William Vachell II of Coley (c. 1411)

William Vachell II inherited the consolidated Coley estate from his father and deepened the family's integration into legal and ecclesiastical networks. He is recorded as an attorney and appears in mid-fifteenth-century documents acting on behalf of powerful patrons, including the Bishop of Winchester. Such work demanded legal expertise and reinforced the Vachells' place within the regional elite.

By the early 1400s William II had married and established himself as a leading landowner in the Reading area. Local records note the involvement of the Reading guild in supporting his wedding festivities, an honour usually reserved for prominent figures in town and county life. Under his stewardship the Coley estate was not radically expanded, but it was carefully maintained and interwoven with church and court through service and patronage. Genealogical compilations and visitation records show William as the father of Thomas Vachell of Coley and of at least one younger son who founded a cadet branch beyond Berkshire. This pattern—an heir maintaining the principal seat at Coley while siblings established themselves elsewhere—is typical of late-medieval gentry households. For the present Lord of Coley, William Vachell II is a fourteen-times great-grandfather.

Sources (selected)

• Ounsley, M. (2024). "Treading carefully: The Vachells, 1405–1523." Coley Notebook (blog).
• Metcalfe, W. C. (Ed.). (1901). The Visitation of Berkshire… Harleian Society.
• Slade, C. (Ed.). (2002). Reading Gild Accounts 1357–1516. Berkshire Record Society.