Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ingham, Oliver de
INGHAM, OLIVER de, Baron Ingham (d. 1344), seneschal of Aquitaine, was son of Sir John de Ingham (1260–1309) of Ingham, Norfolk, by his wife Maroya or Mercy. An ancestor, also named Oliver, was living in 1183. John de Ingham served frequently in Edward I's wars in Scotland. Oliver was summoned to perform military service in Scotland in 1310 and 1314. In 1321 he was made governor of Ellesmere Castle, Shropshire, and next year actively supported the king in his operations against Thomas of Lancaster. He was directed to raise forces in Wiltshire and elsewhere, and was made justice of Chester (see numerous documents in Parl. Writs, vol. ii. pts. i. and ii.), and warden of the castles of Marlborough and Devizes. In 1324 he was returned by the sheriff of Norfolk to the great council at Westminster (ib. vol. ii. pt. i. p. 641), and in the same year was appointed one of the advisers of Edmund, earl of Kent, in Gascony. Next year he was made seneschal of Aquitaine, and conducted a successful expedition against Agen. At the end of 1326 he returned home, and was one of the twelve councillors appointed for the guidance of the young king, Edward III, in 1327. He attached himself to Mortimer's party, and was summoned to parliament as a baron. In 1328 he was made justice of Chester for life, and in February 1329 was one of the justices for the trial of those who took part with Henry of Lancaster at Winchester and Bedford in an endeavour to overthrow Mortimer. In January 1330 he tried Hamo of Chigwell, formerly lord mayor of London, at the Guildhall (Chron. Edward I and II, i. 242-3, 246). In October 1330 he was arrested by order of Edward III at Leicester, as one of Mortimer's supporters, and sent in custody to London. He, however, regained the royal favour, and in 1333 was once more made seneschal of Aquitaine. He filled this office with distinction for ten years. Numerous documents relating to his government are printed in Rymer's 'Fœdera' (Record edit. ii. 893-1229). In 1339 he defeated the French before Bordeaux (Walsingham, Hist. Angl. i. 225). On 6 April 1343 he was summoned home, and appears to have reached England a little later. He died on 29 Jan. 1344, and was buried at Ingham. He held lands in Norfolk, Suffolk, Hampshire, and Wiltshire. By his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Lord Zouch, he had a son John, who predeceased him, and two daughters, Elizabeth, who married John de Curzon, and Joan, who married (1) Roger le Strange and (2) Sir Miles Stapleton. Ingham's heirs were his granddaughter Mary Curzon and his daughter Elizabeth; his barony consequently fell into abeyance.
[Chron. Edw. I and II, and Walsingham's Hist. Angl. in Rolls Ser.; Blomefield's Norfolk; Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 104; Burke's Extinct Peerage; authorities quoted.]