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Abstract
The Wirrall family emerged as leading figures in the borough of Doncaster in the early sixteenth century and by mid-century had begun to establish themselves firmly amongst the gentry. From time to time they exhibited abrasive commercial acumen in dealings with the borough corporation as they sought to make the most of the opportunities offered by their newly-acquired manorial rights. These tensions became evident in a series of law suits and in an episode of municipal unrest over a mayoral election. The fifth generation, Hugh Wirrall junior, knighted in 1603, was the last head of the family to be resident in the locality. After apparently calamitous business dealings he made various attempts to retrieve his financial prospects and ultimately became one of the settlers in the Plantation of Ulster.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes on contributor
The author is a retired archivist, most of whose articles in this and other journals have been based on themes uncovered in his years as a cataloguer of archives in Yorkshire record offices.
Notes
1 Hunter, South Yorkshire, I, 61.
2 The surname is to be found spelt in several ways, but Sir Hugh signed himself as Wirrall in 1603, (Sheffield Archives [hereafter SA], YWD/1841) and in 1612 (British Library [BL], Titus BX, folios 287–288) and this spelling has been adopted here. The ‘arche and the towmbe’ cost £10 according to the inventory of John Wirral (Borthwick Institute for Archives, University of York [hereafter BI), CP. G. 1837.
3 R. Harman and N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England, Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Yale University Press, 2017), 393–4, 657–9; Butler, ed., Yorkshire Church Notes, 281–2.
4 Other family members are likely to have been buried there, but the early parish records were destroyed in a fire in 1844 (see Doncaster Gazette, 16 Feb. 1844) and the bishop’s transcripts held at BI are incomplete.
5 Despite the claim of non-urban origins in Cliffe, Yorkshire Gentry, 92, also 16–17. The genealogical claim of 1537 appears in Foster, Visitation of Yorkshire, 349.
6 Calendar of State Papers Domestic [hereafter CSPD] 1566–79, p. 116, John, Lord Darcy to Sir W. Cecil, 24 Nov 1569; G.H. Martin et al., Doncaster: A Borough and Its Charters (Doncaster: Waterdale Press, 1994), passim.
7 A. Everitt, “The Market Town,” in The Agrarian History of England and Wales, IV, ed. J. Thirsk (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967), 182, 189, 196–7.
8 BI, Probate of the will of John Wirrall, 17 May 1544.
9 Statement of Anne Westby (nee Wirrall). The file includes Hugh’s holograph will, dated 8 Sep 1559: BI, York Consistory Court, Cause Papers, CP. G. 1835.
10 Doncaster Archives [hereafter DA], CWM.46, Abstract of an inquisition post mortem of 18 Sept. 33 Eliz. Gervase Wirrall was made the guardian of Edmund, son of Thomas, on 16 Sept 1591: BI, Probate Act Book, vol. 15.
11 Gervase was ‘36 and more’ at the time of his father’s death in 1591, DA, CWM/46, and was buried on 22 February 1602/3, BI, bishop’s transcripts for St Katherine, Loversall. The chamberlains’ disbursement book records a payment to Sir Hugh on 9 Nov 1636: DA, Borough of Doncaster, AB/6/2/163. A genealogical chart is to be found in Hunter, South Yorkshire, Vol. 1, 62.
12 Doncaster St George, Composite Register, 27 Oct. 1594. Another son, Hugh, was baptised at Loversall, 2 April 1605, St Katherine, Loversall: BI, bishop’s transcripts.
13 J.W. Clay, Dugdale’s Vistitation of Yorkshire, II (1907), 214.
14 Hatfield House, Cecil Papers, CP37/80, Letter of Edward Stanhope to Sir Robert Cecil, 20 Jan 1597.
15 E. Miller, History and Antiquities of Doncaster (1804), 167–9. The absence of a corporation act book before 1559 prevents further comment on their municipal role.
