SIR RICHAED PEXSALL, TENTH MASTER. 81 



years before and for some years after the end of Henry VIII.'s 

 reign. However, from the 34th regnal year of the reign of 

 Henry VIII. (1542-43) to the time of Sir Richard's death in 

 the 13th of Elizabeth (1570-71), he received the stipend of his 

 office, amounting to 50/. per annum ; those payments having 

 been derived from the issues of the county Sussex during the 

 reigns of Henry VIII., Philip and Mary, Edward VI., and 

 Elizabeth, except from the 9th to the 12th of Elizabeth, when 

 the payments to him came out of the issues of county Surrey. 



Sir Richard Pexsall obtained a patent from Queen Mary, 

 dated May 23, 1554, by virtue of which the office of Custodian 

 or Master of the Royal Buckhounds, with the Manor of Little 

 Weldon, etc., was confirmed to him, and also the office of 

 ''Custodian or Master" of the Queen's " Privy Buckhounds." 

 This document contains some very strong expressions reflecting 

 on the institution of the Privy or Household branch of the 

 pack by Henry VIII., which, if uttered during his reign, would, 

 inevitably, have brought the tenth Hereditary Master to the 

 block. His status as " Custodian or Master " of the Household 

 branch, pursuant to this patent, seems equivocal, as he was not 

 recognised or recompensed in the same manner as were his 

 predecessors and successors holding the office of Master of the 

 " Privy " or Household branch of the pack. 



On the death of Sir Ralph Pexsall, in 1540, his second and 

 only surviving son, Sir Richard Pexsall, claimed all the family 

 honours, etc., including the Hereditary Mastership of the Royal 

 Buckhounds. This claim, however, was disputed by Bernard 

 Brocas, Esq., of Alton, county Hants, the lineal heir, on the plea 

 that when the direct male line failed on the demise of William 

 Brocas, Esq., of Beaurepaire, in 1509, the Hereditary Mastership 

 reverted to him as the lineal representative of the family, 

 through Bernard Brocas, Esq., of Alton, second son of Sir 

 Bernard Brocas, the second Master of the Royal Buckhounds. 

 Upon this plea Bernard Brocas, the lineal heir, sued the 

 Pexsalls, the heirs general, for Beaurepaire, and sixteen manors 

 in the county of Southampton, besides other estates in 

 Wiltshire, Northampton, etc. ; and for ending all contentions 



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