Family and Education

b. by 1526, 2nd or 3rd s. of Nicholas Moseley of Staffs. educ. M. Temple, called. m. by 1561, Margaret (d.1607), da. of (Sir) Clement Heigham^† of Barrow, Suff., 4s. 1, 2 or 3da.1

Offices Held

Under-treasurer, M. Temple 1551-6; secondary of Wood Street Compter 1557; under-sheriff, Mdx. 1560-1.2

Biography

Moseley was a carpet-bagging lawyer who found a parliamentary seat where he could. At Wootton Bassett this would have been through Sir John Thynne, whom he had served as solicitor. By 1562 Moseley was an ‘ancient of the utter bar’ at the Middle Temple. Two years later he was fined for not acting as Autumn reader. Another fine recorded against him was for refusing to take up the office of steward. As secondary, one of the clerks who worked under the sheriff in the city of London, Moseley was involved in the case of Arthur Hall during the second session of the 1572 Parliament, being one of the officers responsible for the arrest of Hall’s servant.3

Moseley was evidently a wealthy man by the time he died in July 1592. His inquisition post mortem lists estates in Staffordshire and Suffolk, with Middlesex property in Harefield, Ruislip and elsewhere, and other lands in Shropshire. Some of this property came to him through inheritance and his marriage, but it is likely that he bought much of it. His will mentions other lands and tenements in Surrey, which were bequeathed to his eldest son Richard, aged about 28. A daughter, Anne, was to have £600 at her marriage or on her 24th birthday, and all his ‘books of the civil and common law’ were left to his second son, William. The widow was sole executrix and residuary legatee.4

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N. M. Fuidge

Notes

• 1. PCC 67 Harrington, 11 Huddleston; S. Shaw, Hist. Staffs. ii. 276; C142/241/106; Vis. Suff. ed. Metcalfe, 41.
• 2. M.T. Mins. i. 83, 85, 105; A. B. Beaven, Aldermen of London, i. 299; APC, xxiv. 115; London, Rep. 13, ii, f. 538d; 14, f. 384.
• 3. Bath mss, Thynne pprs. ii, f. 176, ex. inf. J. Cooper; M.T. Bench Bk. (1937) ed. Williamson, p. 315; M.T. Recs. i. 140, 144; Neale, Parlts. i. 340.
• 4. C142/241/106; PCC 67 Harrington.