William Tresham - Misplaced Pages

Member of the Parliament of England For the Tudor priest and Oxford University Vice-Chancellor, see William Tresham (priest).

Sir William Tresham JP (1404 – 22 September 1450) was an English lawyer who served as Speaker of the House of Commons until 1450.

Born in Northamptonshire, the son of Thomas Tresham of Sywell, he went on to become a major landowner in the region. He was elected as a Knight of the shire for the parliament of 1423, and again in 1427, 1429, 1432, 1433, 1435, 1439, 1442, 1445, 1447 and February and November 1449, serving in twelve successive parliaments overall. In 1424 he was also appointed a Justice of the Peace for Northamptonshire; a man born of common stock relied on advancement in his home county for advancement nationally. Having trained as a lawyer, Tresham spent intermittent periods in the service of the king, such as in 1415, when he reviewed the accounts of the King's officials in southern Wales.

It is assumed he concentrated on his legal career in the 1420s, where there are few records of his activities, but in 1430 he was appointed as a councillor to Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, and continued to receive a salary until at least 1447. In 1432 he was made one of the two Attorneys-general of Henry Beaufort, and spent much of the 1430s on various commissions of the crown, including one to Northamptonshire in 1434 to investigate the hiding of royal funds, and another in 1439 to look at the value of royal lands, again in Northamptonshire. He was employed by the royal household as an apprentice-at-law and thus secured a tie with them; this is likely why he was elected Speaker of the House of Commons for the 1439 Parliament, when there were attempts to reform the King's household. In 1438 he bought Rushton Hall in Northamptonshire as a family seat.

He was again elected Speaker in 1442 and 1447 and continued his royal service, mainly for the Duchy of Lancaster, and worked as an Apprentice-at-law between 1444 and 1447. He was made a feoffee of the duchy estates in 1446 and in 1448 was made a chancellor of those feoffees, followed by an appointment as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 3 July 1442.

He was much-liked at court, and as a result was appointed to politically sensitive cases, such as the 1444 commission to investigate charges of treason against Thomas Carver, and a 1447 commission directed at members of the household of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. In 1450 he was himself indicted for treason in the aftermath of Jack Cade's rebellion in Kent, but before any sort of commission could take place he was murdered. While travelling to meet with Richard of York with his son, Sir Thomas Tresham, the pair were assaulted by a group of local men with whom Tresham was in a property dispute. William was killed, and Thomas escaped injured.

References

Summerson, Henry (2004). "Oxford DNB article:Tresham, William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/27713. Retrieved 7 October 2008. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Baines, Edward (1888). "Five". The history of the county palatine and duchy of Lancaster. Manchester; London : J. Heywood. (1st ed.). Internet Archive. pp. 75–76. Retrieved 6 July 2022.

Summerson, Henry. "Tresham, William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/27713. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Parliament of England
Preceded byUnknown	Member of Parliament for Northamptonshire 1423–1449	Succeeded byUnknown
Preceded byWilliam Burley	Speaker of the House of Commons 1439–1442	Succeeded byWilliam Burley
Preceded byWilliam Burley	Speaker of the House of Commons 1446–1447	Succeeded bySir John Say
Preceded bySir John Popham	Speaker of the House of Commons 1449–1450	Succeeded bySir William Oldhall
Preceded byWalter Sherington	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1442–1449	Succeeded byJohn Say

Speakers of the House of Commons (list)

House of Commons
of England

14th century	de Shareshull De la Mare Hungerford De la Mare Pickering Guildesborough Waldegrave Pickering Bussy Cheney Doreward Savage Redford Savage
15th century	Esturmy Tiptoft Chaucer Stourton Doreward Hungerford Chaucer Redman Beauchamp Flower Hunt Chaucer Baynard Flower Russell Walton Vernon Tyrell Alington I Tyrell Russell Hunt Bowes Tyrell Burley W. Tresham Burley W. Tresham Say Popham I W. Tresham Oldhall Thorpe Charlton Wenlock T. Tresham Green Strangeways Say Alington II Wood Catesby Lovell Mordaunt Fitzwilliam Empson Drury Englefield
16th century	Dudley Englefield Sheffield Nevill More Audley Wingfield Rich Hare Moyle Baker Dyer Pollard Broke Higham Cordell Gargrave T. Williams Onslow Wray Bell Popham II Puckering Snagge Coke Yelverton
17th century	Croke Phelips R. Crewe Richardson T. Crewe H. Finch J. Finch Glanville Lenthall Pelham Lenthall Rous (Barebones Parliament) Lenthall Widdrington (2nd Protectorate Parliament) Chute, Long & Bampfield (3rd Protectorate Parliament) Lenthall Grimston Turnour Charlton Seymour Sawyer Seymour Gregory W. Williams Trevor Powle Trevor Foley Littleton
18th century	Harley Smith

House of Commons
of Great Britain

18th century	Smith R. Onslow Bromley Hanmer Compton A. Onslow Cust Norton Cornwall Grenville Addington

House of Commons
of the United Kingdom

19th century	Addington Mitford Abbot Manners-Sutton Abercromby Shaw-Lefevre Denison Brand Peel Gully
20th century	Lowther Whitley FitzRoy Brown Morrison Hylton-Foster King Lloyd Thomas Weatherill Boothroyd Martin
21st century	Martin Bercow Hoyle

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