General Notes

Sir William Tailboys (or Talboys), Knight, son of 1st unkown wife (received none of the inheritance of Alice Stafford), Lord Kyme, knighted 19 Feb 1460/1, b. c 1415, beheaded 26 May 1464; m. Elizabeth Bonville, d. 14 Feb 1490/1, daughter of Sir William, Lord Bonville, KG, d. 1461 and (1) wife Margaret Grey.  [Ancestral Roots]

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BARONY OF KYME (VII)

SIR WILLIAM TAILBOYS, of Kyme, co. Lincoln, de jure LORD KYME, son and heir, born circa 1415, being aged 28 at his father's death. He had licence, 8 January 1444, for an oratory within his dwelling in the diocese of Lincoln. He is called the "King's esquire" 7 June 1444, when Harbottle Castle was restored to him. From 1441 onwards he was a justice of the Peace in Lincolnshire and in Northumberland. He supported Croyland Abbey in a dispute with Thomas Dacre concerning Whaplode. Here, and later, in official records, up to 1460, he is called "esquire," but, apparently in consequence of having inherited the castle and estate of Kyme, he was generally known as the "Earl of Kyme." He gave a release, 2 April 1446, as Lord of Reddesdale and of Kyme. In 1448 he and his servants were charged with many outrages in Lincolnshire, and he was imprisoned in the Marshalsea, his pardon being procured by the Duke of Suffolk, whose adherent. he was. On 10 October 1449 he was appointed a Commissioner in an inquiry in co. Lincoln. Later he was accused of having made an attempt to murder Ralph, Lord Cromwell, in the Star Chamber at Westminster on 28 November 1449. On 18 February 1458/9 be was appointed a Commissioner of Array in Lincolnshire and on 19 February 1460/1 was knighted at the battle of St. Albans, where, as at Towton on 29 March following, he fought on the Lancastrian side. On 14 May 1461 the new King, Edward IV, ordered Kyme and other manors of William Tailboys, knight, to be taken into his hand, the said William being a rebel and adherent of the King's enemies of France and Scotland. On 26 June following he took part in a Lancastrian assembly in Durham and in August was with Queen Margaret in Scotland. On 4 November 1461 he was attainted, whereby all his honours became forfeited. He was Captain of Alnwick Castle for Henry VI when it was besieged in July 1462, and surrendered it on condition of life and property being spared. He fought on the Lancastrian side at the battle of Hexham, 15 May 1464, and, escaping after the defeat, was captured in a coal pit near Newcastle (or in Redesdale, according to one account) towards the end of the month, and beheaded.

He married Elizabeth, daughter of William, LORD BONVILLE. He died at Newcastle-on-Tyne, circa 26 May 1464, and was buried in the Grey Friars at Newcastle. His widow, who was allowed one-third of his lands in December 1464, died 14 February 1490/1. [Complete Peerage VII:359-61, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]