Person:William Dalton (18)

A 14th CENTURY ROYAL SERVANT: WILLIAM DALTON, by Michael Cayley

The earliest Dalton for whom there are fairly full records is Sir Robert Dalton, who dominates the opening pages of Part I of Mrs Leaning's Dalton Book. Sir Robert was closely associated with Thomas, Duke of Lancaster, whose efforts to separate Edward II from his favourites led to his own downfall, and to Sir Robert's subsequent imprisonment in 1322. Sir Robert was subsequently released, and gained the favour of Edward III, becoming Keeper of the King's Woods at Blackburn Chase, and in 1343, Constable of the Tower of London.

Given Sir Robert's own enjoyment of royal favour, it is scarcely surprising that one of Sir Robert's sons was able to enjoy a successful career in what was to develop over the centuries into the civil service. The son was William Dalton, and the following account of his career is based mainly on information about him in a 1993 publication of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society - Beverley Minster Fasti. (The publications of county archaeological societies often include transcripts and translations of documents and records of great value to genealogists, and the Yorkshire society has been particularly active in making such items available.) The Fasti were the official register of Beverley Minster, and William Dalton features in them because he held office there.

Like many medieval career officers of the crown and great lords, William was a clerk in holy orders. His official career took him to positions of considerable influence. By 1336 he was clerk of the Great Wardrobe. Probably he started in a lower - and probably more informal - role before that. He became Cofferer of the Great Wardrobe in 1338, and was Controller from 1344 to 1350. William appears to have been unaffected by the cloud which hung over his family following the abduction of Margery de la Bèche by Sir John de Dalton and others in 1345 (see page 9ff. of Part I of the Leaning Book): whereas his father was briefly imprisoned, there seems to have been no interruption to William's career. Clearly there was no possibility that William was directly implicated, and he must have been high in royal favour. It is quite possible that William's intervention helped to shield the family from further punishment, although there is no direct evidence for this.

In 1351 - with, I assume, royal encouragement - William began three years' study at Oxford, though he never took a degree. According to the Yorkshire Archaeological Society publication, he became Keeper of the Great Wardrobe in 1353, a position he held until 1358: but this conflicts with the list of Keepers in the Handbook of British Chronology (3rd edition published in 1986 by University College, London for the Royal Historical Society), which shows John Buckingham and William Retford successively occupying the post in these years. I am not sure which is right, but suspect the Handbook is more likely to be correct as its list is based on extensive earlier research. At the least, William was occupying one of the top posts in the Wardrobe. He is recorded as still being "king's clerk" in 1361, and he was clearly being rewarded by Edward III for services after that. What was the "Wardrobe"? As often with the royal household, the name bears little relation to the function. The Wardrobe was the administrative heart of the monarchy. The Keeper - its most senior officer - headed the royal treasury and secretariat - a sort of (in today's UK terms) super permanent secretary in the civil service. The Controller was the Keeper's Deputy, and the Cofferer was third in rank. These were posts of substantial power, and in the fourteenth century they were occupied by clerks in holy orders. (In the following century Keeper and Controller were generally knights or barons, though the Cofferer - who oversaw the clerical functions of the household - remained customarily an ecclesiastic.)

The main way a monarch rewarded a loyal servant in holy orders was through profitable ecclesiastical appointments, the duties of which would commonly have been performed by someone he either paid or allowed to keep some of the perquisites of the post. Plural livings were the norm for the higher officials. Accordingly we find William simultaneously occupying a number of ecclesiastical posts across the land. Some of these are likely to have been in his own father's gift. This is almost certainly true of one of the first livings for which there appear to be records: by 1339 he was rector of South Dalton. Before that, from 1337 to 1338, he was rector of the moiety of Eckington in the diocese of Chester and Lincoln. In 1341 he added to the South Dalton rectorate being rector of Brigham in Cumberland, and from then on ecclesiastical appointments multiplied. The easiest thing is just to list them:

- From 1342 until at least 1353, prebend of the Royal Free Chapel at Hastings.

- From 1343 to 1367, prebend (member of the chapter) of Lincoln.

- From 1345, rector of Houghton-le-Spring in the diocese of Durham.

- By 1347, prebend of the Royal Free Chapel at Bridgnorth, Shropshire.

- From 1347 to 1353 or 1354, sacrist at Beverley Minster (hence his name in the Minster Fasti): Adam de Heselwick became rector of South Dalton in that year, so probably the two of them arranged a swap. (The sacrist's official duties were to look after the vestments, relics and other treasures of a religious establishment. William would have arranged for one of the clerics or retainers at Beverley to undertake the doubtless often tedious real work of the office.)

- From 1349 to 1358, prebend of St Andrew's, Auckland, in the diocese of Durham.

- From 1363, canon at York and prebend of Knaresborough.

- From 1367, prebend of Wimborne in the diocese of Salisbury.

In addition, at some point he became vicar of Bulwell in Nottinghamshire.

The number of these appointments is a confirmation of the importance of the role William Dalton filled. They would have brought him a comfortable income, which would have been supplemented by other perquisites of office. William died in 1371, six years before the royal master to whose service he had devoted himself.

1. ↑ Birth year estimated based on his career and estimated birth years of his father and older brother John (assuming he is in the correct family).