WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



Before this, however, Edward Torbock the elder 

 died, and administration had been granted in 1608 

 to his widow and son. He appears to have conformed 

 externally to the change in religion made by Elizabeth, 

 for in 1 584 he was returned as ' suspected ' only, and 

 in I 590 was among the ' more usual comers to church, 

 but not communicants.' ' His son and heir had been 

 made a knight by James I at Whitehall on i Novem- 

 ber, 1606,' but he was not able to retrieve the family 

 fortunes and died in the King's Bench, a prisoner, 

 being buried at St. George's, South wark, on 28 May, 

 1617.' 



As stated, the manor of Tarbock, with lands in 

 Cronton and Whiston, and the rectory of Huyton 

 had been sold to Thomas 

 Sutton in 161 1, Sir Edward's 

 sons Edward and George join- 

 ing in the sale. Thomas Sutton 

 died in December, 161 1, and 

 his heir was his nephew Simon 

 Baxter of London.' In July, 

 1 61 4, Sir Richard Molyneux 

 of Sefton entered into posses- 

 sion of Tarbock, having pur- 

 chased it from Simon Baxter 

 for j^io,5oo.' 



Sir Richard Molyneux died 

 seised of the manor as well as 

 of lands in Tarbock and Huy- 

 ton and the rectory.^ The manor has descended 

 regularly to the present earl of Sefton. In 1798 

 quit-rents amounting to 6s. were paid by various 

 tenants. The water-mill and the windmill were 

 in operation. 



Other persons or families also took surname from 

 the place, some of them no doubt descendants of 

 younger sons.' 



The Easthead family also occurs. In 1339 William 



Sutton of London. 

 Or, on a che-vron befween 

 three annulets gules as 

 many crescents of thejirst. 



HUYTON 



Easthead was in prison at Lancaster charged with the 

 death of Henry son of Ellis le Keu of Tarbock ; but 

 the jury found that he was unjustly accused by one 

 Robert Utting, whose wages William took, in his 

 capacity as reaper for Ellen de Torbock." John 

 Easthead was a free tenant in i6oo ; and John East- 

 wood of Tarbock, gent., who died in 161 3, held 

 a messuage, etc., of Simon Baxter in socage by 4/. s^d. 

 rent as well as lands in Burscough and Lathom. His 

 son and heir was John Eastwood, then aged thirty." 



The Whitefields are a family whose records reach 

 to Edward I's reign. Robert de Whitefield in 1292 

 claimed from Henry de Torbock and Ellen his wife 

 acquittance of the service demanded from him by 

 the superior lord, Henry de Lacy, in respect of a 

 tenement in Tarbock, but was non-suited.'" By 

 an inquisition made in 1446-7 it was found that 

 William Whitefield had held nineteen acres in 

 Tarbock of Sir Henry de Torbock in socage by a 

 service of 5/. He died on 7 September, 1402, and 

 Richard Orme, aged twenty-three years, was his 

 next heir, being son of Alice, the daughter of William 

 Whitefield." 



An assessment of 1 731 shows ^73 to have been 

 raised ; John Torbock, as collector, occurs down to 

 1757. The principal contributor was, of course. 

 Lord Molyneux, for demesne lands, tithes and mills, 

 and part of the New Pale ; his payments were doubled 

 on account of his being a ' Papist.' Others in the 

 township paying double for the same reason were 

 Robert Waring, James Abram, Caryll Hawarden, and 

 John Abram.'^ The other portion of the New Pale 

 was occupied by James Glover." 



In 1786 a dispute arose as to Penny Lane croft, 

 and the matter was referred to Charles Pole, mayor 

 of Liverpool, for decision ; from the witnesses' state- 

 ments it appears that the croft was divided by a 

 gutter into an eastern and a western part, and that 



^ Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 227, 245 (quot- 

 ing S.P. Dom. Eliz. clxxv, n. 2 1 ; ccxxxv, 

 n, 4). In the inventory of his goods taken 

 in 1608 there is mention of 'Sir Robert's 

 chamber,' as well as a chapel and chapel 

 chamber, so that he had probably sheltered 

 one of the old priests in his house suffici- 

 ently long to affix a name to the room. 

 There is mention of the hall and about 

 twenty chambers or rooms ; among the 

 more curious properties were * a fair cock- 

 pen ' worth j^3, and * a little boat ' worth 

 loi. ; Ches. Sheaf, 3 Ser. iv, 30. 



