John Cokayne

Notes:

Steward of the northern part of the Duchy of Lancaster.

Family/Spouse: Cecily de Vernon. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Berwardecote, Derbyshire, England

Notes:

Recorder of London, 1394; Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 1401; Justice of the Common Pleas, 1405-29; Chief Steward of the Duchy of Lancaster. He was an executor of the will of John of Gaunt, who called him in his will "chief steward of my lands."

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

Cokayne, John (d. 1429), justice, is frequently confused with his nephew, Sir John Cokayne (d. 1438) of Ashbourne in Derbyshire. Contemporary sources distinguish the two by referring to the justice as 'the elder' or 'the uncle'. He was the younger son of John Cokayne (d. 1372), chief steward of the northern parts of the duchy of Lancaster, and Cecilia Vernon (she later married Robert Ireton). His marriage, probably in the early 1380s -- the marriage had produced grandchildren by 1400 -- to Ida (d. 1426), daughter of Reynold, Lord Grey of Ruthin (d. 1388), reflected the quality of his family's connections. He must already have been well established in the legal profession when, in April 1383, the king granted him a life annuity of £15. In the following decade he was appointed to his first major legal offices: by October 1394 he was serving as recorder of London -- an office he surrendered in 1398 -- and in October 1396 he became a serjeant-at-law. By this time he had already followed the family tradition of service to the house of Lancaster, holding, as his father had done before him, the chief stewardship of the northern parts of the duchy (1398–1400). In his will of February 1398, John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, nominated Cokayne as one of his executors. Such impeccable Lancastrian connections ensured further promotion on the accession of Henry IV. In November 1400 he was appointed chief baron of the exchequer, and in May 1405 he was elevated to the bench of the common pleas. He continued to hold both offices until Henry V's accession in 1413, when he surrendered his exchequer office.

The profits of office and royal patronage -- while a justice he enjoyed the grant of several royal wardships -- enabled Cokayne to lay the landed foundations of a gentry family that was to endure for more than 300 years. By 1394 he had acquired lands at Bearwardcote in his native Derbyshire, and in 1398 he secured a life interest in the Hertfordshire manors of Almshoe, in Ippollitts, and Radwell. His major purchase, that of the Bedfordshire manor of Bury (now Cockayne) Hatley, was made in 1417; when he drew up his will on 10 February 1428 he expressed his wish to be buried in the parish church there (his altar tomb is now lost). His bequests looked back to the patrons who had made his worldly success possible: he endowed prayers for the souls of John of Gaunt, the first two Lancastrian kings, and, most interestingly, Richard II. He died on 22 May 1429, probably at Bury Hatley.

John married Ida Grey before 1394. Ida (daughter of Reynold de Grey and Eleanor le Strange) died on 1 Jun 1426; was buried in Cockayne Hatley, Bedfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Lawrence Cheyne. Lawrence (son of William Cheyne and Katherine Pabenham) was born about 1396 in of Fen Ditton, Cambridgeshire, England; died on 31 Dec 1461; was buried in Barnwell Priory, Cambridgeshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elizabeth married Philip le Boteler before 1412. Philip (son of Philip le Boteler and Elizabeth) was born about 1388 in of Watton Woodhall in Watton at Stone, Hertfordshire, England; died on 5 Nov 1420; was buried in Watton at Stone, Hertfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also spelled Cheney.

Family/Spouse: Frederick Tilney. Frederick (son of Philip Tilney and Isabel Thorpe) was born about 1420 in of Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk, England; died before 11 Nov 1446; was buried in Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: John Say. John was born in of Baas, Hertfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 14 Jul 1489

Notes:

Knight of the shire for Cambridgeshire 1449-50. Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire 1463-64, 1474-75. He was a lawyer, admitted a member of Lincoln's Inn in 1445-46.

John married Elizabeth Rempston before 1449. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1412

Notes:

Knight of the shire for Hertford, 1445-46, 1450-51. Sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire, 1450-51.

Philip married Isabel Willoughby about 1429. Isabel (daughter of Hugh Willoughby and Margaret Freville) died after 1470. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]