William Collingbourne

William Collingborn (c. 1435–1484) was an English landowner and administrator. He was an opponent of King Richard III – corresponding with his enemies and penning a famous lampoon – and was eventually executed for treason.

Collingbourne's family originated from the villages bearing their name – Collingbourn Abbas and Collingbourne Ducis in Wiltshire. His first known ancestor was a Thomas Colynborn, of Marleberg, who lived before 1377. Thomas' grandson Richard Collingbourne, of Bedewynde, was Clerk of the Peace in Wiltshire in 1390, Member of Parliament for Marlborough in 1402 and Collector of Taxes in 1413 and 1417. He married Jean Russel and had three sons called Robert, John and William. This William attended college 1422–1427 and received several offices from 1441 to 1462. However, he was probably not the William Collingbourne of historical fame but rather his uncle, as a namesake is mentioned as the son of Robert Collingbourne.

Sometime before 1474, he married Margaret, daughter and heiress of John Norwood and widow to a Sir James Pykeryng. From her first marriage, Margaret had at least two children – Edward and Elen. Her second marriage produced two daughters: Margaret, who later married a George Chaderton, and Jane, who married a James Louder or Lowther, MP for Marlborough in 1491/92.

According to the sources, a William Collingbourne amassed land in north-east Wiltshire, but also acquired property in the City of London. In the 1470s, he was commissioner in the enquiry of farms for land grants and money in Wiltshire and involved in actions against trespasses and debts, mostly against defendants from Kent, which suggests that he had acquired property in that county as well.

Collingbourne held several administrative posts in Wiltshire; he served as sheriff in 1474 and 1481 and as Commissioner of Peace in 1475 and 1478–1481. In 1475 he was named as one who would "enquire into certain treasons, Lolardries, heresies and errors" in Dorset and Wiltshire, in a list that also included King Edward's brothers, the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester. After the execution of Clarence in 1478, Collingbourne was among those enquiring into his possession in the counties of Southampton and Wiltshire. In 1481 and 1482, he is mentioned as being in charge of two manors in Wiltshire. After the death of Edward IV in April 1483, he appointed to a Commission "to assess certain subsidies granted to the late King by the commons of the realm" and, in July, once more Commissioner of Peace.

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