William Jauderell

William Jauderell was an archer in the English armies in Wales of Edward, the Black Prince in the 14th century. He was from the town of Yeardsley in Derbyshire.

A descendant of Peter Jauderel, a soldier who had helped King Edward conquer Wales in the late 13th century, William Jauderell held estates in Cheshire and Macclesfield Forest registered in 1351. His son Roger Joudrell would later fight at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, and was buried in the church of St James, Taxal, also in Derbyshire, where his grave is marked by a large plaque honouring William and others from the family.

On 16 December 1355, Prince Edward gave Jauderell leave to travel to England by means of a safe passage pass that his family keeps as an heirloom today. The translated modern text reads "Know all that we, the Prince of Wales, have given leave on the day of the date of this instrument, to William Jauderel, one of our archers, to go to England. In witness of this we have caused our seal to be placed on this bill. Given at Bordeaux 16 December, in the year of grace 1355."

After travelling to England, Jauderell went back overseas, presumably to France where the Battle of Poitiers took place in September 1356, and was recorded returning to England in 1356 when he was awarded two oak trees to repair his Derbyshire home, taken from Macclesfield Forest.

Jauderell's name lives on in the name of Cheshire's Jodrell Bank Observatory.

• Jodrell Bank