Margaret Bassett

Margaret Bassett, d. 1534, daughter of Ralph Bassett of Blore, Staffordshire and Eleanor Egerton, first married, in about 1498, an important Leicestershire sergeant-at-law named Thomas Kebell (c.1439-June 26,1500), as his third wife. The match was arranged by her grandmother, Joan Biron, after the death of William Bassett, Ralph Bassett’s father, in November, 1497. After Kebell’s death, because the widow was a wealthy heiress, she was abducted from Blore Hall on the first of February 1502 by a band a men brandishing swords. There were, by various accounts, either a hundred or a hundred and twenty in the band and it was led by Roger Vernon, son of Sir Henry Vernon of Haddon Hall in Derbyshire. Roger wanted to marry Margaret, even though she was already planning to wed Ralph Egerton of Ridley (c.1468-March 9, 1528). Blore Hall was the home of Margaret’s uncle, William Bassett, and Egerton and his father, Hugh Egerton (c. 1425-1505) were present, possibly to celebrate the betrothal. There was an additional connection. Margaret’s mother, Eleanor, was Ralph Egerton’s half sister. After the abduction, Vernon and Margaret were hastily married in Derby, much against the bride’s will, and afterward she was sent to Vernon’s uncles at Netherseal in Leicestershire and then into the Welsh Marches, where Sir Richard de la Bere kept her confined at his manor house in Clehonger. Margaret’s mother, Eleanor, accompanied by Eleanor's father and brother, set off in pursuit of the abductors. They were outnumbered and unable to rescue Margaret, but Margaret later managed to escape on her own and reach safety in London. The case ended up before the court of the Star Chamber, where changes and counter-charges kept the litigation active for the next seven years. Vernon was fined, but in December 1509, all those involved in the abduction were pardoned by the king. Margaret did eventually marry Ralph Egerton, who was knighted in 1515. Margaret had three children (Richard, Ralph, and Elizabeth) by Egerton. Until her death, she collected a jointure of £40 per annum from her first marriage.