WESTLOND, Thomas, of Midhurst, 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

Jan. 1404

Family and Education

m. Alice.1

Offices Held

Tax collector, Suss. Dec. 1429, Aug. 1430.

Biography

Thomas was perhaps related to John Westlond, who traded in cloth in the Midhurst area at the beginning of the 15th century. In April 1400, called ‘the younger’, he served on a jury at an escheator’s inquest held at Midhurst, and, similarly described, he was also empanelled for the local juries which, on 4 and 21 Jan. 1402, brought indictments against Sir John Bohun, the lord of the borough, for the murder of William Baggele*, who with fellow townsmen had risen in defiance of Bohun’s rule in the previous month. In March 1422 Westlond conveyed to John Grygge, a local tanner, three burgages in North Street, Midhurst, which he had inherited, for a rent of 10s. a year payable for the lifetimes of himself and his wife. He again appeared as a juror at Midhurst in October 1431, on that occasion providing information to the escheator of Sussex about the possessions of William Baggele’s son, Thomas, the convicted lollard. Westlond was one of the eight principal burgesses who received Sir John Bohun’s grants of increased liberties in April 1432.2

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

  • 1. W. Suss. RO, Cowdray ms 4455.
  • 2. E101/344/22; C137/4/20; Suss. Arch. Colls. xcv. 50-51; Cowdray mss 4455, 4734/5; C139/54/26.