Richard Quartermayne

Citations

1. [S490] Thame, Oxfordshire, England Local History Research Group, Local History: Richard Quartermain
   
   , The Quartermain family (whose name is spelt in many ways, but consistently as 'Quartermain' here) were a long standing local family, dating back in their ancestral seat at North Weston to at least 1161 and possibly to the Domesday Book, written in 1086.
   Richard Quartermain was born in 1392 and was a third son, not expected to inherit the family estate. Consequently he was trained in the law and business.
   Due to the death of his brothers, however, Richard inherited the family estate, including the ancestral home at North Weston. In 1415, through his marriage to Sybil Englefield, he also inherited the manor of Rycote.
   His early career was spent in London, and in 1421 his business affairs led him to appeal against a decision taken by the court of the Mayor of London, Richard Whittington, which he termed a 'manifest error in the record and judgement'. This was indeed a case of 'think again Dick Whittington!'.
   In 1422, Richard Quartermain was appointed by King Henry V as the Customs officer for the Port of London, which required him to supervise in person the trade of the port during the twenty four years he held the post.
   He nonetheless served on many Royal Commissions relating to affairs of state and of law in Oxfordshire during that time.
   King Henry VI came to the throne in 1422, but he was only six months old. England's fortunes declined at home and abroad during the young King's reign, and Richard Quartermain became engaged in efforts both to keep the peace at home and to raise subsidies to fund the wars with France.
   Richard Quartermain served as Member of Parliament for Oxfordshire in 1432 and 1433, and in 1434 he was appointed to a commissioner to receive the oaths of the notable people of Oxfordshire that they would not support law-breakers. Things were not going well for England in France, and support for the child King at home was not strong.
   In 1436 Richard became High Sheriff of Oxfordshire and also a commissioner charged with inducing the people of Oxfordshire to lend a large sum of money to the young King to fund the war with France. Richard Duke of York was now to lead the campaign, and this was the start of a close bond between Richard Quartermain and the House of York.
   Richard's role in the Customs of London came to and end in 1445, and he received a good reward for his long service. He was now 53 years old and free to concentrate on matters closer to home.
   In 1447 Richard and Sybil Quartermain founded the Guild of St Christopher at Thame, and endowed the town's first alms houses. Within the terms of the license granted to the Guild of St Christopher, a hermitage was to be set up at Tetsworth, along with a Chapel of Devotion dedicated to St John the Baptist. The hermit was to be employed repairing the road between Stokenchurch and Wheatley, which had long been in need of repair.
   A new Chapel was consecrated at Rycote in 1449, along with a Chantry dedicated to St Michael. Rycote Chapel remains a magnificent monument to the works of Richard Quartermain, but his residence at Rycote was later demolished to make way for the Tudor mansion built on the site.
   In 1454 Richard Quartermain became High Sheriff of Oxfordshire once more. The Wars of the Roses began soon afterwards, and with the eventual victory of the House of York, in the person of King Edward IV, Richard was called into royal service again.
   A commission was given authority over the river Thame from Nether Winchenden to Waterperry and on to Dorchester in 1468, possibly with a view to flood protection. Richard Quartermain served on this commission, along with Sir Richard Harcourt, William Marmion, Humfrey Foster, William Fowler and Richard Fowler.
   Richard Fowler was the great nephew of Sybil Quartermain and became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1473. Whilst the Quartermains lived at Rycote, Richard Fowler lived at the Quartermain family's ancestral home at North Weston.
   In 1471 Richard Quartermain and John Giffard were appointed to a Commission of Array in Oxfordshire, at a time when several Lancastrian supporters within the county were being arrested. They arrested Peter Marmion and Richard D'Oilly.
   At the age of 79, Richard Quartermain again became Member of Parliament for Oxfordshire in 1472, at a time when King Edward IV was bringing about the financial reform of the English monarchy, enabling it to live off its own revenue and not have to depend on subsidies and loans such as those Richard Quartermain had striven to raise in his younger days.
   As part of this process, Richard Quartermain, as the 'King's Councillor' and Richard Fowler, as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, were charged with inquiring into the value of certain royal possessions, including Windsor Castle, in 1476.
   After a lifetime of service to Henry V, Henry VI and Edward IV, and to the people of Thame and district, through such things as the Guild of St Christopher, the alms houses, the maintenance of the highways and the management of the river, this remarkable man died in 1477. He was buried in Thame's St Mary's Church.
   Richard and Sybil Quartermain had no surviving children and the estate at Rycote passed to Richard Fowler.
2. [S491] Thame, Oxfordshire, England Local History Research Group, Local History of Rycote, Rycote is best known today as being the location of Rycote Chapel, a fifteenth century chapel built by Richard Quartermain and used by most of the Tudor and Stewart monarchs on their visits to the nearby Rycote Palace.
