Another article from _The Genealogist_ I had a chance to look at
recently was Paul Reed's article on Joan Harley in one of the 1989
issues. In this article he discussed Alexander Besford or de Besford
whose wife Beatrice's identity he could not discover (she doesn't seem
to have been a Thorndon). Both Alexander and Beatrice were living in
the second half of the fourteenth century and died about the turn of
the century. The are ancestral to the Throckmorton family and, among
others, Mrs. Alice Freeman Thompson Parke and Rev. William Sargent.
Last year, I pointed out a reference in the London Letter-Books from
1376 that mentioned "Alexander Befford (? Besford) and Beatrix his
wife, late wife of Sir Thomas de Bassyngbourne, Knt."
http://books.google.com/books?id=WWAJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA34&dq=besford+alexander+beatrix#PPA34,M1
Also, a mention in an obituary role from Durham of the souls of
"Alexandri Besford et Johannae uxoris suae, et anima Alexandri Besford
et Beatricis uxoris suae" --
http://books.google.com/books?id=tVMJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA60&dq=beatricis+besford+alexandri#PPA60,M1
Paul's article had stated the parents of Alexander (who married
Beatrice) were Alexander Besford and wife Joan.
Can anyone provide the date of this excerpt from the obit. role
immediately above?
_A History of Hoddesdon in the County of Hertford_, discussing a
Bassingbourne family, says ...
"Seventy years later a curious adventure befell the heir to the
Bassingbourne lands. In 1400, when Dame Beatrice de Bassingbourne,
widow of Thomas de Bassingbourne, held the manor, her son John was a
minor ... These trustees for the Crown, being seised of the marriage
of John [Bassingbourne], granted his marriage and ward****p to
Alexander de Befford for 500 marks of silver [not really interested in
the story, although undoubtedly fascinating, just the association of
Befford (? Besford) and Bassingbourne] ...
http://books.google.com/books?id=n-kVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA53&dq=alexander+befford#PPA52,M1
Notice also that among the list of lords of the manor of Hoddesdon, in
1400 we find named "Dame Beatrice de Bassingbourne, [and] Alexander de
Befford":
http://books.google.com/books?id=n-kVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA53&dq=alexander+befford#PPA50,M1
Are Alexander Besford and _Befford_ the same person? The
_Parliamentary History of Worcester_ seems to think so (the Margaret
who married John Dikleston was a sister of Agnes wife of Throckmorton,
ancestress of Freeman and Sargent):
http://books.google.com/books?id=qzyi_2hS-VMC&pg=PA21&dq=alexander+befford&lr=
Who was Beatrice, widow of Sir Thomas de Bassingbourne?
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