unto whom I bequeath 6s. 8d. Also I will and bequeath to master Sir William Fisher to pray for my soul and to be good to my wife 6s. 8d. Also I bequeath unto master Robert Harwar my grey ambling Gelding price 40s. and in money £3 whom I make Overseer of this my last Will and Testament whom I singularly trust will be good to my wife in her need for the calling in of my debts and for performing of this my last Will and Testament Remnant of my goods not bequeathed I freely give unto my wife Katherine Newton my wife whom I make sole Executrix." Sir William Fisher was, of course, the first Confrater of Wigston's Hospital.
William Newby was Mayor thrice, and four times Member for Leicester. In the year 1448 or 1449 he acted as the Chairman of a Commission appointed to enquire into certain cases which had arisen of persons in the service of Viscount Beaumont, of Sir Edward Grey, Lord Ferrers of Groby and others, who had contravened the Statutes of Livery and Maintenance. The household and the partisans of Lord Ferrers, exasperated at being deprived of their old customs, turned in their fury upon the unfortunate Commissioners, and grievously beat and wounded William Newby, threatening at the same time to beat all the others. At that period Queen Margaret of Anjou held the Honour of Leicester, which she had received as her dowry. When she heard of these doings, she wrote a letter wherein "considering the great hurt and harm of William Newby, our tenant," she did ordain, deem, and award that Lord Ferrers for him and for them that beat the said William Newby should "pay to the said William Newby 100 marks, and should be good lord to the said William Newby and to all other tenants." This penalty was a fairly substantial solatium for the wounded Mayor, being probably equivalent to about a thousand pounds of present money.
Norris, Noreys, Norice, Norreis, "the Northerner," is a fairly common name in the Leicester annals of the 12th and 13th centuries, and in the 15th and 16th there were several burgesses of some note who bore it. There was a John Norris who was Bailiff in 1439-41, and another was Mayor in 1503-4, and in
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