Thomas del Booth

Events 

Date of Birth: unknown.

Place of Birth: unknown.

Date of Death: 1368.

Place of Death: unknown.

The date is given by the Lancashire VCH (4: sub Barton). Thomas seems to have been murdered.

Relationships

Father: Robert del Booth.

This relationship is given in the Lancashire VCH (4: sub Barton).

Mother: Agnes.

Agnes appears as Robert’s widow in 1354 (see Robert’s page).

Spouse: Ellen de Worsley.

Thomas names his wife Ellen in his will. Dugdale’s 1664-5 visitation (p. 339) gives Ellen as the daughter of Robert de Worsley and Cicely Bramhall. Rawcliffe notes that Robert was one of Thomas’s murderers, but he remained suspicously close to Thomas’s son John throughout his life. However, the accused murderer was Robert son of Richard de Worsley, who would have been Ellen’s cousin, whereas Ellen’s father according to Dugdale was Robert son of Henry de Worsley. (KB 27/434 dorsi 11)

Children: 

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project. I am assuming that the children of “Thomas” and “Thomas del Booth” in the will below are Thomas’s. The Lancashire VCH notes that Roger is named as Thomas’s son in 1362 in the De Banco Rolls, and he is described as “Roger son of Thomas del Booth” in the will.)

William Booth

John Booth (died March 1422) married Joan Trafford.

Henry Booth (died 1446) married (1) Elizabeth; married (2) Isabel Fynderne.

Roger Booth

Alice Booth 

Margaret Booth

Agnes Booth

Richard Booth

Thomas Booth

Thurstan Booth

Robert Booth

Katherine Booth married Gilbert de Culceth.

Evidence

Thomas’s will (from Baines v. 1, p. 283, a translation of a transcription made by Sir Cecill Trafford):

In the name of God, Amen. Monday before the feast of St. Michael the Archangel [September 25], 1368. I Thomas del Booth, now living in good health, make my testament in this manner. First, I bequeath my soul to God and to the blessed Virgin Mary and to all his saints, and my body to be buried in the church of Eccles, before the altar of St. Katherine Virgin, and with my body my best beast in the name of a mortuary. Also, I leave to my [wife and ] sons William, John, and Henry, all my corn at Barton and Bradford, and all other my goods within my lordships of Barton and Bradford. Also, I leave to each of them £20 in money. I leave to my [wife and] sons William and John 16 oxen and 16 cows, and 4 of the best young heifers, and all my swine and all my sheep. I leave to the wife of Gilbert de Culche[th] £10 and 2 heifers, with 4 [blank]. I leave to the wife of John le Massy, £10. To Alice, daughter of Thomas, £20. To Margaret, daughter of Thomas, £20 towards marriage. To Agnes, sister of the said Margaret, £20. To Roger, son of Thomas del Booth, £20 and 4 oxen, 4 cows, and one horse. To Richard, son of Thomas del Booth, £10 and 4 cows and 4[?] bullocks. To Gilbert de Barton and William his son £10 and 4 bullocks [or heifers – bouecotas ? boriculas]. To Thomas son of Gilbert de Barton £10. To John de Berri, my brother, £10. To the bridge of Salford, £30, to be paid in the next three years by equal portions. To two chaplains, £66 : 13 : 4 [i.e. 100 marks], to be paid before the altar of St. Katherine, in the church of Eccles, for the soul of King Edward III., and for the soul of Roger de Hulton, and of all the benefactors of the said Thomas, to be taken for each chapel yearly 5 marks, for the ten years next following. To Thomas, son of Thomas del Booth, £30 to maintain him at school. To Roger del Heath, 10s. To the wife of William del Heath and her children, £10. To my mother, £10 and 9s. To John Ganym and his children, £10. I bequeath 30s. towards making the causeway near “Le Poll,” and “Urblache,” and “Le Barlache;” 20s. to making the bridge near the mill and the causeway; 20s. to making “the bark-platt and the salteam-plat.” To the parson of Mamcestre, “molus sifin” of silver. To John, son of — Radcliffe, another “molus syfin.” To “Sed,” 10 marks (£6 : 13 : 4). To John Botterley, chaplain, 10 marks. To Roger Flour, chaplain, 20s. To John Brunbadby, chaplain, half-a-mark (6s. 8d). To William de Fere, chaplain, 3 cows with [or in] calf. To John de Fere, one cow. To the son of Robert de Fere, one cow with calf. To John Toulay, one cow with calf. To John de Wordeley [Wardley] two heifers with calf.

Inventory of the goods of Thomas del Booth on the day on which he made his will – to wit, 30 oxen, worth £20; 30 cows, worth £20; corn at Barton and Bradford, perhaps £50; and other necessaries within my houses, worth £10; for which money ? John Bordeley, in security, by charter of the same Roger, by written statute, John de Bar of Kuerdeley of ingress. The same John de Bur [?Barton, Byron, or Bury], for the great tithes of the chapel, £47. See the back.