16 Smith, Land and Politics, 220.
17 Feet of Fines for the Tudor Period, vol. I, 34, 56, 60, 62.
18 Feet of Fines for the Tudor Period, vol. I, 38, 42, 49, 53, 83.
19 Jackson, St George’s Church, liii–liv.
20 BI, CP. G. 2777 Cause papers, 1564, 1610, 1769, and CP. H. 58–60.
21 W.K. Jordan, The Charities of Rural England, 1480–1660 (George Allen and Unwin, 1961) 261, 315.
22 B. Barber, “Thomas Ellis (d. 1562),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, published online, 2006.
23 BI, Probate of the will of John Wirrall, 17 May 1544.
24 BI, CP. G. 1837, York Consistory Court.
25 Smith, Land and Politics, 235, 242–9; John is mentioned on p. 220.
26 Information about their tenancies of chantry lands is to be found in The Certificates of the Commissioners Appointed to Survey the Chantries, Guilds, Hospitals etc. of the County of York, Part 1I (Publications of the Surtees Society, vol. 91, 1894), 157, 176, 178–9, 186.
27 BI, Probate copies of the wills of John Wirrall, 17 May 1544, and Anne Wirrall, 22 Oct 1570.
28 Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, (hereafter L&P Henry VIII), vol. XIII, Part II, 359.
29 W. Page, ed. Victoria County History of Yorkshire, III (1913), 269.
30 L&P Henry VIII, vol. 17, item 800/36, page 476.
31 L&P Henry VIII, vol. 20 Part 1, item 465/55, page 218. Hexthorpe and Balby were located in the parish of Doncaster.
32 Feet of Fines for the Tudor Period, vol. I, 74,75,81.
33 DA, CWP 56, 57 and 71.
34 Feet of Fines for the Tudor Period, vol. I, 74, 75, 81; vol. 3, 191; vol. 4, 1,32, 95, 101.
35 See the genealogical table in J. Hunter, South Yorkshire, 62.
36 J. Raine, ed., Testamenta Eboracensia, A Selection of Wills from the Registry at York, vol. 6, (Publications of the Surtees Society, vol. 106, 1902), will of Thomas Wentworth esq. of Wentworth, 21 Aug 1541, 240–1.
37 Hunter, South Yorkshire, vol. 1, 51 (Copley of Nether Hall); vol. II, 111 (Bosville of New Hall) and 397 (Westby of Ravenfield); Hunter, Hallamshire, 211–13 (Swyft of Broom Hall).
38 Clay, “Savile Family,” 41–2.
39 CSPD, Addenda, 1580–1625, 309–10.
40 L&P Henry VIII, vol. 13, 274, item 1519/39; vol. 16, 645, item 1395.
41 L&P Henry VIII, vol. 20, Part 1, item 623/VII, page 325.
42 M. Beresford, The Lost Villages of England (Lutterworth Press, 1954), 224, 334, 436.
43 Batho, Calendar, Vol. II, 81.
44 DA, AB9/1, Copy petition of the Corporation and copy order referring the petition for hearing, 1559.
45 DA, AB/ARCH/1/408, plan by Samuel Grover, 1701, shows the boundary between the two townships.
46 BI, CP. G. 1837, Inventory of the goods and chattels of Hugh Wirrall.
47 See C.J. Kitching, “The Quest for Concealed Lands in the Reign of Elizabeth I,” Trans. Royal Hist. Soc., 24 (1974); and D. Thomas, “Leases of Crown Lands in the Reign of Elizabeth I,” in The Estates of the English Crown, ed. R.W. Hoyle (Cambridge University Press, 1992).
48 DA, AB7/4/109, Exemplification of judgement, 7 Nov 1584.
49 DA, AB9/2/18, Copy return of inquisition held at Halifax 30 Oct 1583.
50 DA, AB9/2/14, Rejoinder by the corporation of Doncaster.
51 DA, AB9/2/10, The Case for Doncaster, [June 1584].
52 DA, P1/1/C1, Parish registers of Doncaster, St George, register of burials; Hunter, South Yorkshire, vol. 1, 21.
53 DA, AB9/2/13, Replication of Sir James Croft to the answer of the corporation.
54 DA, AB/7/4/108, Exemplification of the judgement of the Exchequer Court, 7 November 1584.
55 DA, AB/2/1, Borough Courtier, 27 Aug 1585, fol. 37 dorse.
56 The Nether Hall estate is shown on the map in Hunter, South Yorkshire, opp. title page. By then the pre-18th century house had been replaced.
