Woolverstone/Wolferston, one of the daughters and coheirs of Roger
Woolverstone of Suffolk. Various sources (eg Copinger) touch upon
this family, who are ancestral to the current Pipe-Wolferstans of BLG
et al, but I have not found one which fleshes out the earlier
generations satisfactorily. Conversely, much of the internet-
genealogy of this family is demonstrably wrong.
The first of the family to come to prominence was Roger de Wolferston,
who was escheator of Suffolk by 1359 (Cal. Patent Rolls, 24 May 1359)
and apparently of Hertfordshire and of Norfolk also (Cal. PR, 1 July
1358, June 1366). He acquired the manor of Culpho in Norfolk in 1363
(Berkeley Muniments), and afterwards frequently acted as a feoffee and
benefactor to religious houses in East Anglia. Various PROCAT
documents record his own Suffolk land-holdings in Bergholt,
Woolverstone and Little Wenham. From 1390 he is often referred to as
"Roger de Wolferston, senior" (e.g. Iveagh (Phillipps) MSS, Suffolk
RO) - thus predicating the existance of a Roger de W junior.
From PROCAT we see (E326/2291) details of his wife and his death date:
"Grant by the Prior of the Charterhouse of a monk to pray for Roger de
Wolferston and Beatrice his wife, and also for Richard, Alice and
Benet de Cokefield. Note at the end of the deed that Roger died 3
August 22 Richard II (1398)"
The first clear reference to Roger de Wolferston the younger that I
have located is from the Patent Rolls of 23 July 1397, where he is
named in a commission in relation to a recent treasure-trove discovery
at Bury St Edmunds. He was already married by that time to Elizabeth,
daughter and heir of Robert Fitz Ralph and Elizabeth Holbrook;
Elizabeth, according to Cal. Inq. Misc, Vol VIII, p 15, was born circa
1374, and her eldest surviving child was born circa 1393.
A history of Freston alleges that Roger presented to that living in
1395 and 1400; clearly he was dead by 1418, when his wife's IPM is
dated. His heirs were his three daughters: Beatrice (c1393),
Elizabeth (c1401) and Anne (c1403).
How were these two Roger de Wolferstons related? A potential clue
appears in the 1418 IPM for Elizabeth, wife of Roger the younger (Cal.
IPMs, Vol XXI, #264). Her lands at Woolverstone, Holbrook, East
Bergholt "etc" were said to descend to one Thomas Wolferston and his
heirs male - i.e. it seems likely that she retained dower in her
husband's ancestral estates, which passed by remainder to his heir
male, Thomas, rather than to his daughters. Thomas is ancestral to
the Pipe-Wolferstans, and is often stated to be a son of Roger, but we
know from the Cal. Inq. Misc. reference that this was not the case: he
left three daughters and coheirs, and no son [unless of course he were
illegitimate and the subject of a special remainder].
We can, however, likely place this Thomas in relation to Roger the
elder: a deed dated 17 May 1392 in the Sandford of the Isles papers at
the Shropshire Record Office (465/66) records an agreement between
"Henry de Wynesbury and Roger de Wolferston, Thomas son of Roger, and
Margaret his wife, daughter of Henry"; this is probably part of the
latter's marriage settlement. Given that Thomas was the son of Roger
the elder, and heir male of Roger the younger, and that the younger
Roger seems to have held similar lands as Roger the elder, it seems
probable that Roger the younger was the son and heir of Roger the
elder. Thus would produce a stemma as follows:
1. Roger de Wolferston, ff 1358; died 3 August 1398; married
Beatrice. Issue:
2a. Roger de Wolferston the younger; ff c1393-1402; married Elizabeth
Fitz Ralph, died c1418. Issue:
3a. Beatrice de Wolferston, born c1393; married Thomas Frankton (see
HoP sub William Freville)
3b. Elizabeth de Wolferston, born circa 1401; married William Tendring
3c. Anne de Wolferston, born circa 1403; married William Freville, MP
2b. Thomas de Wolferston, ff 1392-1418; married Margaret de Winsbury
MA-R