Sir James Wilford, MP

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wilford

Sir James Wilford (1516–1550) was an English soldier, and commander of Haddington in Scotland during its occupation in the war of the Rough Wooing.

James Wilford was the son of Thomas Wilford of Hartridge, Kent, and Elizabeth Colepeper. He married Joyce Barrett, she died in 1580. His sister Cicely (d. 10 February 1584) married Edwin Sandys, Archbishop of York. He was elected Member of Parliament for Barnstaple in 1547.

In Scotland

Wilford was a Provost Marshall at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh on 10 September 1547 and was subsequently knighted. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pinkie_Cleugh

Ulpian Fulwell wrote of Sir James in his Flower of Fame (1575);

"He was so noble a capitaine, that he wonne the hartes of all Souldiers. He was in the towne among his Souldiers and friends, a gentle lamme. In the field amongst his enemies a Lyon.

Sir James was one of the captains who supervised the fortification at Lauder on the site of Thirlestane Castle in April 1548. Lord Grey of Wilton recommended him for the command of the English and Italian mercenary force occupying Haddington on 28 April. On 3 June 1548, Wilford and Thomas Wyndham captured Dalkeith Palace, burnt the town, and took prisoner James Douglas, the future Regent Morton. On 1 November 1548, Wilford wrote to Somerset describing the state of Haddington, with a garrison stricken by plague:

"The state of this town pities me both to see and to write it; but I hope for relief. Many are sick and a great number dead, most of the plague. On my faith there are not here this day of horse, foot and Yttalians 1000 able to got the walls, and more like to be sick, than the sick to mend, who watch the walls every 5th night, yet the walls are un-manned."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Haddington

Capture

Wilford was captured at Dunbar in January 1549. One later account relates his capture by Robert Lauder of the Bass while supervising a wagon train of provisions. The French soldier Jean de Beaugué also published the event in his History of the War in Scotland. Mary of Guise described his capture as a "bonne prise" in a letter to her brother, the Duke of Aumale. James Croft succeeded him in command at Haddington. In June 1549 Wilford was imprisoned at Stirling Castle where he was visited by an English herald. The English Privy Council wrote to the Earl of Rutland to organize his release by an exchange of prisoners. Wilford was valued as a "man of special service" and "someone who has notably served", but was now "vexed with much sickness." It was suggested he might be exchanged for the son of Lord Fleming. Wilford was transferred to the keeping of Janet Stewart, Lady Fleming, and was released sometime in November 1549.

In February and March 1550, Wilford was granted the keeping of the Bailiwick of Gravesend and Milton and the Little Park of Otford, Kent for his lifetime.

Death

James Wilford died in November 1550, and his eulogy was delivered by Miles Coverdale. He was buried at St. Bartholomew's by the Exchange in London. A brass plate from his monument engraved with the Barrett and Wilford arms is preserved at the Museum of London. Coverdale was also buried at St Bartholomew's.

Portrait

Wilford's portrait was painted, perhaps by Hans Eworth; four copies of this portrait survive, three versions show a view of Haddington. The portraits are (retrospectively) dated 1547 and give Wilford's age as 32.

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Family and Education

b. by 1517, 1st s. of Thomas Wilford of Hartridge by 1st w. Elizabeth, da. of Walter Culpeper of Bedgebury; half-bro. of Thomas Wilford†. m. by 1543, Joyce, da. of John Barrett of Belhus in Aveley, Essex, 1s. 2da. Kntd. 28 Sept. 1547.2

Offices Held

Provost-marshal of the army against Scotland 1547; capt. Lauder Apr.-June 1548, Haddington June 1548-early 1549; keeper, Little Park, Otford, Kent, and steward, manor of Gravesend, Kent 2 Feb. 1550-d.3

Biography James Wilford’s family, originally of Devon stock, had settled in Kent only at the beginning of the 16th century. His grandfather, after whom he was named, had prospered as a merchant taylor in London and his uncle Nicholas Wilford had sat for the City in 1542. His father acquired lands in Kent but aspirations to gentility did not lead him to break with London, where he continued to figure with his brothers.4

