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Marriage of William Acton and [Mary] Sprencheaux
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oliver....@gmail.com
Jan 15, 2018, 1:22:50 PM1/15/18
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Is anyone able to shed any light on the marriage of William Acton and [Mary] Sprencheaux? I am having difficulty in reconciling the supposed dates.
The Visitations of Shropshire 1623 I:10 shows the following:
Edw. Acton of Aldenham ..[Sheriff 1383] = Elianor da. and one of the heirs of Sr Fulke le Strange Kt. ao 10 R. 2, whose child:
Walter Acton of Longnor = …da. of … Stepleton, whose child:
William Acton of Longnor = … d. & coheir of Sr Fulke Sprenchose Knight, whose child:
John Acton of Aldenham = Bennett da. of Roger Knight of Shrewsbury Esq., whose child:
Thomas Acton of Aldenham = Elizabeth da. of … Dryland, whose child:
William Acton 2 son & heir of Thomas = Cicely da. of Rich. Cressett of Upton Cressett
This is substantially the same in the following extracts from Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, vol. V (1882) at pp. 359-360:
"This Sir Fulke [Sprencheaux] was born in 1420, was Sheriff of Shropshire in 1447, and the name appears in 1453."
"Here, however, we are met by another difficulty, since Sir Fulke Sprencheaux is called son of Sir Nicholas Sprencheaux, Lord of Plash and Donington, and this is confirmed by Harln. MSS., 1,982 and 1,396, which, however, mention a sister of Sir Fulke, who became wife of John Midelton. If, then, Sir Nicholas Sprencheaux were Lord of Donington, it is not very evident how that Manor could come into the family through his daughter-in-law, Margery, née Wynnesbury. By a deed dated at Glazeley 23rd April, 19 Edward IV. (1479), Dame Margery Springseaux, daughter and heir of John Wynnesbury, in her widowhood grants to her daughters and heirs, Margery Lee, Mary Springseaux, Margaret Tyndale, and Sibilla Sandford, all her Lordships of Glazeley, Madle, Wynnesbury, Plash, Didston, Heyghley, Wyntree, Espes, Dunkshull, Tedstell, Heme, the Manor of Overstanway, the Hamlets of Nether Stanway, the Manor of Donington, Bemyshehall, and all her lands and tenements in Montgomery and elsewhere, within the hundred of Cherbury, of Edgdon, Wolston, Brunslow, in the county of Salop, with all buildings, &c , woods, &c., to them and the heirs of their bodies lawfully begotten, remainder to her own right heirs."
And at page 387:
"We must now return to Mary, born 1458, co-heir of Sir Fulke Sprencheaux, Lord of Donington, and Margery, his wife. As before mentioned, she married William Acton of Longner, called also of Aldenham, son of Walter, by the daughter of Stapleton, and grandson of Edward Acton of Aldenham, 10 Richard II., by Eleanor, his wife, daughter and co-heir of Sir Fulke L'Estrange, Lord of Betton Strange, and brother of Hamon. This Edward was son of William Acton of Acton Burnell and of Longner, 10 Edward III. It will be remembered that Mary Sprencheaux and her husband, William Acton, had a daughter named after her mother ; they had also a son and successor, Thomas Acton of Longner, 36 Henry VI., who, by Joane, daughter and heir of Thomas Downton, or Downe, had (according to Addl. MSS., 14, 314, B.M.) a son, Thomas, who was succeeded by his son, John Acton of Aldenham, who married Bennet, daughter of Roger Knight of Shrewsbury, son of Jenkin Knight, and had a son, Thomas Acton of Aldenham (H.M. 1,396), whose Will is dated 26th February, 1513, father, by Elizabeth, daughter of .... Dryland, of William Acton, who succeeded his brother, and by Cecily, daughter of Richard Cressett of Upton Cresset, had many children. The mother of Cecily (Cressett) was Jane, daughter of Walter Wrottesley, and her father was son of Thomas Cressett, by Jane, daughter of Sir Robert Corbet of Morton Corbet, and grandson of Robert Cressett, by Christiana, daughter and heir of John Stapleton of Stapleton."
Edward Acton of Longnor was member of parliament for Shropshire between 1378 and 1388 (History of Parliament Online). His date of death is not recorded. He appears to have had two sons, Nicholas Acton and Walter Acton who succeeded him at Longnor (History of Parliament Online). His dates are recorded as (1326-aft 1396) in the Acton family tree at:
http://www.liberoricercatore.it/Storia/personaggiillustri/Genealogy-of-the-Acton-family.pdf
I can find no information on Walter Acton other than the sources already cited. The Acton family tree give his dates as (1365-Bef 1420). The same goes for his son, William Acton whose dates are shown as (Abt 1390-Bef 1443).
