William de Whithurst (died after 1350) was an

English Crown This list of kings and reigning queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Wessex, one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled himself King of the Anglo-Sax ...

official, who held office as a

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

in Ireland. He appears to have been a native of Gloucester, where he was the tenant of lands formerly held by William de Holyns. He was a clerk in the English

Chancery Chancery may refer to: Offices and administration * Chancery (diplomacy), the principal office that houses a diplomatic mission or an embassy * Chancery (medieval office), responsible for the production of official documents * Chancery (Scotlan ...

by the mid-1320s, and he was said to have given "long and faithful service" to the Crown. The best evidence for his activities before 1346 lies in two petitions dating from 1331. William petitioned King

Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...

for relief against being distrained by the Exchequer for debts owed to the Crown by the late Edmund, Earl of Kent, the King's uncle, of whose property he had been appointed Keeper, claiming that he had a letter under the

Privy Seal A privy seal refers to the personal seal of a reigning monarch, used for the purpose of authenticating official documents of a much more personal nature. This is in contrast with that of a great seal, which is used for documents of greater impor ...

discharging him from liability for the debt; an endorsement on the petition shows that this plea was accepted. He also petitioned to be cleared of liability for a sum of £100 given to him by the late King

Edward II Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to t ...

, during the conflict which led to King Edward's final downfall in 1327, to pay the wages of the soldiers at Gloucester, on the ground that he could produce no written evidence as to whether or not the wages had actually been paid since he had given the money to one Simon de Reading. In 1346, in consideration of his good service, King

appointed him Master of the Rolls in Ireland; he served until about 1350 when he returned to England to become the parish priest of

Brixham Brixham is a coastal town and civil parish, the smallest and southernmost of the three main population centres (the others being Paignton and Torquay) on the coast of Torbay in the county of Devon, in the south-west of England. Commercial fish ...

, Devon. The Patent Rolls for 1349 record a debt of forty shillings owed to him by William de Wode, which was to be levied in

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

References

*Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' John Murray London 1926 *''Calendar of the Close Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office'' *Dodd, Gwilym ''Justice and Grace- Private Petitioning and the English Parliament in the Late Middle Ages'' Oxford University Press 2007 *National Archives Ref. SC8/239/11922 People from Gloucester Masters of the Rolls in Ireland {{Ireland-law-bio-stub