The Middleton Accounts of 1526: #40
- Debbie Jordan
- Jul 11
- 4 min read
The next ten entries in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in 1526 were undated but must have occurred between the 5th and 20th July due to adjacent entries. Four of these entries by text identify that they relate to the education expenses of Hugh Willoughby, Sir Henry’s youngest son, and it is thought that the others might as well because they are intermixed.
The ten entries were:
Payment for a pencase and an inkhorn for Master Hugh and the amount was 4 pence; the equivalent of about £7.35 today.
Payment for ale at Temple and the amount was 2 pence; the equivalent of about £3.68 today.
Payment for a scuttle to carry a set of vessels and the amount was also 4 pence.
Payment for 2 silver badges and the amount was also 2 pence.
Payment for an English book and the amount was 8 pence; the equivalent of about £14.71 today.
Payment for house room for one fortnight and the amount was 30 shillings; the equivalent of about £661.92 today.
A reward to the porter of the Lord Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and the amount was 12 pence; the equivalent of about £22.06 today.
Payment to the Master Principal of Staple Inn for raiment and board for Master Hugh and the amount was 10 shillings; the equivalent of about £220.64 today.
A reward to the Master Principal of Staple Inn for his pains and the amount was 6 shillings 8 pence; the equivalent of about £147.09 today.
Finally, money granted to Master Hugh for him to put in his purse and the amount was also 12 pence.
At this time Hugh was about 16 years old. In Tudor England, the sons of the gentry often left home to enter university or an Inns of Chancery between the ages of 13 to 16. Students at the Inns of Court were normally older, about 16 to 18, as the young men would have already been required to have completed their schooling beforehand.
In the Tudor era, the school terms were strictly fixed and the Inns operated solely on a legal term-by-term basis, not monthly or yearly. Furthermore, they settled the accounts for the accumulated debts of the students at the end of every term. The timing of these account entries coincides with the Trinity Term which, in 1526, ran for a fortnight from the 6th until the 20th June. This means that, for the previous month, Hugh had been studying at Staple Inn. The reason this payment was in July was because the student administrative accounts would not have been addressed until after the legal administrative work concluded. This would not have been until the end of the Octave of St John the Baptist plus four days grace, namely 5th July. Only after this would the Master have calculated the student’s itemised personal accrued bills, which would then have been dispatched by messenger to the student’s guardian.
The payments covered Hugh’s board, which would have included his daily meals and lodging within the Inn’s residential quarters. It also included raiments, which refers to the compulsory distinctive professional legal clothing all students and practitioners were required to wear. The Master of the Inn was not only responsible as an educational administrator but also was in effect a personal guardian for those in his training. The payment for “pains” was essentially for the “painstaking” labour the Master had undertaken supervising, mentoring and organising Hugh’s education. Ale at Temple would probably have referred to a meal at one of the Inns of Court, specifically Inner Temple or Middle Temple. The English book, pencase and inkhorn refer to basic legal educational supplies as legal training in the Inns involved an extensive amount of manual transcription and practice of legal handwriting. A scuttle was a large shallow wooden basket or tray. The two silver badges would have been livery badges, probably engraved with the Willoughby coat of arms and may have been worn by servants who had accompanied Hugh.
Staple Inn was an Inn of Chancery, which was viewed as a preparatory school for one of the Inns of Court. Staple Inn was specifically attached to the Inn of Court known as Gray’s Inn, of which Sir Henry was himself a member. The Inns of Chancery were used by the clerks of Chancery. Gradually their purpose changed and they became the offices and accommodation for solicitors in the same way as the Inns of Court were for barristers. Furthermore, for several centuries, the Inns of Chancery provided the initial training for the barristers before they moved to one of the Inns of Court. This training practice ceased in 1642, with the Inns of Chancery afterwards used purely by solicitors. However, once a professional body for solicitors was established in 1739, it made the Inns of Chancery redundant and over time they were dissolved.
Staple Inn was located on the south side of High Holborn Street near the junction with Chancery Lane and is dated to at least 1415. This is interesting because it is within Holborn. It is known that Sir Henry had purchased a substantial area of land in Holborn that had belonged to Malmesbury Abbey. Specifically, his land included the area adjacent to the south of High Holborn Street and included what later became John Gerard’s Garden off Fetter Lane.
In the era of Queen Elizabeth I, Staple Inn is known to have been the largest of the Inns of Chancery with 145 resident students and 69 permanent residents. It is the only Inn of Chancery to still remain as a structure, having managed to survive both the Great Fire of London and the Blitz, although it was damaged in the latter. The building was sold to the Prudential Assurance Company in 1884 and is now used as the headquarters of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.
Further Reading: W. H. Stevenson, Report on the Manuscripts of Lord Middleton, Historical Manuscripts Commission, 1911. p.383-384.
Author - Debbie Jordan, Middleton Hall Volunteer.
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