On the Landed Families website (http://landedfamilies.blogspot.co.ke/search?q=Aldenham), the son Thomas Acton is described as follows:
"Acton, Thomas (1415-80) of Longnor and Aldenham. Elder son of William Acton of Longnor (d. before 1443) and his wife, born 1415. A lawyer at the Temple and member of the Vintners company in London; JP for Shropshire; MP for Bletchingley (Surrey), 1449, Arundel (Sussex) 1450-51 and Shropshire, 1459; a supporter of the Yorkist faction who served on the commission of array in 1459 and accompanied King Edward IV on his campaign to beseige Lancastrian castles in the north of England in 1462. He married 1st, 1449, Mary Horde, and 2nd, Joan, daughter and heiress of Thomas Downton".
See also: Jane Wrottesley, Mother of Cecily Cresset? (soc.genealogy.medieval) where William Acton states:
"You’ve muddled your Thomas Actons here, easily done as there were several of that name. William’s father Thomas is said to have been “Srvante to my Lord of Shrewesbury” in REQ 2/1/126. This document is thought to date to around 1534 because several people tried to disinerhit William in that year and those that followed, and he must have had to prove his “parentage and family” at that time. It follows that his father Thomas had died in about 1533/4. Thomas was the oldest son and heir of John Acton, of Aldenham. John Acton, according to his IPM (dated 24 October 1496), died on 20 March 1494, and at the time of the IPM, his oldest son and heir Thomas was “aged 12 years and more”, which means he must have been born around 1484. So, William’s father Thomas was born around 1484 and died around 1533/4. The Thomas Acton, of Longnor, who died in 1513 was the older half brother of John Acton. They were both sons of Thomas Acton, of Longnor (1415-20 Mar 1480); Thomas (d. 1513) was the son of his first wife Mary Stapleton (d. bef 1455), while John was the son of his second wife Joan Downton. There are two beautiful wooden carvings of Thomas Acton (1415-80) and Joan Downton at The Moat House in Longnor, which was built in the 1460s."
Assuming that:
(a) the dates for the Actons are broadly correct;
(b) the dates for Sir Fulke Sprencheaux are from 1420 to after 1453; and
(c) the date of the deed for Margery Sprencheaux, née Wynnesbury, is indeed 1479,
the [Mary] Sprencheaux, daughter of Sir Fulke Sprencheaux and Margery Wynnesbury cannot have been the wife of William Acton, the grandson of Edward Acton.
Was there an earlier Sir Fulke Sprencheaux or is this another case where the Visitation of Shropshire pedigree is confused?
Oliver Fowler
The Visitations of Shropshire 1623 I:10 shows the following:
Edw. Acton of Aldenham ..[Sheriff 1383] = Elianor da. and one of the heirs of Sr Fulke le Strange Kt. ao 10 R. 2, whose child:
Walter Acton of Longnor = …da. of … Stepleton, whose child:
William Acton of Longnor = … d. & coheir of Sr Fulke Sprenchose Knight, whose child:
John Acton of Aldenham = Bennett da. of Roger Knight of Shrewsbury Esq., whose child:
Thomas Acton of Aldenham = Elizabeth da. of … Dryland, whose child:
William Acton 2 son & heir of Thomas = Cicely da. of Rich. Cressett of Upton Cressett
This is substantially the same in the following extracts from Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, vol. V (1882) at pp. 359-360:
"This Sir Fulke [Sprencheaux] was born in 1420, was Sheriff of Shropshire in 1447, and the name appears in 1453."
"Here, however, we are met by another difficulty, since Sir Fulke Sprencheaux is called son of Sir Nicholas Sprencheaux, Lord of Plash and Donington, and this is confirmed by Harln. MSS., 1,982 and 1,396, which, however, mention a sister of Sir Fulke, who became wife of John Midelton. If, then, Sir Nicholas Sprencheaux were Lord of Donington, it is not very evident how that Manor could come into the family through his daughter-in-law, Margery, née Wynnesbury. By a deed dated at Glazeley 23rd April, 19 Edward IV. (1479), Dame Margery Springseaux, daughter and heir of John Wynnesbury, in her widowhood grants to her daughters and heirs, Margery Lee, Mary Springseaux, Margaret Tyndale, and Sibilla Sandford, all her Lordships of Glazeley, Madle, Wynnesbury, Plash, Didston, Heyghley, Wyntree, Espes, Dunkshull, Tedstell, Heme, the Manor of Overstanway, the Hamlets of Nether Stanway, the Manor of Donington, Bemyshehall, and all her lands and tenements in Montgomery and elsewhere, within the hundred of Cherbury, of Edgdon, Wolston, Brunslow, in the county of Salop, with all buildings, &c , woods, &c., to them and the heirs of their bodies lawfully begotten, remainder to her own right heirs."
