Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
NameWilliam West Lord de la Warre 
[60, DelaWarr art, Vol IV, p. 139 seq], [54, His own co-article], [56, Hants of 1530, '75 & 1622-34, pub Harleian 1913, West p. 59]
[60, DelaWarr art, Vol IV, p. 139 seq], [54, His own co-article], [56, Hants of 1530, '75 & 1622-34, pub Harleian 1913, West p. 59]Birthbef 1520
Death30 Dec 1595
General1st s. New Lord De La Warr: 5 Feb 1570.
FatherSir George West (-1538)
MotherElizabeth Morton
DNB Main notes for William West Lord de la Warre
Co-subject: West, William, first (or tenth) Baron De La Warr
Dates: 1519?-1595
Active Date: 1559
Gender: Male
Article
De La Warr, having no children, had adopted as his heir, at some date after 1540, William West, son and heir of Sir George West of Warbleton, Sussex. Sir George was De La Warr's younger half-brother by his father's second wife, Eleanor Copley (Collins, Peerage, v. 16). According to Dugdale, William West was bred up by De La Warr in his own house; but ‘being not content to stay till his uncle's natural death, prepared poison to dispatch him quickly’ (Baronage, ii. 141). De La Warr thereupon brought in a bill of attainder to disinherit West. The record of De La Warr's attendances in the House of Lords during November 1549, when the bill passed the lords, confirms this (Lords' Journals). The bill was apparently thrown out by the commons, a new bill being introduced on 9 Jan. 1550. On 23 Jan. West, who had been imprisoned in the Tower, was brought to the bar of the house. ‘He clearly denied the fact, but confessed his hand to be at the confession, which he did for fear.’ Witnesses were called, the house considered his guilt proved, and the bill was passed two days later. It is possible that religious animosities played some part in this case. At any rate, it is certain that De La Warr not only forgave West but left him 350l. a year for life, a house in London, and his manors of Offington and Ewhurst (see West's statement in State Papers, Dom. Eliz. iii. 39).
It is evident that during Edward VI's reign De La Warr retained his religious convictions so far as they were consistent with his personal security. On 29 Sept. 1550 he denounced a Sussex clergyman to the privy council for irreverent language about the sacrament (Acts of Privy Council). On 14 April 1551 he was nominated, jointly with Lord Arundel, lord lieutenant of Sussex (ib.), probably through Warwick's influence. But when, as Duke of Northumberland, that peer proclaimed Lady Jane Grey, De La Warr declared for Mary. His loyalty was rewarded by a grant of two hundred marks per annum and nomination to the privy council (Rymer, Federa, xv. 352). He died in October 1554. Henry Machyn [q.v.] the diarist, a political sympathiser, speaks of him as ‘the good Lord De La Warr,’ and describes him as ‘the best howssekeeper in Sussex’ (Diary, p. 71). His funeral was sumptuous (ib.). He was buried at Broadwater, near Offington, close to the magnificent tomb he had erected there to his father. His monument in that church also survives. The ‘powr chapell to be buryed in’ which he had originally destined for himself at Boxgrove is another splendid specimen of Tudor art. In it was buried his wife, who predeceased him, it being near her ancestral domain of Halnaker. A poetical epitaph, composed in his honour by his friend Henry Parker, lord Morley, is printed in Wood's ‘Fasti,’ i. 117.
West's nephew, William West, first (or tenth) Baron De La Warr 1519?-1595, who had been adopted by his uncle, and by act of parliament in 1549-50 was disabled from all honours on the ground that ‘he, being not content to stay till his uncle's natural death, prepared poison to despatch him quickly,’ was none the less on 10 April 1563 restored in blood, and on 5 Feb. 1569-70 is believed to have been created by patent Baron De La Warr; he was summoned to parliament by writs from 8 May 1572 to 19 Feb. 1591-2, and sat on the trials of the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Arundel; he died on 30 Dec. 1595; and a portrait of him, attributed to Holbein, was exhibited at Kensington in 1868 (Cat. Third Loan Exhib. No. 629). His son Thomas, second or eleventh baron, claimed the precedency of his great-uncle's ancient barony, which the House of Lords, by a decision of very doubtful legality, granted (see G. E. C[okayne], Complete Peerage, iii. 48-9n.). The second or eleventh baron died on 24 March 1601-2, leaving, besides other issue, Thomas West, third or twelfth baron De La Warr [q.v.], Francis West [q.v.], John (d. 1659?), and Nathaniel, all of whom went to Virginia and took part in its government (see Brown, Genesis U.S.A., ii. 1047-8).