' Metcalfe, Book of Knights, 157. 



3 Manning, Surrey, iii, 639, 



"* Lanes, Inq, p.m. (Rec, Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), ii, 18. 



5 Croxteth D. Z. iv, 1 1. Possibly 

 there was some agreement with Sir 

 Edward Torbock also, for not only is 

 there a tradition that Sir Richard acquired 

 it as a payment for a gambling debt, but 

 Dame Clemence Torbock (Sir Edward's 

 second wife) in 1619 made a formal com- 

 plaint that he refused to allow her dower 

 right in certain lands purchased by him 

 from Sir Edward Torbock, her late hus- 

 band ; Cal. of S. P. Dom. 1619-23, p. 49, 

 and 1623-5, p. 121. See also Croxteth 

 D. Z. iv, 24, 21. 



The Torbock. family continued to 

 reside in the neighbourhood, having some 

 property in Cronton and Sutton. A 

 younger son was for a time tenant of 

 Tarbock Hall under the Molyneux family. 

 Edward Torbock is said to have been 

 governor of the Isle of Man in 1642. He 



is probably the 'Mr. Torbock of Tar- 

 bock' who accompanied Lord Strange in 

 his attempts on Manchester ; Ci-vil War 

 tracts (Chet. Soc), 51. 



An Edward Torbock left England in 

 1622 to take service under the king of 

 Spain in Flanders and became an officer. 

 Being landed in Thanet In 1635 on 

 account of ill-health he was imprisoned at 

 Dover, refusing to take an oath of allegi- 

 ance ; Cal. ofS. P. Dom. 1625-6, p. 132, 

 and 1635, p. 44. 



For later descents, see Reliquary, xi. 



" Lanes. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and 

 Ches.), iii, 384. 



7 John son of Nicholas of Old Tarbock 

 was a feoffee of Sir Henry de Torbock 

 about 1290, and Adam son of Adam of 

 Old Tarbock was defendant in a case 

 brought by Sir Henry's widow Ellen in 

 1306. Henry son of Adam de Torbock 

 was wounded at West Derby in 1332. 

 Croxteth D. Z. i, 3 ; De Banc. R. 159, m. 

 48 d. ; Assize R. 428. 



Margery widow of Simon de Torbock 

 sought from Richard the Harper dower In 

 a messuage and land at Tarbock. It 

 appeared that she had run away from her 

 husband with a certain Thomas the 

 Thrower, and had lived with him at 

 Conway, Rhuddlan, and elsewhere in 

 North Wales. She had never been 

 reconciled to Simon, and therefore her 

 claim failed ; Assize R. 408, m. 32. 



^ Inq. a.q.d. «. 26. 



' Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 

 i, 243 ; Lanes. Inq. p.m. (same soc), i, 



181 



285. Eastwood appears to be a mistake 

 or variant of Easthead. 



'" Assize R. 408, m. 32. Ini367 Alice 

 widow of Henry de Whitefield claimed 

 from John son of Robert de Whitefield 

 dower in lands In Tarbock, Much Wool- 

 ton, and Chlldwall. John de Whitefield 

 in November, 1371, granted to Roger de 

 Whitefield the place (Quitefeld) from 

 which they took their name. 



A refeoffment of lands In Lancashire 

 was made to John de Whitefield in 1385-6. 

 Somewhat later (1404) Sir John de Ireland 

 of Hale quitclaimed to John de Whitefield 

 senior, William de Whitefield his son, and 

 Magot the daughter of William Passmich 

 and their heirs, his right in the lands he 

 had received from John de Whitefield by 

 a deed of 1399. 



See De Banc. R. 426, m. 2.00 d. ; Add. 

 MS. 32107, n. 359; Kuerden MSS. ii, 

 fol. 230, n. 10 ; iii, T. 2, b. 7 ; Croxteth 

 D. Z. I, II ; Kuerden MSS. Hi, T. 2, 

 ». 18, 13. 



^^ Lanes. Records, Inq. p.m. «. 36, 37. 

 Probably it was in connexion with this 

 that Richard Orme demanded from 

 Cecily widow of Sir William Torbock a 

 certain chest, no doubt that containing 

 the family evidences j Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 10, m. 4, i6i. 



'^ In 171 7 William Abram of Tarbock, 

 yeoman, registered an estate here and at 

 Thornton as a 'Papist;' he had sons 

 Richard and John ; Engl. Calh. Nonjurors, 

 126. 



IS Croxteth D. 



