WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



HALSALL 



The following is a list of the rectors 

 Institution 



Patron 



c. 1 190 . . . 

 c. 1253-66 . . 

 oc. 1292—6 



7 Nov. 1307 



24 Feb. 1336-7 . 

 9 April, 1365 . 



22 Dec. 1395 

 15 May, 141 3 

 oc. 1429 . . . 



9 Feb. 1452-3 . 



2 June, 1495 

 1 2 April, I 5 1 3 . 

 15 July, 1563 . 



— 1571 . . . 



2 June, 1594 . 



8 Feb. 1633-4 • 

 c. 1645 . . . 



— Dec. 1645 . . 

 20 Feb. 1 660- 1 . 

 26 Aug. 1683 



3 April, 1719 . 

 28 May, 1730 . 

 10 Feb. 1746. . 



2 April, 1750 



Name 



Robert' 



Gilbert" 



William de Cowdray " 



Henry de Lea * Gilbert de Halsall . . 



Richard de Halsall ' 



Mr. Roger Milnegate » The bishop (by lapse) 



John Spencer a/ias Claviger . . . 



Henry de Halsall ' Sir Gilb. de Halsall . 



Mr. William de Neuhagh " . . . Rt.de Halsall . . 



Mr. Gilbert Halsall, B.D.' . . . 



Edmund Farington "> Henry Halsall ... 



Hugh Halsall " „ . . . , 



Richard Halsall " Sir Henry Halsall . . , 



Cuthbert Halsall " Thomas Norris . . . , 



George Hesketh" Henry Halsall . . . , 



Richard Halsall " Anne Halsall, widow . 



Peter Travers, B.D.'^ 



Nathaniel Jackson 



Thomas Johnson 



Matthew Smallwood, B.D.'' . . . Lord Gerard of Brandon . 



Nathaniel Brownell, M.A.'' . . . E. of Macclesfield . . , 



Albert le Blanc, D.D." .... Peter Walter . . . , 



David Comarque, M.A „ . . . , 



Edward Pilkington C. Mordaunt . . . , 



John Stanley, D.D.*" „ . . . , 



Cause of Vacancy 



d. H. de Lea 



res. J. Spencer 

 res. H. Halsall 



d. G. Halsall 

 d. E. Farington 

 d. H. Halsall 

 d. R. Halsall 

 d. C. Halsall 



d. R. Halsall 

 expuls. P. Travers 



d. P. Travers 

 d. M. Smallwood 

 d. N. Brownell 

 d. A. le Blanc 

 d. D. Comarque 

 d. E. Pilkington 



^ A witness ; Dods. MSS. xxxix, fol. 14.3 

 (64) ; Cockersand Cbartul. (Chet. Soc), ii, 

 572, 754. Also about 1230 'Robert 

 parson of Halsall, Roger his brother ' ; 

 Trans. Hist. Soc. xxxii, 186. 



^ Cockersand Chartul. ii, 602. 



8 Dods. MSS. xxxix, fol. 138 5 Assize 

 R. 408, m. ^6d. 



^ Lich. Epis. Reg. i, fol. 27 ; also fol. 28, 

 two years* leave of absence for study, Jan. 

 1307-8 ; fol. 103, Henry de Lea, rector 

 of Halsall, ordained subdeacon Dec. 

 1306 (?) ; fol. 106, priest, Sept. 1308. 

 He was probably the Henry son of Henry 

 de Lea, clerk, who was concerned with 

 Down Litherland ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 27 ; for Henry de 

 Lea, rector of Halsall, was in 1333 witness 

 to a Litherland charter ; Moore D. n.yij, 



5 Lich. Reg. i, fol. n i ; called * son of 

 Thomas de Halsall/ He was ordained 

 subdeacon Sept, 1337, fol. 183. He was 

 still living in 1354; Duchy of Lane. 

 Assize R. 3, m. ij. 



^ Lich. Epis. Reg. iv. He was made 

 a notary by Innocent VI in 1353 ; Cah 

 Pap. Letters, iii, 490. 



7 Lich. Epis. Reg, vi, fol. Sob ; he was 

 in minor orders and nineteen years of 

 age; vi, fol. 155^, ordained subdeacon 

 Sept. 1396. He became archdeacon of 

 Chester ; Ormerod, Ches. i, 114. 



^ Lich. Reg. vii, fol. 103^. W. Neu- 

 hagh was also a prebendary of Lichfield ; 

 he probably died in 1426, when his pre- 

 bend became vacant ; Le Neve, Fasti, He 

 had been archdeacon of Chester since 

 1390, so that his appointment to Halsall 

 was in the nature of an exchange with 

 Henry Halsall. 



® Mentioned as rector in a plea of 

 1429 ; Pal. of Lane. Flea R. 2 ; Scaris- 

 brick Charter, 165. In 1425 Gilbert de 

 Halsall, aged about twenty, obtained a 

 papal dispensation enabling him to hold 

 any benefice on attaining his twenty- 

 second year ; Cal. Papal Letters, vii, 390, 



^*^ Lich. Epis. Reg. xi, fol. 3^. He was 

 ordained subdeacon 24 Feb., fol. 5 ; deacon 

 in May, fol. 97 ; and priest in Sept. 1453, 

 foL 98^. 



