Family and Education

b. by 1519. ?m. Alice.2

Offices Held

Constable, Trematon castle, Cornw. Sept. 1542-d.; havener, duchy of Cornw., Sept. 1542-d., bailiff, Aylewarton and Penzance, Cornw. Apr. 1543; comptroller and collector of customs, duchy of Cornw., 1554/55-d.3

Biography

Nicholas Randall was described as a yeoman of Truro when in 1540 he obtained a 21-year lease of all the lands in Cornwall formerly belonging to the Black Friars of Truro, together with their former conventual buildings in the town. Six years later he received a lease of the duchy of Cornwall manor of Tybesta in Creed at the suit of a brother of Robert Heneage, joint auditor of the duchy. His residence in Truro and his position as a minor duchy official well qualified him to sit for the borough in Parliament, and he did so six times, but as he was not chosen for either the second or third Parliament of Mary’s reign his election was not a foregone conclusion. Little is known about his part in the House: he did not support the Protestant opposition in 1553, but two years later (when his name was inserted in a different hand on the indenture) he voted with many other west-country Members against a government bill.4

Randall died during the 12 months preceding May 1562 since the duchy accounts record his death during the 16th year of his tenure of Tybesta. The Anne Randall living in Truro after 1562 may have been his widow.5

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: J. J. Goring

Notes

• 1. Hatfield 207.
• 2. Date of birth estimated from first reference. C3/119/90.
• 3. LP Hen. VIII, xvii, xviii; Duchy Cornw. RO, 228/3v; E6.1/23v.
• 4. LP Hen. VIII, xvi, xxi; E315/212, f. 137v; Guildford mus. Loseley 1331/2.
• 5. Duchy Cornw. RO, 134, m. 4v; 225, m. 4v; C3/119/90.