William Rosewell (Rowswell, Rowsewell, Ruswell, Rewsell) was born about 1500, the fourth son of Richard Rosewell (Rowswell) (c. 1473–1543) of Bradford on Tone, Somerset who married Alice Seeley (Ceelie, Ceelye, Scelye) of North Curry, Somerset.
[3][nb 2] No record of the marriage of William Rosewell has been found and a wife is not mentioned in his will of 5 July 1570[7] so it is presumed that she had predeceased him.
In his will he names two children: his son William, deceased; and daughter Agnes married to George Badram (Budram).
[nb 4] No records have been found about the life of William Rosewell from his birth at Bradford on Tone about 1500 until he was established as a landholder in Loxton by about 1540.
[10] By the time of the Somerset Muster in 1569, when he was acting as trustee of his son's estates, he was recorded in the tithing of Loxton and Uphill as: "William Rowsewell, gent, one corslet, one gelding for a light horseman furnished, one harquebut, one murrion, one paire of almain rivets furnished."
William Rosewell was able to achieve a significant improvement in his social status from that of his father, Richard Rowswell tenant of Bradford, to that of Yeoman at Loxton in 1544[12] and to Gentleman in 1569.
However, the family had previously received substantial fines for supporting the 1497 rebellion against Henry VII[11] (John £20, Anastasia £6 and Richard 10 marks) indicating that they did have some assets.
The Rosewell family appear to have had the drive and ambition to succeed and they valued education as a means to achieve both careers for their sons and a higher social position.
[17] William Rosewell's Uncle, Thomas Rowsewell, attended Oxford University and was the incumbent of Bradford church from 1517 to 1558.
Whilst it later became common for the landed gentry to send their children to be educated at University or Inns of Court,[21] the Rosewell tenants of Bradford appear to have been early adopters of this practice as a means of improving their position.
The Black Death of 1348, and recurrences of plague later in the century, greatly reduced the population and led to competition for labour between manors with a consequent weakening of the lord's hold over his tenants.
[22] The late fifteenth and early sixteenth century was a time of increasing confidence and assertiveness of the tenants as illustrated by the following case in the Court of Requests published by the Selden Society.
According to their wills, William Rosewell and his son were friends of Humphrey Colles[25] of Barton Grange, Corfe and Pitminster,[26] Somerset, who had ‘made his mark and fortune as an agent in the buying of ex-monastic land’ following the dissolution of the monasteries between 1536 and 1541.
[nb 6] Agnes my daughter and George Badram, shall enjoy all my lands, etc., in Loxton, which I hold of Thomas and John Payne.
[nb 7] Supervisors: Humfrey Colles [of Pitminster], John Colles [of Pitminster], Thomas Rowsewell [of Dunkerton], Robert Smythie [of Bristol], George Smythie [of Wrington], William Seeley [of North Curry] and Henry Dale [of Yatton].