Oliver Ingham

Oliver Ingham (or De Ingham, d’Ingham) (1287–1344) was an English commander and administrator in Aquitaine during the War of Saint-Sardos and early Hundred Years War.^[1]

He was born in 1287 at Ellesmere, Shropshire to Oliver de Ingham and Margery. He became Sheriff of Cheshire.

Ingham was jailed at Winchester for his involvement in the civil wars of Edward II of England, but was released in 1324 to serve under Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent in the Duchy of Aquitaine during the short War of Saint-Sardos against France. The war was a disaster for the English; the defences were poorly prepared and most towns attacked by the French surrendered immediately. The western part of the Duchy, the Agenais, was lost in a few weeks. After arranging a truce, the Earl of Kent departed for England in 1325. In 1326 Ingham was appointed Seneschal of Gascony, the highest post in what remained in English possession. He managed to raise an army of mercenaries and capture a number of strongholds in Agenais and Saintonge. However the political climate at home had changed. Edward II had been deposed and replaced by his son Edward III under the regency of Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer. The regents wanted peace and in the final treaty the loss of Agenais was accepted and Ingham’s conquests abandoned.

To appease the French Ingham was at first recalled to England, but was reappointed Seneschal of Gascony in June 1331. He still held this office in 1337 when the Hundred Years War broke out and he was tasked with defending Gascony from French invasion. The defences of the duchy had been undermined with the loss of several key castles in the previous war and the loyalty of the local nobility was divided as many owned estates on both sides of the border. English strategy in the early years centred on invading Northern France; Ingham therefore received neither troops nor funds from England, but had to rely entirely on local resources. The income of the duchy depended mainly on tolls and customs on the river trade, this dried up almost entirely with the onset of war. Most of what revenue remained had to be expended on paying garrison commanders. As a result Ingham’s government at Bordeaux had very limited options in how to conduct the defence.

Died: 1344, Ingham, Norfolk, England, buried Holy Trinity Church, Ingham.^[2][3]

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of Oliver Ingham is blazoned: Per pale Or and Vert, a cross recercele (or moline) Gules.^[4] The crest of Oliver Ingham is blazoned: On a chapeau Gules turned up Ermine, an owl Proper sitting in holly-leaves Vert.^[5]

Family

Married: Elizabeth Zouche, b 1282, Ellesmere, Shropshire

Children:

• Elizabeth Ingham
  • m John Curson
• Joan de Ingham b. 1320, d. 1364
  • m Lord Robert (Roger) Le Strange of Knockyn, b 15 Aug 1301 in Knockin, Shropshire, d 29 Jul 1349 in Sedgebrook, Lincolnshire, son of John le Strange (who became Lord Strange of Knockin in 1299) & Isolda de Walton
  • m 30 Nov 1350 in Ingham, Norfolk a Sir Myles Stapleton KG, b c1318, Bedale, Yorkshire, d 4 Dec 1364. son of sir Gilbert Stapleton & Agnes Fitzlan of Bedale

References

1. The Hundred Years War: Trial by Battle - Google Books. books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-11-04.
2. Holy Trinity Church, Ingham
3. Norfolk Churches: Ingham
4. Arms of Oliver Ingham
5. Encyclopaedia Heraldica Or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry, Volume 1. By William Berr; Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper, 1828; page 166.