1375 (P.R.O.: C 135/244/1) m. 8 Vnum toftum cum quodam crofto..voc. le heuedisfe &..tenentur de domino Rege in capite per servicium militare & xij.d. per annum de hefdborwesiluere.
c1425 in (1864) 6 229 Syrs, ȝe shal duweli leie þis lete þat þe heedborwis han presentid and truli..affeeren it aftir her presentement.
(Harl. 221) 231 Heed borow [a1500 King's Cambr. hedborwe], plegius capitalis.
?1518 sig. B.vjv Constables, hede borowes, and katers.
a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) Induct. i. 10 I must go fetch the Head-borough. Beg. Third, or fourth, or fift Borough, Ile answere him by Law. View more context for this quotation
1642 D. Rogers 228 Oh! yee Headburrowes, and Officers of Townes, let this truth of God convince yee.
1722 D. Defoe 274 There died six and forty Constables and Headboroughs.
1766 J. Entick Surv. London in IV. 389 The officers stand thus; 6 church-wardens..3 headboroughs.
1855 T. B. Macaulay III. xi. 11 The Whig theory is..that the right of a king is divine in no other sense than that in which the right of a..judge, of a juryman, of a mayor, of a headborough, is divine.
1862 J. A. Erredge v. 22 Under the Saxon constitution, Brighton had two headboroughs.
1927 18 July 17/5 The parish authorities are the churchwardens and the overseers, with the constable and the headborough under them.
2009 C. Emsley i. 18 William Payne..was selected headborough..of the Rolls Liberty, a civil parish of Westminster.