   The palace has now gone, although part of its former outbuildings have been converted into a private house.
   Also no longer to be seen is the former village of Rycote. The Domesday Book of 1086 records a manorial holding at Rycote, with Geoffrey de Mandeville the principal holder. The village was not large, but there were around thirty acres of meadowland.
   The name Rycote is Anglo Saxon and indicates a small group of dwellings amongst fields of rye. If the village's origins were humble, following the Norman Conquest Rycote took on a more important role.
   Geoffrey de Mandeville was an important ally to King William during the Norman Conquest, and was rewarded with over a hundred lordships, of which Rycote was one. His descendants were based in Essex, and became Earls of Essex.
   We may speculate that Geoffrey de Mandeville, and his descendants, constructed a manor house and possibly a stronghold at Rycote. The road from Oxford to London could be controlled from Rycote.
   Rycote remained in the de Mandeville family until the thirteenth century, when it passed to Fulk de Rycote, Sheriff of Oxford. In the fourteenth century, Joanna de Rycote married Nicholas Englefield.
   Sybil Englefield married Richard Quartermain, who built Rycote Chapel. At this time, the chapel served the local villagers and the people at the adjacent manor house, including guests passing from Oxford to London.
   The manor house in which Richard Quartermain lived was demolished to make way for the Tudor palace at Rycote constructed in the sixteenth century. It must have been a significant dwelling and may have dated back to the eleventh century.
   The Tudor palace at Rycote became an important royal residence, and King Henry VIII spent part of his fifth honeymoon there. King Henry was a very keen hunter, and that fact gives us some clue to what happened to the village at Rycote.
   During the sixteenth century many small communities were depopulated as their lords turned over the land to sheep or deer. Rycote had in fact developed into two communities, known as Rycote Magna and Rycote Parva, but both of them have now gone.
   It may have been the aftermath of the Black Death, or the creation of Rycote Park, or some combination of the two, but by the time that Lord Williams took up residence at Rycote the villagers had gone.
   Today, Rycote Chapel is owned by English Heritage, and is not always open to the public. The land on which the manor house and Tudor palace stood is now strictly private, but a public right of way, officially designated the Oxfordshire Way, runs from nearby Albury, alongside Rycote Chapel, through the woodland and over Lubbersdown Hill, now the Oxfordshire Golf Club.
   This public right of way is part of the ancient road from Oxford to London, it took travellers from Wheatley Bridge to Tetsworth and would have seen the royal entourage pass along it on many occasions.
3. [S492] Thame, Oxfordshire, England Local History Research Group, Local History: Thame - 15th Century Period, Richard Quartermain was a significant fifteenth century benefactor of Thame. His family had held the manor of North Weston since the twelfth century.
   North Weston was not mentioned in the Domesday Book, being a part of the manor of Thame, but it later became a 'subinfeudated' manor of Old Thame. That is to say, a subsidiary manor whose lord was vested with feudal rights such as the ability to hold manorial courts.
   The Domesday manor of Rycote had passed by marriage to the steward of Richard II's household, Nicholas Englefied, in the fourteenth century.
   In 1415 Nicholas Englefield died and the manor of Rycote passed to Richard Quartermain of North Weston through his marriage to Richard Englefield's daughter Sybil.
   Richard had been trained in the Customs in London, and was throughout his life a patron of trade and commerce and a benefactor of the poor and needy.
   At Thame he endowed the original Alms House near the Church, and created the Chantry or Guild of St Christopher. The south trancept of St Mary's Church became known as St Christopher's Chapel.
   At Rycote, close to his own manor house, Richard Quartermain built a chapel and chantry, consecrated in 1449.
   Richard Quartermain died childless and left the bulk of his estate to his protégé Richard Fowler, who had risen to become Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and lived at North Weston manor house whilst the Quartermains lived at Rycote manor house.
   North Weston manor house was known as Hall Place and little of nothing of it remains today.
   Richard and Sybil Quartermain are buried in Thame Church, where their tomb is decorated with fine brasses depicting them and, it is thought, Richard Fowler.
   In 1419 another 'subinfeudated' manor is first recorded at Thame. Baldington manor was named after the Baldington family. The manor had lands in Old Thame, Moreton and North Weston and property in New Thame.
   Richard Quartermain was one of two exceptionally wealthy fifteenth century merchants within the parish of Thame, the other was Geoffrey Dormer.
   The Dormer family had long been resident in Thame and Geoffrey Dormer became a merchant of the staple of Calais. In 1473 this wealthy wool merchant is said to have bought the Baldington Manor House, also known as Place House, which was situated off what is now North Street, Thame.
   The Dormers were noted for their acquisition of land throughout the manors of Thame, and had a reputation for enclosing land much to the inconvenience of other tenants. Geoffrey Dormer, for instance, was presented in 1481 for enclosing land at Moreton.
   The manor of Baldington was passed on by Geoffrey Dormer to his son, also Geoffrey Dormer, in 1498.