Christopher Conyers (bailiff of Richmond)

Christopher Conyers of Hornby, Yorkshire (d. 1461 x 1465), was a member of the fifteenth century English gentry, prominent in the local politics of northern England (specifically Yorkshire) and the early years of the Wars of the Roses.[1]

Early years, marriages and children

The son and heir of John Conyers of Hornby (d. c. 1412), he married firstly Helena or Eleanor - otherwise Ellen,[2] the daughter of Thomas Roleston and Margaret née Haulay in November 1415. After Ellen's death in 1433 (1444),[2] he married Margaret Waddesley, the daughter of Robert Waddesley.

Between his two wives he is said to have produced twenty-five children, twelve being sons; 'unusually,' notes Rosemary Horrox, he was able to provide for many of his younger sons, rather than just the eldest, as was usual. Horrox puts this down to the fact that his heir had married Margaret, the daughter and coheir of Philip, Lord Darcy, which provided Conyers with a source of income, as well as the fact that he arranged good marriages for many of them. His ability to do so, she continues, demonstrates his 'good standing' in the region.[1] This standing is also reflected in his acting as a feoffee for local man John Waddesford of Kirklington, North Yorkshire,[3] and bearing witness to the exchange of deeds in a property exchange between Richard Clairvaux and John, Lord Scrope of Bolton.[4]

According to Clay,[2] at least 18 of these children were by Ellen (10 boys and eight girls) and this in itself would suggest the later date of her death of 1544, being upheld by other ancestry sources.[5][6][7] Their children are given as follows:

  • Sir John Conyers of Hornby and Knayth KG. Succeeded his father. Married Margaret Darcy (see above).
  • William Conyers Esq of Marske[2] otherwise Sir William Conyers. Married twice, firstly Elizabeth, daughter and sole heiress of Robert Cleseby of Marske. Secondly Ann, widow of Sir Richard Tempest. Like his brother Sir John, a likely candidate for Robin of Redesdale and killed at the Battle of Edgecote Moor.
  • Sir Richard Conyers of South Cawton (buried there). Married Alice, daughter of John Wycliffe and had issue:
  1. Margery married Sir Ralph Bowes of Strealham. Their granddaughter Margery (by Sir Ralph Bowes and Elizabeth Clifford) married Ralph Eure (died 1545); parents of William Eure, 2nd Baron Eure
  2. Margaret married Robert Danby of Yafford
  3. Eleanor married Robert Lascelles of Sowerby
  4. Alice married Unknown Franke
  5. Elisabeth
  • Thomas Conyers
  • Christopher Conyers, Rector of Rudby
  • Robert Conyers of Hutton-Bonville. Married Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of Rowland Darcy of Hinton
  • Ralph Conyers, s.p.
  • George Conyers of Danby-Wiske. Married Isabel, daughter of Cuthbert Franke and had issue:
  1. William
  2. John
  3. George
  4. Margery
  • Sir Roger Conyers of Winyard, jure uxoris. Married Sibil, daughter of William Langton of Winyard and had issue:
  • James Conyers
  • Joan Conyers. Married John FitzRandall of Spennythorne
  • Margery Conyers. Married Robert Wycliffe
  • Elizabeth Conyers. Married William Burgh
  • Isabel Conyers. Married Robert Aske
  • Katherine Conyers. Married twice, firstly Conan Aske. Secondly Roland Pudsey
  • Sibel Conyers
  • Hawise Conyers
  • Margaret Conyers. Married twice, firstly Roger Lascelles. Secondly James Pickering

The children of Christopher by Margaret Waddesley are given by Clay[2] (four boys and two girls) are given as follows:

  • Brian Conyers of Pinchinthorpe and York. Married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Nelson and had issue:
  • Nicholas Conyers of Stokesley. Married Katherine, daughter of John Robinson of Stokesley
  • Conan Conyers, a priest
  • Henry Conyers of Holtby. Married Cicely, daughter of John Holtby
  • Mary Conyers. Married Henry Pudsey of Bolton
  • Alice Conyers. Married Henry Wharton

Note: Not all the issues are given in Clay. This leaves one child unaccounted for and, in any case, 14 rather than 12 boys.

Service of the Nevilles

Although never knighted or made Sheriff of his county, he was appointed bailiff of the Honour of Richmond in 1436, during the earl of Salisbury's tenure of the Honour. The same year, Conyers acted as feoffee to uses of Salisbury's will,[1] (due to Salisbury's appointment to royal service in France, in the latter days of the Hundred Years' War) which meant that if his mother died whilst the earl was abroad, her estates would be controlled by Conyers and others on Salisbury's behalf, rather than temporarily returning to the king.[8]

Later career

In 1464 he was commissioned (alongside Salisbury's son, the earl of Warwick, and Lords Greystoke and Fitzhugh) to recapture castles in Northumberland (Bamburgh, Alnwick and Dunstanburgh) that were held by the remnants of the Lancastrian army.[9]

References
  1. Horrox, Rebecca. "Conyers, Christopher". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/61160. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. Clay, J.W. "The extinct and dormant peerages of the northern counties of England"
  3. Pollard, J., The North-East of England During Wars of the Roses : Lay Society, War and Politics, 1450–1500 (Oxford, 1990), 111
  4. Pollard, J., The North-East of England During Wars of the Roses : Lay Society, War and Politics, 1450–1500 (Oxford, 1990), 113
  5. NetherlandsGenealogieOnline Trees Index, 1000-2015
  6. Millenium File
  7. https://www.findagrave.com/
  8. Jacobs E.F., The Fifteenth Century, 1399–1485 (Oxford, 1969), 323
  9. Hicks, M.A., Warwick the Kingmaker (Oxford, 1998), 246 n.98
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