William Burley, Speaker of the House of Commons

- 1458

• Name	William Burley
  Suffix	Speaker of the House of Commons
  Gender	Male
  Death	10 Aug 1458  [1]
  Alternate death	1459  [2]
  Person ID	I16190	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of TSW
  Last Modified	12 Aug 2018

  
  

  Father	John Burley,   b. of Broncroft in Corvedale, Shropshire, England d. Bef 18 Feb 1416
  Mother	Juliana
  Marriage	Bef 1397  [1]
  Family ID	F9950	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Ellen Grendon
  Children	+ 1. Joan Burley   d. 1505
  Family ID	F9948	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	12 Aug 2018

  
  

• Notes

  Knight of the shire for Shropshire, 1417, 1419, 1420, May 1421, 1422, 1425, 1427, 1429, 1431, 1432, 1433, 1435, 1437, 1437, 1439, 1442, 1445, Nov 1449, 1450, 1455. Sheriff of Shropshire 15 Jan 1426 - 12 Dec 1426. Speaker of the House of Commons 19 Mar 1437 - 27 Mar 1437, 1445. He was not, as stated in the 1885-1900 DNB and repeated on his Wikipedia page, a great-great nephew of Sir Simon Burley (executed 1388). This William Burley's History of Parliament entry notes that the William Burley who was in fact Simon Burley's great-great-nephew "was a minor at the time of the death of his father, John, in 1428, and died in 1445 only a few months after attaining his majority." In addition, a footnote to the HoP entry for this William Burley's father John observes that "It is unlikely that he was the John, 4th or 5th son of Sir John Burley KG, of Burley, Herefordshire, brother of Sir Richard Burley KG (d. 1387), and nephew of the famous Sir Simon Burley KG, who was executed by the Lords Appellant in 1388, if only because of his marked attachment to one of those Lords, Richard, earl of Arundel." From the 1885-1900 Dictionary of National Biography: BURLEY, WILLIAM (fl. 1436), speaker of the House of Commons, was the son of John Burley of Bromcroft Castle, high sheriff of Salop in 1409. [...] In 1417 William Burley was first elected a knight of the shire for Salop. In the returns of the next twenty-four parliaments his name is to he found as one of the members of this county no less than eighteen times. The last parliament in which he was returned was that which was summoned to meet at Westminster on 9 July 1455. He was chosen speaker of the House of Commons on 19 March 1436, in the place of Sir John Tyrrel, kt., who was compelled by illness to retire from the chair. In the following parliament William Tresham was elected speaker; however, on 26 Feb. 1444 Burley was again voted to the chair, and continued to preside over the house until the dissolution of that parliament. Little is known either of his domestic or political life. In 1426 he executed the office of sheriff of Salop. He died without male issue, leaving two daughters and coheiresses, the eldest of whom married, first, Sir Philip Chetwynd of Ingestrie, and, secondly, Sir Thomas Lyttelton, the author of the Tenures. From this last marriage the recent Barons Lyttelton and Hatherton are descended. The youngest daughter, Elizabeth, married Sir Thomas Trussel of Billesley, Warwickshire.

  
  

• Sources

  [S47] The History of Parliament. Some citations point to entries from the printed volumes not yet added to the online site. [S76] The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004-ongoing.