Profile of the Month: William Tey
The "who begat whom" of genealogy is important. But how interesting it is when records give insights into the ordinary lives of people who lived centuries ago. William Tey is an example.
He was born in about 1462 and came from a prosperous and well-connected Essex family. When his father died in 1474, he was made a ward of Cardinal Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was enjoined not only to maintain William's property but also to provide a "competent sustenance" for him, that is, to enable William to be brought up in a style befitting his position in society. William married Elizabeth Basset, a widow and a daughter of a Lord Mayor of London.
Sometime between 1486 and 1493 Oliver Caston, a skinner, sought to be discharged from a debt which he owed to Elizabeth's Basset's father and which subsequently became due to William and his wife. Oliver affirmed that he had "more than discharged [the debt] by supplying ale for his household at the rate of seven barrels weekly for 3s and 1s 8d a barrel." We do not know how much the debt was, but that was a goodly quantity of ale (224 gallons a week - a barrel shy of a tun). This was an age when water was often not safe to drink, and ale was a staple drink.
William was himself arrested over money in the 1490s, having guaranteed a loan to a widow called Elizabeth Lambert - she must have defaulted on repayment. He sued for release, presumably successfully.
In the same decade Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex, who was executor for Cardinal Thomas Bourchier, sued William and his wife for the return of a gold cup which Thomas Bourchier had left to Henry. One need not assume theft. Lawsuits to secure bequests were quite common, and William may well have believed that Thomas Bourchier had given him the cup.
William's own death led to another law case involving Henry Bourchier. William's estate was probated on 27 October 1500. He may have been of unsound mind near the end of his life. He appears to have given the profits of the keepership of Croydon, Surrey to his brother John and Henry Bourchier: William's widow sued them for the profits, claiming that her husband had "lytell or none use of reason" when he made the gift. Whether that was true, or was just a legal ploy, who knows? Attempts to invalidate transactions on the grounds of someone's alleged lack of mental capacity are nothing new.
Team News
The trail development team badged the following trails in October 2021:
