II. THE ROLL FROM DOMESDAY.
1086 TO 1257.
It is a distinct compensation for the loss of the earlier part of the Roll to be able to commence it from the epoch of Domesday; and, further, it is probable, that the wide gaps which intervene in the 191 years — from the Conquest to the end of the Prepositi rule in 1257 — only robs us of mere names of persons of whom we could learn little or nothing, while each of the seven that have been left on record have some distinctive individuality. Of the first, our information is derived partly from the Domesday Book, and particulars of the other six are taken from ancient documents : —
1086 William, son of Godfrey (1)
1168 William Cade (2)
(1) William, son of Godfrey, as already stated was not the first of the Dover Civic Chiefs, but his is the earliest name that has been discovered. What manner of man he was personally is unknown, but the epoch when his official term occurred marks him ae import ant, for as Chief Magistrate of Dover he must have had a hand in the compilation of the Domesday Book and as one of his houses was used as the Guildhall of the Burgesses, it is possible that it was in his own house the Norman Scribes assembled to make their record of the property and people of Dover at that time, together with a comparative statement of Dover in the days of Edward the Confessor. The Kentish Section of the Domesday Book was commenced at Dorer because Dover Castle was then the seat of the Earl of Kent ; and the Domesday record says that William, son of Godfrey was tenant, under the Earl, of the Guildhall and two other houses. There came later in the Mayorality, others bearing the surname of " Atte Hall" and they are supposed to have taken their name from the same Municipal Meeting Place.
(2) William Cade is mentioned in state papers as having been Prepositus of Dover in the year n68. He may have been an ancestor of .John Cade, who was a leader of men in Kent three hundred years later.
1203 Joseph Fitzwolf (3)
1215 Solomon de Dover (4)
(3) Joseph Fitzwolf, Propositus of Dover in the year 1203 signed his name as a witness to a Dover Charter in the Hundred Court in that year, the document being in relation to the transfer of a meadow that lay near the present Ashentree Dairy in St. James's Parish. In this year King .John, under the odium of having caused Prince Arthur to be put to death in France, hurriedly arrived' at Dover to call out the Cinque Ports Forces to assist him in retaining his Crown.
(4) Solomon de Dover is mentioned in the Pipe Rolls as being Prepositus of Dover in the year 121 5. King John at that time was at Dover waiting for a force of mercenary troops from the Continent, to assist him in his war against the Barons, but he was disappointed their ships beiiig wrecked while crossing from Calais to Dover. A few months earlier King John had tried to appease his Barons by Bigning the Magna Charta, and Hubert de Burgh, who was acting as the King's Minister at that time, brought the original copy of that document to Dover Castle and it was the fact that Hubert de Burgh had then in the Castle documentary evidence of the King's Concessions that stirred him to fight so valiantly in the King's cause when Dover Castle was beseiged in the following year. In these stirring times Solomon de Dover was Dover's Chief Magistrate.
1226 Henry TurgLs (5)
1233 Peter de Ravallis (6)
(5) Henry Turgis is mentioned in " Jeake's Charters of the Cinque Ports" as "Furgucius Prepositus of Dover" in the year 1226 and the same authority says that he was associated with the Constable of Dover Castle, William Averanches, as Joint Warden in the Custody of the Cinque Ports. That statement is doubtless correct, except that the short name of Turgis, by the combined effects of latinisation and the error of deciphering an initial was trans formed into Furgucius. Furth.sr particulars of Henry 'l\irgis and hi« connection with the Cinque Ports will be found on the 46th page.
(6) Peter de Ravallis of Pointon, is mentioned as being Pre positus of Dover in 1233. In fact he is described as being Custodian of the Town and Port of Dover, which seems to intimate that instead of being one of the regular line of Chief Magistrates he was nomin ated to the office by the Crown at a time of National disturbance. He was one of the foreign favourites of Edward III. and for a short time was in charge of Dover Castle.
1256 Thomas, son of Virgile (7)
(7) Thomas, son of Virgile is mentioned in Dover Charters as having been Prepositiis of Dover in the year 1256. He was th« last of the Chief Magistrates who retained that Norman title.