57 DA, DD/CROM/11/4, Lay Subsidy Assessment duplicate, 1594.
58 DA, AB2/1, Borough Courtier, 2 Jun 1570, fol. 29d.
59 Hunter, South Yorkshire, vol. 1, 51; also 251, 342.
60 DA, AB/2/1, Courtier, vol. 1, f. 121, 27 Feb 31 Eliz [1589].
61 DA, AB/2/1, Courtier, vol. 1, f. 122d, 5 April 31 Eliz [1589].
62 Hunter, South Yorkshire, vol. 1, 22.
63 Ferne was appointed on 26 Oct 1588: DA, AB/2/1, Courtier, vol. 1, fol. 41r, 26 Oct 1588.
64 Batho, Calendar, 199, [-] Feb 1590. See also E. Goldring, “George Talbot, sixth earl of Shrewsbury (c.1522–1590),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004).
65 DA, AB/2/1, Courtier, Accounts of the mayor for 1568, fol. 56d.
66 DA, AB/2/1, Courtier, vol. 1, f. 125v, 11 Sep 32 Eliz [1590].
67 DA, AB/2/1, Courtier, vol. 1, f. 128, 4 Mar 33 Eliz [1591].
68 R. Harman and J. Minnis, Sheffield (Pevsner Architectural Guides, London: Yale University Press, 2004), 50–1, includes a photograph of the Shrewsbury monuments in what is now Sheffield cathedral.
69 DA/AB/2/1, Borough Courtier, vol. 1, fol. 128, 4 Mar 33 Eliz [1591].
70 DA, AB9/6/1, Copy bill of complaint of Doncaster corporation, 1597.
71 An exemplification of the judgement is at DA, CWM/81; an arbitration award relating to the boundaries of Doncaster and Wheatley manors was made in Sept 1612, DA, CWM/43.
72 DA, AB/2/1, Courtier, vol. 1, f. 165v, 2 May 1600.
73 Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Calendar of the Salisbury Manuscripts, Part XV (London: HMSO, 1930), 181–2.
74 DA, Cromwell (Copley) of Sprotbrough, DD CROM 11/4 and 11/5.
75 W.A. Shaw, The Knights of England (London: Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, 1906), II, 122; the full list appears on 113–27.
76 Sir William Wentworth’s advice to his son, 1604: J.C. Cooper, ed., Wentworth Papers, 1597–1628 (Camden Fourth Series vol. 12, Royal Historical Society, 1973), 17.
77 J. Foster, ed., The Visitation of Yorkshire made in the years 1584/5 by Robert Glover… (1875), 349. A contemporary manuscript copy of the 1612 visitation amongst the archives of Fitzwilliam of Wentworth Woodhouse (Sheffield Archives [hereafter SA], WWM/MS 27, folio 189 recto) gives ‘familie’ rather than ‘families’ (as in Foster), and this has been preferred here. See also Hunter, South Yorkshire, vol. I, 62.
78 Hugh Wirrall of ‘Whalley’ Co. York, gent. was admitted on 30 May 1595: see J. Foster, The Register of Admissions to Gray’s Inn, 1521–1889 (1889), 88.
79 The National Archives [hereafter TNA], C 2/Eliz/W2/37, Bill of Complaint of Hugh Wirrall and William Ive, [1601]; C 33/99, 670; London Metropolitan Archives, CLA/025/CT/01/005 and 006, Sheriffs Court Roll 1596–1601 and 1602–04. CLA/024/02/25-28, Mayor’s Court, Original Bills, 1601–1602 and 1602–1603, were searched for a judgement, but without success.
80 The procedure is explained in R. Goddard, “The Statute Staple and Trade Finance in Later Medieval England,” in Credit and Trade in Later Medieval England, 1357–1532, ed. R. Goddard (Macmillan, 2016).
81 Mountney was in possession by 23 Oct. 1602, when the corporation decided to begin a suit against him for taking bracken on what it claimed was Doncaster moor: DA, AB/2/1, Courtier, vol. 1, f. 178v.
