The Middleton Accounts of 1525: #8

Debbie Jordan
Dec 23, 2025
2 min read

The next entry in the Middleton household accounts of Sir Henry Willoughby in 1525 was dated the 3rd May. It was a payment to Lady Alice Willoughby in order for her to buy “gear” (clothes) for Mistress Jane. The amount was 20 shillings, which was the equivalent of about £441.28 today or, in terms of equivalence at that time, would have been the cost of about three stones of wool or 33 days wages for a skilled tradesman.

Mistress Jane was one of Sir Henry’s daughters by his first wife Margaret Markham. She married Sir Guiscard Harbottle, Lord of Beamish, before 21st January 1502.

On 9th September 1513, Sir Guiscard died at the Battle of Flodden. In Archaeologia Aeliana, it was written that King James IV of Scotland “was challenged by Guiscard Harbottle, a young man of great strength. … By this time the Scottish left had been entirely defeated by Lord Dacre and the admiral, and the King, roused to fury, struck Guiscard Harbottle so heavy a blow with both hands on the shoulder that it descended on his side and left him lifeless on the ground”.

Jane and Guiscard had at least three children: George, who married Margaret Ogle; Eleanor, who married Sir Thomas Percy and was mother of both the 7th and 8th Earls of Northumberland; and Mary, who married Sir Edward Fitton. After Guiscard’s death the wardship of George and Mary are known to have been acquired by Sir Henry Willoughby and both children came to live at Middleton Hall. This entry in the household accounts indicates that Jane also returned to her father’s household after her husband’s death.