Family and Education

b. by 1515, 1st s. of Julian Nethermill of Coventry by w. Joan. m. (1) Winifred, wid. of Richard Dod of Coventry; (2) settlement 18 Nov. 1550, Bridget, da. of Henry Over alias Waver* of Coventry, 1s. suc. fa. 11 Apr. 1539.1

Offices Held

Warden, Coventry 1543-4, sheriff 1547-8, mayor 1557-8.2

Biography

John Nethermill was a draper who inherited considerable wealth from his father and an estate in Exhall within the city liberties. Although he was less active in business and in civic affairs than the only two men of comparable wealth in Coventry, his relatives by marriage Christopher Warren and Henry Over, Nethermill took his share in administration and in x 549 joined with John Milward in the purchase of Warwickshire chantry lands fox £671. Shortly afterwards he was engaged in a series of chancery actions over his sister’s jointure with her father-in-law Thomas Bracebridge.3

Nethermill’s civic career followed the usual pattern from his election as warden in 1543: he attended the mayor’s council with reasonable frequency and acted as feoffee for the city and as arbiter in diputes between citizens. His return to Mary’s first Parliament thus answered to his standing and his service. Unlike his fellow-Member Thomas Bond he opposed the initial measures for the restoration of Catholicism, and whereas on 12 Dec. 1553, six days after the close of the Parliament, Bond received £6 14s., full payment at the statutory rate of 2s. a day, Nethermill received £4 16s.10d., sufficient to cover only the 44 days of the second session. He sat again in the first Parliament of the following reign and died on 31 Oct. 1559.4

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: S. M. Thorpe

Notes

• 1. Date of birth estimated from age at fa.’s i.p.m., C142/65/16. Dugdale, Warws. i. 167; Vis. Warws. (Harl. Soc. xii) 253; CP40/1138, r. 433; Req.2/29/110; C142/170/14.
• 2. Coventry Leet Bk. (EETS cxxxiv), ii. 783; Coventry council bk. 1, p. 17; mayors’ accts. 1542-61, p. 19.
• 3. E179/192/125, 130, 157, 178; PCC 6 Alenger; CPR, 1549-50, p. 21; 1553-4, p. 452; C1/1291/51, 1406/68, 1456/16.
• 4. Coventry mayors’ accts. 1542-61, pp. 494 seq.; chamberlains’ accts. 1, p. 232; treasurers’ payments, pp. 25 seq.; Coventry Leet Bk. ii. 780, 789, 793-6, 803, 809; Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Gregory Hood collection 164; Bodl. e Museo 17; C1/1471/10-14; 142/170/14.