82 The plaint, answer, rejoinder and replication in the case are to be found at TNA, C 2/Eliz/C21/53, Cockson v. Worrall [sic].
83 See fn 13, above; also the inquisition post mortem on Gervase at TNA, C 43/6/152, and at WARD 77/215.
84 The entry books of decrees and orders for the Chancery court were searched from Michaelmas term 1600 to the end of Trinity term 1605 (TNA, IND 1/1478–1487) for further references to this suit, but none was found.
85 SA, YW D/1841, Feoffment of 10 August 1603, Sir Hugh Wirrall to Humphrey Goodwyn.
86 DA, Cooke of Wheatley archives, CWP 60, 73.
87 CSPD, 1603–1610, 331.
88 BI, Bishop’s transcripts for Loversall, 1605. Wirrall was party to the grant of the manor of Streetthorpe by James I to Sir Robert Swyft, a kinsman (see fn 35, above): DA, DX/BAX/S/65160/2a, 11 May 1605.
89 Jackson, History and Description of St George’s Church, li-liv.
90 S.M. Kingsbury, ed., The Records of the Virginia Company of London, 4 vols (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1906–1935), vol. III, 89, lists the investors in 1618 or 1619, most of whom had minimum investments of £12.10s and £25. Kingsbury, vol. IV, prints the text of the letters patent of 10 Apr. 1606, which lists Wirral amongst the adventurers, 303 and 363.
91 CPSD 1611–1618, 67; TNA, E 214/616, covenant between earl of Salisbury and Sir J Caesar and the partners, 16 April 1612.
92 TNA E 126/2, fol. 30 verso, 19 May 1614.
93 Calendar of State Papers Ireland (hereafter CSPI) 1608–1610, 551, item 943. Wirrall’s second wife, Elizabeth, was the daughter of Thomas Montford of Kilnhurst: see Hunter, South Yorkshire, vol. 1, 62.
94 CSPI 1611–1614, 299 and 371.
95 Calendar of Patent Rolls Ireland (hereafter CPRI) 1603–1625, 167: patents X-32 and XI-35.
96 CSPD, 1611–1614, 34, 30 April 1611. The law suits may have been those associated with his Admiralty contract.
97 CSPI, 1611–1614, items 236, 793 and 794; BL, Titus BX, Letter and Papers Relating to Ireland Temp Eliz. and Jac. I, folios 285–286 (unsigned) and 287–288 (signed by Wirrall); Hill, Historical Account, 464, n. 41.
98 CSPI, 1611–1614, 128. Document as printed in the Calendar of State Papers, Carew Mss, 227, is defective in the entry for Wirrall in Co. Cavan, in omitting the first reference to Stephen Butler, thus implying that a ‘fair house’, three other houses and a forge were the work of Wirrall rather than Butler. The misquotation also appears in Hill, Historical Account, 464, n.41.
99 See also Robinson, Plantation of Ulster, 174.
100 CPRI, 252–3, patents CXII-21 and CXIII-23.
101 Hill, Historical Account, 464, who interprets this as meaning that Adwick had become the mortgagee.
102 Robinson, Plantation of Ulster, 212–14, quoting from BL, Add. MS 4770, Muster roll of the province of Ulster, 1630–8.
103 CSPI 1625–1632, 531.
104 SA, Strafford Letters, W.W.M. vol. 20(b) no. 155.
105 DA, AB6/2/163, Chamberlains’ Disbursement Book, 1635/6-1636/7.
106 Trinity College Dublin, Archives, MS 835, fols. 231r-232v, Depositions of 1641, accessed via website https://1641.tcd.ie. George, son of Hugh, was baptised at Stepney in 1606: Hunter, South Yorkshire, vol. I, 62.
107 J.H. Hexter, “The Myth of the Middle Class in Tudor England,” in Reappraisals in History, ed. J.H. Hexter (London: Longmans, 1961), 97. Information about the dispute and the quotation is taken from M. Bateson, Records of the Borough of Leicester, vol. 3 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1905), 385–6, 412–4.
108 B. Barber, “The Landed Gentry of the Doncaster District,” in Aspects of Doncaster, ed. B. Elliot (Barnsley: Wharncliffe Publishing, 1997), 58–9.
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