Endorsement: — To be paid at the feasts of St. John Baptist and the Nativity of the Blessed Mary [June 24 and September 8]. The same John de Byr[on] owes Booth for cows [? milk] and other necessaries, 9d.; and the same John owes Booth of the altarage, to be paid at Christmas, 20 marks (£13 : 6 : 8). John de Botley, Adam de Tetlow, and John Gowayn, owe Booth £30 for corn sold. Richard de Hull, Geoffrey de Newham, and Henry del Holt, owe £16 : 10s., to be paid at Christmas, for 33 “bost.” ? Richard de Hull and Geoffrey de Newham owe Booth £7 : 6s. for 29 steers. Hugh Atkinson and Adam Atkinson owe 60s. for stirks.

For the faithful execution of these things I ordain and make my executors – to wit, Sir Thomas de Wyke, rector of the church of Mamecestre; Richard, son of John de Radcliff; John his brother, and Ellen my wife. In testimony whereof I have set my seal to this will with my own hands. Given at Barton the year and day abovesaid.

Sir Cecil Trafford has written– “This is the whole will verbatim. It is indented. There was a seal on the back; but it is broke off.”

from the Lancashire VCH (v. 4: sub Barton):

John son of Gilbert de Barton in 1343 granted to Thomas del Booth and his tenants at Bickford common of pasture on Pool Moss in Barton, viz., between Pool Brook and Sandyford under Harley Cliff in Boysnope, and between the fences of Poolfields and the bounds of Worsley upon Chat Moss; Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 158b.

Thomas del Booth had claimed common of pasture as the right of his father Robert, dispossessed by Gilbert de Barton, John his son and Denise his wife, and Robert son of John; De Banco R. 334, m. 179 d. 

In 1345 John La Warre, lord of Manchester, and Joan his wife granted to Thomas son of Robert del Booth 30 acres of the waste in Barton at a rent of 10s., with remainder to John son of Emma de Bury, brother of the said Thomas; Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 157b. 

Roger La Warre, lord of Manchester, confirmed to Thomas del Booth all the lands, &c., in Barton which had descended to him from his father, and his other lands more recently acquired; ibid. fol. 160b. 

Roger La Warre in 1355, after reciting that John La Warre had granted Thomas del Booth 30 acres in Barton at a rent of 29s. 4d., and 30 acres of the waste at a rent of 10s.; and that Joan La Warre and Roger had granted to Thomas and Ellen his wife and their heirs 10 acres for the rent of 1d. during the life of Thomas and 5s. afterwards, reduced the total rent to 2d. a year for the life of Thomas and his sons Thurstan and Robert, 44s. 4d. to be paid afterwards, and granted other lands; De Trafford D. no. 219. 

The rent was in 1357 reduced to 1d. after the death of Thomas; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. iv, no. 15. 

Roger, a son of Thomas, is named in 1362; De Banco R. 418, m. 1 d.

In 1369 Ellen his widow appeared against John son of Thomas de Hulme, Robert son of Richard de Worsley, and many others, concerning her husband's death; Coram Rege R. 434, m. 11 d. 

John de Hulme was pardoned in 1384 for his share in the matter; Cal. Pat. 1381–5, p. 393.

from the Lancashire VCH (v. 4: sub Bradford):

The charter is recited in the Inq. p.m. of Sir John Booth of Barton in 1514; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. iv, 15. The grant included the manor of Barton, the manor of Bradford, the hamlets of Openshaw and Ardwick, a plot of land in Manchester called Flowerlache, and another plot called Marshal Field; a rent of £10 14s. 2d. was to be paid during Thomas's life, and 1d. afterwards. The manor of Barton was Thomas's patrimony; the remainder was a fresh grant. Thomas de Booth in 1363 granted Bradford, with its lands and water-mill, to his son John for life; Dods. MSS. cxlix, fol. 160.

References

Baines, Edward. The History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster v. 1 (1868).

Dugdale, William. The Visitation of the County Palatine of Lancaster made in the year 1664-5.  (Chetham Society v. 88, 1873).

A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4 (1911).

Payling, Simon. “Byron, Sir John I (c. 1386 - c. 1451), of Clayton, Lancashire” in The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1422-1461 (Linda Clark ed.) (University of Cambridge Press, 2020).

Rawcliffe, Carole. “Booth, Henry (d. 1446), of Arleston and Sinfin, Derbys.” in The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1386-1421 (1993). Online version.

Rawcliffe, Carole. “Booth, John I (d. 1422), of Barton, Eccles, Lancs.” in The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1386-1421 (1993). Online version.