SHERARE, John, of Chichester, Suss.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421, ed. J.S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe., 1993
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Oct. 1377
1378
Jan. 1380
May 1382
Oct. 1382
Oct. 1383
Nov. 1384
Jan. 1390

Family and Education

?s. of Geoffrey Sherare (fl. 1340) of Chichester. m. Agnes.1 ?1s.

Offices Held

Bailiff, Chichester Mich. 1379-80, 1381-2.2

Biography

Sherare came from an old Chichester family, one of whose members, William le Sherare, had sat for the city in the Parliament of 1311. It was possibly this John Sherare, but more likely a namesake, who was recorded in possession of property in Chichester in 1356. For the poll tax, John the MP and his wife were assessed in 1380 at 1s. each and their servant at 4d.3

Doubtless it was Sherare’s ability as a lawyer which led to his 13 elections to Parliament for Chichester and his single return for Lewes, which last, incidentally, took place at a time when the county court was being held at Lewes, instead of at its usual venue, Chichester. While attending Parliament in 1380 he not only appeared as attorney in the King’s bench for two men whom Bishop William Rede of Chichester had accused of trespassing with their cattle on his land at Wisborough Green, but also, on 26 Feb., he stood surety in Chancery for John Atilden of Swineshead, Lincolnshire, the defendant in a suit for debt. He was kept busy at the Sussex assizes, too: at those held at Chichester in February 1386 he was nominated as attorney for the dean and chapter of the cathedral in their plea against Sir Philip Mestede; a year later he acted for the plaintiffs in a suit against John Okehurst*; and at Easter 1392 he was given a brief by the then bishop of Chichester, Richard Metford. Sherare again provided securities in Chancery in May 1394, on this occasion joining with others to undertake on penalty £100 that one Thomas Blast would keep the peace. Finally, in the summer of 1395, he appeared on behalf of Alice Farnhurst, to obtain in the court of common pleas formal registration of the conveyance of her property in Chichester.4 He is not recorded thereafter.5

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

  • 1. Suss. Arch. Colls. xxiv. 68; lxxviii. 220.
  • 2. E368/154, 156.
  • 3. Suss. Feet of Fines (Suss. Rec. Soc. xxiii), no. 2169; Suss. Arch. Colls. xxiv. 68.
  • 4. Chichester Cart. (Suss. Rec. Soc. xlvi), 259; CCR, 1377-81, p. 366; 1392-6, p. 284; JUST 1/1498 mm. 9, 14d, 1503 m. 75; CP25(1)240/78/44.
  • 5. He was probably the fa. or gdfa. of John Sherare, coroner of Chichester up to May 1421 and mayor in 1435-6, 1437-8 and 1441-2: Suss. Arch. Colls. lxxxix. 133; xcviii. 67; J. Dallaway, Hist. Western Div. Suss. i. 155; Suss. N. and Q. xiv. 117-18.