An ancestor of Timothy J. Owston, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, HH The Aga Khan, (pdf) Diana Princess of Wales, The Duchess of York, The Duchess of Kent, Lord Habgood, a previous Archbishop of York and many others.
CONSTABLE, Sir Robert (1423-88): of Somersby, Lincolnshire., and Flamborough, Yorkshire. M.P. Lincolnshire 1459; Yorkshire 1478.
Born at Holme on Spalding Moor on Easter day (4th April) 1423, son and heir of Sir Robert Constable of same (d.1441), by Agnes daughter of Sir William Gascoigne of Gawthorpe in Yorkshire, Chief Justice (see the excellent Alabaster memorial at Harewood Church) and his second wife Joan Pickering, married Agnes daughter of Sir Roger Wentworth of Nettlestead in Suffolk M.P. and his wife Margery Despencer, heiress of Nettlestead, widow of John Baron de Ros (died 1421 at Beuge), Agnes survived him and died in 1496.
Elector, Yorkshire, 1442, 1447, 1449, 1450; elector, Lincoln city, 1450; on Yorkshire, commissions, from 1444, including the array, Dec 1459: keeper of Fastolf's lands in Suffolk 1448-1453; J.P. East Riding, 16 June 1453 till death; summonded to the Great Council for Yorkshire., Apr 1455 - as a Lancastrian; pardoned by the Yorkists as "of Flamburgh esq", 6 Oct, 1455: on Lancastrian commissions, till May 1460, but knighted between 25 June 1460 and 10 May 1461 by Yorkists, and on all their commissions likewise. His brother-in-law Sir Philip Wentworth remained Lancastrian and was attainted and executed in 1464. He was probably a Percy retainer and present at the Battle of Heworth between the Nevilles and the Percy on 24 August 1453.
Sheriff, Yorkshire., and Mayor of York**, 1461-2; Sheriff, Yorkshire., 1478-9. J.P. Lindsey 16 May 1461 to 7 Sep 1470; steward of all lands in Yorkshire. and Lincolnshire forfeited by the Earl of Northumberland and Lord Ros, Aug 1461; had grant of Hessle and Howden for life; pardoned 18 May 1462. One of an embassy to Scotland, Apr 1464, and negotiating the truce with the Scots at Newcastle, Oct 1466. Sheriff, Lincolnshire, 1466-7; pardoned 1468, and Feb 1469, and again 26 Nov. 1471. The Readeption government put him on commissions. and Edward IV pardoned and employed him. He was part-owner of a pirate ship in 1473 and ordered to pay compensation for its actions in attacking Scottish shipping; elected for Yorkshire in Dec. 1477, and on all Richard III's commissions. The King appointed Sir Robert one of those to keep the border, 1484; and pardoned him as of Flamborough, alias of Somerby, Lincolnshire Sir Robert remained on the Bench through every revolution and was pardoned by the Tudors, 16 Jan 1486.
He died on the 23 May 1488; when Marmaduke, aged 31 and more, was his son and heir; lands in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. He was head of a powerful family. Sons included - Sir Marmaduke***, John, Dean of Lincoln, Sir Robert and Sir William. His daughters married Sir Thomas Metham, Sir William Eure, Sir Gervase Clifton (1483), Sir William Tyrwhitt, Sir Ralph Bigod, Sir William Scargyll and Sir Ralph Ryther.
From History of Parliament - Biographies of the members of the Commons House 1439-1509, Josias C. Wedgwood and Anne D. Holt 1936. p213.
The Lord Lieutenants and High Sheriffs of Yorkshire 1066-2000, Ed. W. M. Ormrod. Wharncliffe Books, 2000
** Mayor of York - No other record of this found.
*** Marmaduke was the 'Little Sir Marmaduke' who faught at Flodden (1513) with his sons. He captained the left wing of the army in the battle and received personal thanks from Henry VIII. He has many descendants. There is some evidence that many of his sons and nephews were also at Flodden. Sir Marmaduke the head of the family thus leading a family group to the Scottish Campaign, indeed his nephew Marmaduke Constable of Cliffe remembered local men who had gone to the Scottish wars in his Will. There is a memorial to him in Flamborough Church and the ruins of their house can be seen in a field a few yards away. He was High Sheriff of York 1480-1, 1488-9 and 1509-10, and his biography appears in Ormrod above. His son Robert was to be a leader of the disastrous 'Pilgrimage of Grace' in 1536
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