And at page 387:
"We must now return to Mary, born 1458, co-heir of Sir Fulke Sprencheaux, Lord of Donington, and Margery, his wife. As before mentioned, she married William Acton of Longner, called also of Aldenham, son of Walter, by the daughter of Stapleton, and grandson of Edward Acton of Aldenham, 10 Richard II., by Eleanor, his wife, daughter and co-heir of Sir Fulke L'Estrange, Lord of Betton Strange, and brother of Hamon. This Edward was son of William Acton of Acton Burnell and of Longner, 10 Edward III. It will be remembered that Mary Sprencheaux and her husband, William Acton, had a daughter named after her mother ; they had also a son and successor, Thomas Acton of Longner, 36 Henry VI., who, by Joane, daughter and heir of Thomas Downton, or Downe, had (according to Addl. MSS., 14, 314, B.M.) a son, Thomas, who was succeeded by his son, John Acton of Aldenham, who married Bennet, daughter of Roger Knight of Shrewsbury, son of Jenkin Knight, and had a son, Thomas Acton of Aldenham (H.M. 1,396), whose Will is dated 26th February, 1513, father, by Elizabeth, daughter of .... Dryland, of William Acton, who succeeded his brother, and by Cecily, daughter of Richard Cressett of Upton Cresset, had many children. The mother of Cecily (Cressett) was Jane, daughter of Walter Wrottesley, and her father was son of Thomas Cressett, by Jane, daughter of Sir Robert Corbet of Morton Corbet, and grandson of Robert Cressett, by Christiana, daughter and heir of John Stapleton of Stapleton."
Edward Acton of Longnor was member of parliament for Shropshire between 1378 and 1388 (History of Parliament Online). His date of death is not recorded. He appears to have had two sons, Nicholas Acton and Walter Acton who succeeded him at Longnor (History of Parliament Online). His dates are recorded as (1326-aft 1396) in the Acton family tree at:
http://www.liberoricercatore.it/Storia/personaggiillustri/Genealogy-of-the-Acton-family.pdf
I can find no information on Walter Acton other than the sources already cited. The Acton family tree give his dates as (1365-Bef 1420). The same goes for his son, William Acton whose dates are shown as (Abt 1390-Bef 1443).
On the Landed Families website (http://landedfamilies.blogspot.co.ke/search?q=Aldenham), the son Thomas Acton is described as follows:
"Acton, Thomas (1415-80) of Longnor and Aldenham. Elder son of William Acton of Longnor (d. before 1443) and his wife, born 1415. A lawyer at the Temple and member of the Vintners company in London; JP for Shropshire; MP for Bletchingley (Surrey), 1449, Arundel (Sussex) 1450-51 and Shropshire, 1459; a supporter of the Yorkist faction who served on the commission of array in 1459 and accompanied King Edward IV on his campaign to beseige Lancastrian castles in the north of England in 1462. He married 1st, 1449, Mary Horde, and 2nd, Joan, daughter and heiress of Thomas Downton".
See also: Jane Wrottesley, Mother of Cecily Cresset? (soc.genealogy.medieval) where William Acton states:
"You’ve muddled your Thomas Actons here, easily done as there were several of that name. William’s father Thomas is said to have been “Srvante to my Lord of Shrewesbury” in REQ 2/1/126. This document is thought to date to around 1534 because several people tried to disinerhit William in that year and those that followed, and he must have had to prove his “parentage and family” at that time. It follows that his father Thomas had died in about 1533/4. Thomas was the oldest son and heir of John Acton, of Aldenham. John Acton, according to his IPM (dated 24 October 1496), died on 20 March 1494, and at the time of the IPM, his oldest son and heir Thomas was “aged 12 years and more”, which means he must have been born around 1484. So, William’s father Thomas was born around 1484 and died around 1533/4. The Thomas Acton, of Longnor, who died in 1513 was the older half brother of John Acton. They were both sons of Thomas Acton, of Longnor (1415-20 Mar 1480); Thomas (d. 1513) was the son of his first wife Mary Stapleton (d. bef 1455), while John was the son of his second wife Joan Downton. There are two beautiful wooden carvings of Thomas Acton (1415-80) and Joan Downton at The Moat House in Longnor, which was built in the 1460s."
