hull, and gave a life-interest in his house and one-third of his lands (excluding Sculcoates) to his wife, rents and a sum of £300 to his daughter and the residue to his son Robert; he named his wife and daughter executrices and his wife’s uncle Christopher Estofte and her brother Thomas Estofte supervisors. The will was proved on 29 Dec. 1563 and in July 1565 Grace Stockdale and Christopher Estofte obtained the wardship of Robert Stockdale, then still a minor. In a subsequent dispute over Sculcoates the Estofte family alleged that Robert was a lunatic.4

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: M. K. Dale

Notes

  • 1. Date of birth estimated from first reference. Yorks. Peds. (Harl. Soc. xciv), 170-1; Lincs. Peds. (Harl. Soc. 1), 335-6; York wills 17, f. 307.
  • 2. L. M. Stanewell, Cal. Anct. Deeds, Kingston-upon-Hull; M479(81); T. Gent, Kingston-upon-Hull (1735) 112, 116, 118, 120; LP Hen. VIII, xx.
  • 3. C142/102/41, 117/52; York wills 17, f. 307; Bronnen tot de Geschiedenis van den Handel met Engeland, Schotland en Ierland, ed. Smit, i. 524-5; LP Hen. VIII, xix; E179/203/233; Yorks. Fines, i (Yorks. Arch. Soc. rec. ser. ii), 68, 88, 121, 128-9; Yorks. Suppression Pprs. (ibid. xlviii), 121; Stanewell, D623, 628, M45; VCH Yorks. (E. Riding) i. 288, 468-9.
  • 4. Guildhall Studies in London Hist. i. 48-49; CPR, 1558-60, p. 163; 1563-6, p. 248; York wills 17, f. 307; VCH Yorks. (E. Riding), i;. 468-9.