William Tailboys, de jure 7th Baron Kyme (c.1416 – 26 May 1464) was a wealthy

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

squire and adherent of the Lancastrian cause during the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...

. He was born in Kyme, Lincolnshire, the son of Sir Walter Tailboys and his first wife. Sir Walter had inherited considerable estates in Northumberland and Lincolnshire (with the main estate being at Goltho, Lincolnshire), and had been

High Sheriff of Lincolnshire This is a list of High Sheriffs of Lincolnshire. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilit ...

in 1423. William gained a reputation as a troublemaker, continually disputing with his neighbours, particularly

Lord Cromwell Baron Cromwell is a title that has been created several times in the Peerage of England. The first creation, which was by writ, was for John de Cromwell in 1308. On his death, the barony became extinct. The second creation came in 1375 when Ralp ...

, the ex-Treasurer. He was Justice of the Peace for Lincolnshire and for Northumberland from 1441 and in 1445 became Knight of the Shire for

. However his unruly character led to his temporary imprisonment in the Marshalsea, London in 1448 for a series of murders and trespasses. He was also accused of having attempted to murder Lord Cromwell in the Star Chamber in 1449. He espoused the Lancastrian cause and was knighted at the

Second Battle of St Albans The Second Battle of St Albans was fought on 17 February 1461 during the Wars of the Roses in England. It took place at St Albans in Hertfordshire, the first battle having been fought in 1455. The army of the Yorkist faction under the Earl of W ...

in 1461. He also fought at the

Battle of Towton The Battle of Towton took place on 29 March 1461 during the Wars of the Roses, near Towton in North Yorkshire, and "has the dubious distinction of being probably the largest and bloodiest battle on English soil". Fought for ten hours between ...

in 1461, escaped and was declared a rebel and had his property confiscated by King Edward IV. He was with Queen Margaret in Scotland in 1461 and was Captain of

Alnwick Castle Alnwick Castle () is a castle and country house in Alnwick in the English county of Northumberland. It is the seat of the 12th Duke of Northumberland, built following the Norman conquest and renovated and remodelled a number of times. It is a G ...

for the restored King Henry VI in 1462. In 1464 he fought at the

Battle of Hexham The Battle of Hexham, 15 May 1464, marked the end of significant Lancastrian resistance in the north of England during the early part of the reign of Edward IV. The battle was fought near the town of Hexham in Northumberland. John Neville, ...

, where the Lancastrian forces were totally routed, but managed to escape the field. He was later discovered hiding in a coal pit near Newcastle with some 3000 marks (2000 pounds) of Lancastrian funds which had been intended as pay for the army. He was taken to the Sandhills in Newcastle and there beheaded. He was buried in the Greyfriars' Church, Newcastle. He had married Elizabeth Bonville, daughter of

William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville (12 or 31 August 1392 – 18 February 1461), was an English nobleman and an important, powerful landowner in south-west England during the Late Middle Ages. Bonville's father died before Bonville reached ...

. They had two sons, including his son and heir Sir Robert Tailboys, later de jure 8th Baron Kyme, to whom part of his father's forfeited lands was eventually restored.

References

Biography of William Tailboys
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tailboys, William 1464 deaths Year of birth uncertain People of the Wars of the Roses English MPs 1445

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...