Dates: 1519?-1595
Active Date: 1559
Gender: Male
Article
De La Warr, having no children, had adopted as his heir, at some date after 1540, William West, son and heir of Sir George West of Warbleton, Sussex. Sir George was De La Warr's younger half-brother by his father's second wife, Eleanor Copley (Collins, Peerage, v. 16). According to Dugdale, William West was bred up by De La Warr in his own house; but ‘being not content to stay till his uncle's natural death, prepared poison to dispatch him quickly’ (Baronage, ii. 141). De La Warr thereupon brought in a bill of attainder to disinherit West. The record of De La Warr's attendances in the House of Lords during November 1549, when the bill passed the lords, confirms this (Lords' Journals). The bill was apparently thrown out by the commons, a new bill being introduced on 9 Jan. 1550. On 23 Jan. West, who had been imprisoned in the Tower, was brought to the bar of the house. ‘He clearly denied the fact, but confessed his hand to be at the confession, which he did for fear.’ Witnesses were called, the house considered his guilt proved, and the bill was passed two days later. It is possible that religious animosities played some part in this case. At any rate, it is certain that De La Warr not only forgave West but left him 350l. a year for life, a house in London, and his manors of Offington and Ewhurst (see West's statement in State Papers, Dom. Eliz. iii. 39).
It is evident that during Edward VI's reign De La Warr retained his religious convictions so far as they were consistent with his personal security. On 29 Sept. 1550 he denounced a Sussex clergyman to the privy council for irreverent language about the sacrament (Acts of Privy Council). On 14 April 1551 he was nominated, jointly with Lord Arundel, lord lieutenant of Sussex (ib.), probably through Warwick's influence. But when, as Duke of Northumberland, that peer proclaimed Lady Jane Grey, De La Warr declared for Mary. His loyalty was rewarded by a grant of two hundred marks per annum and nomination to the privy council (Rymer, Federa, xv. 352). He died in October 1554. Henry Machyn [q.v.] the diarist, a political sympathiser, speaks of him as ‘the good Lord De La Warr,’ and describes him as ‘the best howssekeeper in Sussex’ (Diary, p. 71). His funeral was sumptuous (ib.). He was buried at Broadwater, near Offington, close to the magnificent tomb he had erected there to his father. His monument in that church also survives. The ‘powr chapell to be buryed in’ which he had originally destined for himself at Boxgrove is another splendid specimen of Tudor art. In it was buried his wife, who predeceased him, it being near her ancestral domain of Halnaker. A poetical epitaph, composed in his honour by his friend Henry Parker, lord Morley, is printed in Wood's ‘Fasti,’ i. 117.
West's nephew, William West, first (or tenth) Baron De La Warr 1519?-1595, who had been adopted by his uncle, and by act of parliament in 1549-50 was disabled from all honours on the ground that ‘he, being not content to stay till his uncle's natural death, prepared poison to despatch him quickly,’ was none the less on 10 April 1563 restored in blood, and on 5 Feb. 1569-70 is believed to have been created by patent Baron De La Warr; he was summoned to parliament by writs from 8 May 1572 to 19 Feb. 1591-2, and sat on the trials of the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Arundel; he died on 30 Dec. 1595; and a portrait of him, attributed to Holbein, was exhibited at Kensington in 1868 (Cat. Third Loan Exhib. No. 629). His son Thomas, second or eleventh baron, claimed the precedency of his great-uncle's ancient barony, which the House of Lords, by a decision of very doubtful legality, granted (see G. E. C[okayne], Complete Peerage, iii. 48-9n.). The second or eleventh baron died on 24 March 1601-2, leaving, besides other issue, Thomas West, third or twelfth baron De La Warr [q.v.], Francis West [q.v.], John (d. 1659?), and Nathaniel, all of whom went to Virginia and took part in its government (see Brown, Genesis U.S.A., ii. 1047-8).