Sir William Cheyne (died 1443) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

lawyer, and Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 1424 until 1438. He has been described as "one of the most obscure chief justices of the late medieval period".

Life

Though he is assumed to have been born between 1370 and 1380, his parentage is not known. The situation is complicated by the roughly contemporary existence of at least two other men by the name of William Cheyne: Sir William Cheyne of Brooke,

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

(d. 1420), and William Cheyne of Shurland,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

(d. 1441) This William Cheyne came from

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, and it is here that he makes his first appearance in the record, as a Justice and the Peace and commissioner of that county from 1406 onwards. His career was advanced through the patronage of Thomas FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel; he was one of the executors of the earl's will in 1415. In 1412 he was created a

serjeant-at-law A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writ ...

. At the time this was an unpopular position, due to the high cost of the creations ceremony, and the Crown had to admonish the nominees to take up the position, on pain of being debarred. Cheyne was appointed justice of the King's Bench on 16 June 1415, and was reappointed in 1422, on the accession of Henry VI. Two years later, on 23 January 1424, he was promoted to Chief Justice, on the death of the incumbent

William Hankford Sir William Hankford KB (or Hankeford) (c. 1350 – 1423) of Annery in Devon, was an English lawyer, and Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 1413 until 1423. Origins His parentage is not known, but he came from a gentry family which origin ...

. He retired in 1438, probably due to poor health. William Cheyne was married twice; possibly three times. His first wife, of whom there is no certainty, was supposedly a Margaret who died in 1419. In 1420 he married Joan, with whom he had two children, John and Margaret. Joan died in 1434. His last wife was another Margaret, who survived him by a few months. He died in 1443 and left his possessions£400 and lands in Sussex and

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

valued at £80 per annumto his son John. Cheyne was buried in the church of

St Benet Paul's Wharf The Church of St Benet Paul's Wharf is a Welsh Anglican church in the City of London. Since 1556, it has also been the official church of the College of Arms in which many officers of arms have been buried. In 1666 it was destroyed in the Great F ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

References

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheyne, William 14th-century births 1443 deaths Justices of the King's Bench Lord chief justices of England and Wales Recorders of London Serjeants-at-law (England)