♂William de Duston

William de Duston (died before 1 May 1255) was an English landholder who held land of the king in Northamptonshire. He died leaving three daughters under age as his heirs, and their wardship passed to Walter de Grey, Archbishop of York^W, who married all three and gave each her share of the inheritance. He was the twenty-second great-grandfather of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006) by two separate lines of descent, both through his daughter Isabel de Duston (died after 1276).

Land

William de Duston, also written de Dustune, held tenements of the king in chief^W in Northamptonshire, and he is said to have been of Duston, the village just west of Northampton. His inheritance also took in a rent of 100 shillings at Ditton in Kent. A lady named Scrangia, who had once held the manor of Aylesford, had given that rent to a William de Duston in free marriage^W with “a certain maid” of her household, free of service until the fourth generation. The jurors who later described the gift called that William the grandfather of Isabel, so the marriage may belong to the generation before him.

Death and his daughters

William died before 1 May 1255, the day the archbishop died. His three daughters, Isabel, Roesia and Joan, were all under age. Because he had held land of the king in chief, their wardship fell first to the king, Henry III; it afterwards passed to the archbishop, who arranged the marriages of all three. Isabel, the eldest, was married to the archbishop’s nephew Walter de Grey of Rotherfield. Roesia appears as Roesia de Vylli, and Joan, the third daughter, was married to Mauger le Vavasur.

An inquest was taken in William’s name in April 1271, more than fifteen years after his death, to settle who held the Ditton rent. By then Joan was dead, leaving an heir of full age, and the archbishop’s division had given the whole rent to Isabel. The Duston inheritance stayed in her line: under Edward II her great-grandson John de Grey, Lord of Rotherfield, traced his right to the advowson^W of St James, Northampton, back to “Isabel, daughter and heir of William de Duston, his great-grandmother”.

Lines of descent

Both lines run through his daughter Isabel, her son Robert de Grey (died 1295) and her grandson John de Grey (1266–1311). One comes down through Thomas Dudley^W (1576–1653), later governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, to Nathaniel Dudley (1763–1844); the other reaches Nathaniel’s wife, Anna Smith (1764–1825). The two lines meet again in their daughter Sarah Dudley (1795–1839).

Notes

The inquest of 1271

The inquest on “William de Duston alias de Dustune” followed a writ of 19 April and was taken on the morrow of St George, 55 Henry III (24 April 1271), in Kent (Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, vol. 1, no. 760). It found a rent of 100s. at Ditton held of the king in chief, which “one Scrangia, who sometime held the manor of Ayllesford … gave … to William de Duston, grandfather of Isabel de Grey, in free marriage with a certain maid (domicilla) of hers, without service, until it should come to the 4th degree”. It goes on: “he had 3 daughters his heirs, who were under age when their father died, whose wardship the king had by reason of tenements which the said William held of him in chief in co. Northampton. Walter, sometime archbishop of York, who afterwards had the wardship of the heirs, married them, and assigned to each her share of the inheritance”. Isabel, “the eldest daughter, who was married to Walter de Grey”, held two thirds of the rent, her own and the third that “Roesia de Vylli … the said Isabel her sister” acknowledged was hers; the last third was in the king’s hands because “Joan, the third daughter, married to Mauger le Vavathur, never came to make any acknowledgement, and died leaving an heir of full age”. The calendar’s “grandfather” clashes with the rest of the inquest, with the petition of Isabel’s great-grandson (The National Archives, SC 8/17/838) and with the Complete Peerage, which all make Isabel William’s daughter; whether the marriage gift was made to this William or to an earlier one cannot be settled from the calendar.

Date of death

No record gives the day William died. The inquest says that the archbishop “afterwards had the wardship of the heirs”, so William died before the archbishop, Walter de Grey, who died on 1 May 1255.

Duston and Roesia

The Complete Peerage (2nd ed., vol. 6, p. 144) calls Isabel the “eld. da. and coh. of William de Duston, of Duston, co. Northampton”, and the manor of Duston was later held by her Grey descendants. Burke’s peerage of 1869 makes him “Sir William de Duston, of Duston” and has his daughter Rose marry Sir John D’Oyly; the inquest’s “Roesia de Vylli” may be the same name.

An earlier William de Duston

A plea of Trinity term 1224 (8 Henry III), printed in Collections for a History of Staffordshire, vol. 4, has Joan, widow of Henry son of Ralph, suing a William de Duston for dower in two carucates of land in Duston. William produced a charter by which King Richard had restored the land to his father, William son of Walkeline. Nothing in the records joins that William to this one beyond the name and the place.