Stephen Proctor
Stephen Proctor or Procter (died 1619) was an English courtier, a minerals and financial speculator, and Yorkshire landowner who built Fountains Hall.
[3] Gabriel Proctor was the receiver of Flasby and other manors (formerly the property of Furness Abbey) for the Duchy of Lancaster in 1556, when the Earl of Cumberland's servants attacked his family during a territorial dispute.
[8] A Chancery case over the crown lease of the Appletreewick (Greenhow) lead mines resulted, between John Yorke, knight, and Thomas Proctor of Cowpercote, yeoman.
[16] Proctor placed a placed an image of Saturn on Fountains Hall, a planet associated with melancholy and the metallic element lead, and a figure of Mars, representing iron.
[20] Proctor worked on the leases of William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby following an inheritance dispute,[21] and supported Robert Cecil to gather and improve crown revenue from lands and woods.
[24] Proctor argued with William Ingleby, who sided with tenants and villagers at Kirkby Malzeard who dismantled his enclosure made on the common land of Grewelthorpe Moor where he had commenced mining for coal.
[26][27] Proctor seems to have been anxious about his neighbour's religious beliefs, suspecting that Sir John Mallory supported a Catholic seminary in Studley Royal Park.
[28] A convicted and condemned burglar, David Paler or Paley, in prison at York Castle, alleged that Mallory pretended that he hosted priests in his park, so that his keepers could accidentally kill Proctor as a poacher, if he came to investigate at night.
[31] Proctor investigated Sir John Yorke (1566–1635) of Nidderdale and Gowlthwaite Hall (a relation of William Ingleby) after hearing of theatrical performances of recusant character by the Simpson family at Christmas 1609 and Candlemas 1610.
[33] Proctor alleged that Yorke's servants danced to a piper in the churchyard on the Sabbath, claiming that with "theire piping and revellinge wolde make such a noyse in time of praier, as the mynyster colde not well be h[e]arde".
[37] The performances were said to have included a dispute between a Catholic priest and a Protestant minister, which was the main focus of the prosecution,[38][39] as the direct presentation of religious controversy on the stage was forbidden by statute.
[43] Another play mentioned was The Travels of the Three English Brothers, a biopic based on the Shirley family,[44] recently performed in London by Queen Anne's Men at the Red Bull Theatre.
[45] The actors, led by Christopher Simpson (the elder), were said to have been members of Richard Cholmely of Roxby and Brandsby's company, though there is some doubt if he really was their active patron.
[47] On this occasion, Anne of Denmark interceded with King James for bestowing the gift of his forfeit,[48] which was obtained by the Earl of Montgomery, and Cholmeley was able to compound for a pardon.
[52] Stephen Proctor promoted a scheme to collect fines and customs due to the King,[53] alleging that local officials and Sheriffs and were corrupt.
[66] In February 1614, according to John Chamberlain, Proctor was convicted in the Star Chamber for criminal schemes against two Yorkshire landowners and other offences, and sentenced to the pillory, imprisonment, and a fine of £3,000.
[67][68] Proctor brought in specialists to build an "engine" to drain his lead mines on Bewerley Moor, a former Abbey Grange, near modern Greenhow.
They had previously raised a Chancery case against the occupation of the Bewerley mines by Procter and his business partner Lambwell or Lemuell Knowles alias Dobson of Methley.
[86][87] The 1625 will of Honor Proctor includes furnishings used at Fountains and at Cowling, a chest of viols and a pair of virginals, portraits of Will Sommers and Jane Shore, and a larger picture of Elizabeth I which she bequeathed to "Lady Darcy" (possibly Mary Belasyse, a granddaughter of Henry Cholmely).
