William Grimsby or Grymesby (1420–1482) was an English courtier and parliamentarian, a member of the Lancastrian faction in the Wars of the Roses. Grimsby was returned as Member of the Parliament of England for Great Grimsby in the Parliament of February 1449, and later was appointed to a series of court offices under Henry VI - Yeoman of the Crown (1454–57), Treasurer of the Chamber (1456-60), and Squire of the Body (1457–61). He was returned to Parliament for Lincolnshire in 1459 (the Parliament of Devils), and was awarded some of the lands it confiscated from Yorkist nobles. Grimsby may have fought at the Battle of Northampton in July 1460, and certainly fought at the

Battle of Wakefield The Battle of Wakefield took place in Sandal Magna near Wakefield in northern England, on 30 December 1460. It was a major battle of the Wars of the Roses. The opposing forces were an army led by nobles loyal to the captive King Henry VI of ...

in December, a Lancastrian victory, and at the Battle of Towton the following March, a catastrophic defeat. He was

attainted In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditary ...

by the Yorkists, his lands were confiscated and awarded to John Ferriby, and Grimsby fled into obscurity. He was reported to have died in the Marshalsea of "

black jaundice Leptospirosis is a blood infection caused by the bacteria ''Leptospira''. Signs and symptoms can range from none to mild ( headaches, muscle pains, and fevers) to severe ( bleeding in the lungs or meningitis). Weil's disease, the acute, sever ...

" in 1462, and his wife was allowed to take over her own inherited estates in August 1464. However, he was still alive; in 1462, he was with the exiled

Margaret of Anjou Margaret of Anjou (french: link=no, Marguerite; 23 March 1430 – 25 August 1482) was Queen of England and nominally Queen of France by marriage to King Henry VI from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471. Born in the Duchy of Lorrain ...

in France. He had returned to England by the Readeption of Henry VI in 1470, and may have been returned to the 1470-71 Readeption Parliament. Following the Battle of Tewkesbury in May 1471, he was again reported dead, executed along with other Lancastrian prisoners, but again this was a false report, and he survived to be pardoned in December 1471. He was returned to Parliament a third or fourth time, for Grimsby, in the Parliament of 1472-75, where he successfully arranged for his attainder to be annulled. He rose again under the new regime, being made a

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

in 1475 and securing sinecure posts overseeing the Port of London in 1477 and 1478.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grymesby, Willielmus 1420 births 1482 deaths English MPs February 1449 English MPs 1470 English MPs 1472 Members of the Parliament of England for Great Grimsby