3 - Training at the inns of court

Summary

In the fifteenth century, training for a legal career began early–many students joined an inn of court or chancery as young as fifteen. Thus it may have been about 1454, and certainly not long after, that Thomas, Walter Kebell's younger son, left Leicestershire for London where he had been entered for the Inner Temple. The choice of society was not haphazard. The four inns of court each took members from all parts of the country, but they also had from time to time special connections with particular regions. The Middle Temple was then much patronised by men from Bristol and the south-west, while Lincoln's Inn had a high proportion from East Anglia and the fenland. The midlands favoured the Inner Temple, and something like half the prominent lawyers from that region studied there. This was not regional particularism, but a practical matter of sponsors. An entrant had to find a ‘mainpernor’ to pay his bills if he defaulted and, in consequence, students tended to go where they had relatives or acquaintances. Who backed Kebell is not recorded. His background gave him links with several Inner Templars, but a likely person was John Catesby of Ashby St Leger in Leicestershire, who was prominent at the inn during the last years of Henry VTs reign. Catesby must have been acquainted with the Kebells, and Thomas was later to work with his nephew.