Wilford was considered by Cromwell in 1538 for a post as daily waiter in his household. Whatever the decision, Cromwell’s downfall did not harm Wilford, who by 1542 had obtained a minor (unspecified) post in the royal service. In that year he and his lifelong friend Thomas Wyatt were pardoned for an assault and robbery, but the outbreak of war in 1544 gave him a more legitimate outlet: he was included in the Kent musters and served with distinction in the campaign which led to the fall of Boulogne. Two years later the Council recommended his appointment as Adrian Poynings’s lieutenant in the citadel there, but he refused to serve under Poynings. This was not held against him and Henry VIII rewarded him with an annuity worth £50 and the Protector Somerset with the provost-marshalship in the army against Scotland in 1547. His valour at the battle of Pinkie, where he ‘placed himself with the foremost of the foreward’, confirmed Somerset’s esteem for Wilford and earned him a knighthood.5

It was doubtless on Somerset’s recommendation that Wilford was elected at Barnstaple with Bartholomew Traheron, even if his family’s origin was of some help. Although almost certainly chosen in his absence, he returned south with the army and may be expected to have spoken during the first session on the need to press the war to a conclusion. After the prorogation he raised troops in London to that end, and by 22 Feb. 1548 he was on his way back to Scotland, where he took up a command at Lauder. In April his services were enlisted by the 13th Lord Grey de Wilton towards the capture of Haddington, and on its fall Grey proposed him as its governor. Neither Grey nor Somerset was to be disappointed, for Wilford—‘such a one as was able to make a cowardly beast a courageous man’—held Haddington, ill manned, badly fortified and plague stricken, almost without help for close on a year, and the garrison lost heart only after his capture by the French during an ill-advised attack on Dunbar. When it was learnt that he had fallen ill Grey persuaded the Council to secure his release by an exchange: his condition on arrival at York in November 1549 was described as ‘very weak’. He had missed the second session of the Parliament and his failing health probably prevented him from resuming his place during the third: his wife remained in constant attendance on him, a boy was employed to assist her, and his affairs were managed by his brothers and brothers-in-law. He nevertheless interested himself in Sir Thomas Wyatt’s scheme to establish a militia by Act of Parliament to preserve England from Catholicism: he also availed himself of the privilege of the House to have a servant freed from arrest.6

When Wilford made his will on 18 Nov. 1550 he was living in the Crutched Friars, London, at a house belonging to Sir Thomas Wyatt. After remembering his father and kinsmen, he provided for his wife and children, left some ‘white harness’ to Sir Philip Hoby and asked his ‘good friend’ (Sir) John Baker I to placate his father if he objected to the terms of the will. As executors Wilford appointed his wife, father and brothers, and Wyatt and Baker, the last being also a witness. He was buried on 24 Nov. near his grandfather at Little Bartholomew’s beside St. Anthony’s, the funeral oration being preached by Miles Coverdale. His widow took as her second husband Thomas Stanley, and Sir Arthur Champernon replaced him in the Commons for the final session. A portrait shows Wilford standing in front of a view of Haddington.7

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558 Author: A. D.K. Hawkyard Notes 1. Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament; C219/282/2. 2. Date of birth estimated from first reference. Vis. Kent (Harl. Soc. xlii), 53; (lxxiv), 22; (lxxv), 46-47; Vis. Essex (Harl. Soc. xiii), 322; DNB; The Gen. iv. 1-5; C142/100/50. 3. W. Patten, The Expedicion into Scotland (1548), unpaginated; APC,ii. 379; CPR, 1548-9 p. 226. 4. The Gen. iv. 1-5; Arch. Cant. xxxviii. 26; xlviii. 36-37. 5. M. L. Robertson, ‘Cromwell’s servants’ (Univ. California Los Angeles Ph.D. thesis, 1975), 587; LP Hen. VIII, xiii, xvii, xxi; Patten. 6. HMC Bath, iv. 336; information from Julianna Marker; CSP Scot. i. passim; APC, ii. 160, 170; W. K. Jordan, Edw. VI. i. 274, 276, 285, 287-90; Life of Ld. Grey of Wilton (Cam. Soc. xl), 46-47; M. H. Merriman, ‘Eng. and Fr. intervention in Scot. 1543-50’ (London Univ. Ph.D. thesis, 1975), 323-4; U. Fulwell, The Flower of fame (1575), 50-51, 54; Lit. Rems. Ed. VI, 224; HMC Rutland, iv. 194, 196-7; PCC 28 17 Coode; Pprs. Geo. Wyatt (Cam. Soc. ser. 4, v), 57; CJ, i. 15. 7. PCC 28 Coode; Machyn’s Diary (Cam. Soc. xlii), 3; information from Dr. R. C. Strong

James Wilford was the son of Thomas Wilford of Hartridge, Kent, and Elizabeth Colepeper. He married Joyce Barrett, she died in 1580.