Assuming that:
(a) the dates for the Actons are broadly correct;
(b) the dates for Sir Fulke Sprencheaux are from 1420 to after 1453; and
(c) the date of the deed for Margery Sprencheaux, née Wynnesbury, is indeed 1479,
the [Mary] Sprencheaux, daughter of Sir Fulke Sprencheaux and Margery Wynnesbury cannot have been the wife of William Acton, the grandson of Edward Acton.
Was there an earlier Sir Fulke Sprencheaux or is this another case where the Visitation of Shropshire pedigree is confused?
Oliver Fowler
wbld....@gmail.com
Jan 15, 2018, 5:33:38 PM1/15/18
to
The family tree online here:
http://www.liberoricercatore.it/Storia/personaggiillustri/Genealogy-of-the-Acton-family.pdf
was a work in progress, uploaded without my permission and is incorrect in several places.
The short answer is that the visitation is in error. Other than the visitation is no evidence that Walter Acton or his son William existed. I am hoping to publish my research on the early Acton family at some point and will post a message to the forum when I eventually get it ready.
The Acton connection with the Sprenchose family has been muddled in the visitation pedigree. Thomas Acton (1453/4-1514) married first after 23 April 1479 [1] Mary Sprenchose, daughter of Fulk Sprenchose and Margaret Wynnesbury. Thomas Acton married second circa 1501 [2] Jane Lingen [3], daughter of Sir John Lingen and his wife Isabel de Burgh. Thomas did not have any surviving issue when he wrote his will, though he made provision for the education of one Thomas Edwards who might have been his illegitimate son - there is no evidence for this other than his will. His eventual heir (after a hefty number of court cases) was his brother John's grandson William Acton, husband of Cecily Cressett.
[1] Shropshire Archives (Sandford Papers 465/57). Margaret Wynnesbury (wife of Sir Fulk Sprenchose) and her four daughters are named and Mary is the only unmarried daughter. The Sandford of Up Rossall pedigree (Visitation of Shropshire 1623, p. 432) shows an unnamed daughter of Sir Fulk Sprenchose as the wife of “Thomas Acton of Longnor”; this works chronologically and explains why Thomas did not marry Jane Lingen until circa 1501.
[2] ‘Collectanea Archaeologica’, VOL I, pp. 225-226 (1862)
[3] ‘Heraldic Visitations of Wales and Part of the Marches Between the Years 1586 and 1613’, VOL 2, p. 242, by Lewys Dwnn (1846)
Will Acton
http://www.liberoricercatore.it/Storia/personaggiillustri/Genealogy-of-the-Acton-family.pdf
was a work in progress, uploaded without my permission and is incorrect in several places.
The short answer is that the visitation is in error. Other than the visitation is no evidence that Walter Acton or his son William existed. I am hoping to publish my research on the early Acton family at some point and will post a message to the forum when I eventually get it ready.
The Acton connection with the Sprenchose family has been muddled in the visitation pedigree. Thomas Acton (1453/4-1514) married first after 23 April 1479 [1] Mary Sprenchose, daughter of Fulk Sprenchose and Margaret Wynnesbury. Thomas Acton married second circa 1501 [2] Jane Lingen [3], daughter of Sir John Lingen and his wife Isabel de Burgh. Thomas did not have any surviving issue when he wrote his will, though he made provision for the education of one Thomas Edwards who might have been his illegitimate son - there is no evidence for this other than his will. His eventual heir (after a hefty number of court cases) was his brother John's grandson William Acton, husband of Cecily Cressett.
[1] Shropshire Archives (Sandford Papers 465/57). Margaret Wynnesbury (wife of Sir Fulk Sprenchose) and her four daughters are named and Mary is the only unmarried daughter. The Sandford of Up Rossall pedigree (Visitation of Shropshire 1623, p. 432) shows an unnamed daughter of Sir Fulk Sprenchose as the wife of “Thomas Acton of Longnor”; this works chronologically and explains why Thomas did not marry Jane Lingen until circa 1501.
[2] ‘Collectanea Archaeologica’, VOL I, pp. 225-226 (1862)
[3] ‘Heraldic Visitations of Wales and Part of the Marches Between the Years 1586 and 1613’, VOL 2, p. 242, by Lewys Dwnn (1846)
Will Acton
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