^^ Ibid, xii, fol. 158 ; ordained sub- 

 deacon in Sept. 1497, fol. 265 ; deacon 

 in Dec. 1497, fol. 267^ ,■ and priest tn 

 Dec. 1 500, xiii-xiv, fol. 289. Hugh 

 Halsall was on institution obliged to take 

 oath that he would pay a yearly pension 

 of ;^20 for five years to James Strait- 

 barrel, chaplain, of Halsall, and ^^13 6i. Zd. 

 afterwards for life. There had been a 

 dispute as to the patronage, Straltbarrel 

 having been presented by Nicholas Gart- 

 side, patron for that turn ; Lich. Epis. 

 Reg. xii, fol. 158. In June, 1502, the arch- 

 deacon of Chester granted a dispensation 

 to Hugh Halsall to retain his benefice, in 

 spite of his having been instituted with- 

 out dispensation before he was of lawful 

 age (namely, in his nineteenth year), and 

 ordained priest also before the lawful age ; 

 xiii, fol. 249^. 



12 Ibid, xiii-xiv, fol. 58^. Richard 

 Halsall's will directs his body to be 

 buried in the parish church in the tomb 

 made in the wall on the north side ; jQzo 

 was to be distributed in alms on the day 

 of the funeral ; ^^98 p. 4c/. to his cousin 

 John Halsall, son of James Halsall of 

 Altcar, * towards his exhibition at learning 

 where my executors shall appoint ' : a 

 brooch of gold with the picture of St. John 

 Baptist thereupon to his nephew Henry 

 Halsall ; to Sir John Prescott, his ' ser- 

 vant and curate,' a whole year's wages ; 

 with other bequests. Any residue of his 

 goods was to be given 'in such alms, deeds 

 or works of mercy, and charity' as his 

 executors might judge best. A codicil 

 orders £^ ijs. 4^/. to be given for a 

 chalice for the use of Halsall church, 40J. 

 and 20J. towards the repairs of Melling 

 and MaghuU chapels. The inventory 

 attached to the will shows a fair amount 

 of plate, among it being the 'best stand- 

 ing cup,' called ' a neet,' garnished with 

 silver and gilt, and valued at ^5 ; Piccope, 

 prills (Chet. Soc), ii, 35-9. 



18 Paid first-fruits 6 Nov. 1 563. Norris 

 presented under the will of Sir Thomas 

 Halsall. Cuthbert was ordained acolyte 

 17 April, 1557 ; see Lanes, and Ches. Re- 



189 



cords (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), ii, 

 409 ; Ordin. Book (same soc), 90, In 

 1572 Gilbert and Thomas Halsall, ad- 

 ministrators and natural brothers of Cuth- 

 bert Halsall, late rector, sued Robert 

 Amant of Downholland for ^^30 ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Plea R. 231, m. 12. 



^■* Paid first-fruits 10 May, 1571. 



1^ Paid first-fruits 20 Nov. 1594. 



1^ Institution not recorded ; paid first- 

 fruits on date given. He was also rector 

 of Bury ; q.v. 



1? Institution Book; the Commonwealth 

 incumbent is ignored. For the institu- 

 tions and rectors see Trans. Hist, Soc. 

 (New Ser.), xii, 241-52 ; Lanes, and Ches. 

 Antiq. Notes ; and Baines, Lanes, (ed. 

 Croston), v, 272-5, 



Dr. Matthew Smallwood, of the 

 Cheshire family of that name, held Gaws- 

 worth in Cheshire and other benefices, 

 and became prebendary of St. Paul's and 

 dean of Lichfield. He is buried in the 

 latter cathedral. Foster, Athenae Oxon. and 

 references. 



18 Nathaniel Brownell was an Oxford 

 graduate ; he is buried in Halsall church. 

 He is described as ' an active and careful 

 man ; the restorer of both the church and 

 the school.* He was returned as 'con- 

 formable' in 1689; Kenyan MSS. He 

 had had a faculty for teaching boys in the 

 school in 1680, so that he was probably 

 curate for Dr. Smallwood. For further 

 particulars, will, &c, see Ches. Sheaf 

 (ser. 3), ii, 93, 98, 102; also W. J. 

 Stavert, Study in Mediocrity. 



1^ The next rectors appear to have 

 been of foreign birth. Albert le Blanc 

 was made S.T.P. at Camb. in 1728, 

 'comitiis regiis ' ; and David Comarque 

 was a graduate of the same university 

 (B.A. 1720, M.A. 1726), being of Corpus 

 Christi College ; Graduati Cantabr. A 

 Renald Comarque was made M.D. at the 

 'comitia regia ' in 1728. 



20 Dr. John Stanley was brother of Sir 

 Edward Stanley, bart., who became 

 eleventh earl of Derby in 1736; he had 

 several benefices, and died as rector of 

 Winwick in 1781. 



