9838 Individuals
in our Database | |  | | | 1ST LORD DE LA WARR
William West Sex: Male | | | |  | | Birth Date | 1529 England | | Death Date | 1595 DEC 30 Wherwell, Hampshire, England | | Father | George West | Born: 1529 | Died: 1595 | | Mother | | Born: | | | William West
Notes: | At some point, William was adopted as heir by his fathers childless half-brother, the 9th and last Lord, Thomas West, "to the exclusion, apparently of the issue of that Lords next brother, Sir Owen West".[3][4] William, "being not content to stay until his uncles natural death, prepared poison to dispatch [Sir Thomas] quickly".[1][3] William was in the Tower by 1548 for his unsuccessful attempt to poison his uncle and, in 1549, Sir Thomas placed a private bill before Parliament to disinherit his nephew.[5] As punishment, on 1 February 1549/50, William was disabled from all honours by Act of Parliament.[1][3] Although he had been reinstated as heir by the time of his uncles death in September 1554, William was unable to inherit the barony due to the 1550 act of Parliament.[5] In 1556, Sir Henry Dudley formulated a conspiracy against Queen Mary I, and tried to prove that she was ineligible to be Queen. In February 1556, Henry Peckham informed William and his cousin Edward Lewknor of the plot, and asked them to obtain a copy of King Henry VIIIs will which could prove that Mary was ineligible for the crown. Lewknor sent the document to William, who gave it to Peckham.[1] For his part in the conspiracy, William was found guilty of treason[1] on 30 June 1556[3] and was sentenced to death.[5] William received a pardon in 1557 and soon after served at the Battle of St. Quintin in Picardy[5] as Captain of the Army.[1]
| | Notes: | William was restored in blood on 10 April 1563[3] by Elizabeth I[5] and soon after presented himself to the church at Shepton Mallet, Somerset, as "William West, Esq., "called Lord La Ware"".[1] He was joint Lieutenant of Sussex[1] in November 1569, styled as "William West, Esquire".[3] He was knighted by the Earl of Leicester on 5 February 1569/70 at Hampton Court and, on that same day, was created by patent "Baron Delaware",[1][3] in a new creation of that title.[5] William was summoned to Parliament from 15 September 1586 to 19 February 1591/2 by writs directed Willielmo West de la Warr Chl.[1][3] He took his seat in the House of Lords as a junior baron,[5] "in which place he sat until his death".[3] Like his uncle, William served as the governments agent in Sussex and was, at times, in the position of lord lieutenant.[5] William was a protestant and was active in the prosecution of recusants for treason.[5] In 1572, William sat as one of the peers at the trial of the Duke of Norfolk.[3][5] After Norfolk was executed, William was "sent to the Queen of Scots to expostulate with her".[3] In 1589, William sat on the Earl of Arundels trial.
| | Notes: | William West died at Wherwell, Hampshire on 30 December 1595,[1][5] aged over 75.[3] Williams Inquisition Post Mortem was held 6 April 1596.[3] Administration of his estate was granted 12 February 1600/1 to Richard Nestfield, Gent., of Wherwell.[1][3] William was succeeded by his son, Thomas, who received the precedency within the peerage that had belonged to the ancient Barony of la Warre before his father forfeited it.[5][6] His widow, Anne, remarried to Richard Kemis (or Kemish)[3] and had no issue. Anne died before 2 July 1633 and was buried in the church of Andover, Hampshire, near her mother and third husband.
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