WORCESTERSHIRE MAGISTRATES IN 1483.
The following are the names in the Commission of the Peace and of Oyer and Terminer for the county of Worcester, dated December 5th, 1st Richard III, as they occur on the patent rolls of that year:
- J., Bishop of Worcester.
- John, Duke of Norfolk.
- John Sutton de Dudley, Knight.
- Richard Ratcliff, Knight.
- Humphry Starky, Knight.
- Thomas Tremayle.
- William Catesby, Esquire, of the Royal Body.
- William Littleton.
- Humphrey Stafford.
- Roger Harwell.
- Thomas Lygon.
- William Lygon.
- Robert Handy.
- Robert Russell.
The Bishop here mentioned was John Alcock, who was Lord Chancellor in the reign of Henry VII; Humphrey Starky was Lord Chief Baron in the reign of Richard III; and Thomas Tremayle, a King's Serjeant, and afterwards a Judge.
It is worthy of observation, that at this period the Commission of Oyer and Terminer under which the criminal business of the Assizes is still transacted was not separated from the Commission of the Peace; and the very small number of Magistrates is accounted for by the fact of so much of what is now business at the Quarter Sessions, and before Magistrates, going to the Sheriff's Torn and the Courts Leet, of which Courts the Sheriff's Torn was the most important.