A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



of the half blood, son of John Butler and Margaret Stanley, was his next 

 heir, then aged 10 years. 1 Thomas Butler had livery of his inheritance upon 

 attaining his majority on 4 July, 1482.* He married Margaret, daughter of 

 John Delves of Doddington, kt. s At the intended coronation of Edward V. 

 in 1483 he was summoned to receive the order of knighthood, 4 but did not 

 receive it until the coronation of Elizabeth, queen to king Henry VII. 

 on 25 November, 148 5.* In 1486 he was placed on the commission of the 

 peace for the county. 8 In 1498 he was summoned to show his title to 

 markets and fairs at Laton and Warrington, free warren in his demesne lands, 

 wreck of the sea and gallows in Warrington and Laton, a court with view of 

 frankpledge in his manor of Bewsey, waif and stray, and amends of the assize 

 of bread and ale broken, a free fishery in Warrington and Laton, and a ferry 

 over Mersey. 7 In reply he cited the charters shown by his ancestor William 

 the butler to the justices at Lancaster in 1292, and declared his descent as 

 kinsman and heir of the said William, namely as son of John, son of John, 

 son of William, son of John, son of William [son of William, son of Henry], 

 son of the said William, lord of Warrington. 8 In 1505 the king appointed 

 him master forester of the forests and chases of Toxteth, Croxteth, and Simons- 

 wood, and seneschal of Liverpool. 9 In 1513 he was present at the battle of 

 Flodden Field, when several of his free tenants and retainers were slain. 10 By 

 his will dated in 1520 he founded a grammar school at Warrington, which 

 he endowed with lands purchased at Chaddock, in Tydesley. 11 He died on 

 27 April, 1522, and was buried in Warrington Church, where Dodsworth 

 saw his marble epitaph in 1625, and his arms impaling Delves in the east 

 window. 12 



His only son and heir, Thomas Butler, was aged 28 at his father's 

 death. 13 He was knighted at Greenwich before the coronation of Queen 

 Anne Bullen, on Sunday before Whitsunday, I533- 1 * Soon after coming 

 into possession of his inheritance he incurred great debts, probably by gaming 

 and cock-fighting, 16 to meet which he alienated the manor of Cropwell- 

 Butler, co. Notts. 18 In 1534 he served the office of sheriff of the county, 17 

 and the same year alienated his manor of Exhall, co. Warwick, to Julius 

 Nethermill, alderman of Coventry. 18 In 1508 he was married to Cecily, 

 daughter of Piers Legh, of Lyme, kt., but this union was dissolved before 

 I542, 19 in or before which year he had married Elizabeth, daughter of 

 Edward Sutton, kt., and relict of John Huddleston of Sawston, co. Cam- 



1 Metcalfe, Bk. of Kts. 81-3 ; Inq. p. m. exemplified 17 May, 1482. Duchy of Lane. Enrollments in 

 Chanc.; Add. MSS. No. 32,108, f. 239. It was during the minority of William Butler that the Legh rental 

 of 1465 was compiled. Cbetkam Soc. (Old Ser.), xvii. 



8 Add. MSS. No. 32,108, 240. 3 Beamont, Annah of Warrington, 337. 



Ibid. 339-40. 6 Metcalfe, Book of Kts. 19. 



Dep. Keeper's 4O/A Rep. App. iv. 540. 



7 Palat. of Lane. Writs, Lent, 13 Hen. VII. 



Dodsworth MSS. cxlix. no. 9 Dep. Keeper's 40/4 Rep. App. iv. 544. 



10 Beamont, Annals of Warrington, 384-6. n Ibid. 408, 41 1. 



12 Ibid. 414. The epitaph is now in the Warrington Museum. 



13 Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vol. v, No. 13. The record contains a list of the free tenants of the barony 

 of Warrington circa 1326. 



w Metcalfe, Book of Kts. 62. ls Beamont, Annals of Wcrringion, 424-5. 



18 Thoroton, Hist, of Notts, edit. Throsby, i. 193. 

 " P.R.O. Lists and Indexes, vol. ix. 



is Dugdale, Hist, of Warwick, 1 14, 796. 



19 Annals of Warrington, 422, 452. 



348 





