MOYLE, Adam, of Winchelsea, Suss.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

Offices Held

Jurat, Winchelsea by 1581, mayor 1585-6, 1586-7. 1587-8.

Biography

This man’s background is obscure. He may have been a member of the Moyle family of Eastwell, Kent, who does not appear in their pedigrees. John Moyle of West Twyford, Middlesex, who was serjeant of the Queen’s livery, had a brother called Adam, but there is nothing to connect him with Winchelsea.

In the 1570s Moyle was in difficulties with the Winchelsea authorities. A decree had been passed stating that only seamen or those prepared to ‘adventure £10 at sea’ would have the right to be freemen in future, and on 21 June 1577 Moyle was disfranchised for failing to meet the requirement. Three years later, the decree having been repealed, he was re-admitted on payment of 20s. When he was returned to Parliament in 1586 the corporation agreed to pay £1 ‘towards his charges’. It is possible that relations between the Winchelsea authorities and the Privy Council were strained at that time. Earlier in the year the Council had suggested two men as suitable mayors but Moyle was chosen instead. Now, the Council’s wish that the 1584 Members of Parliament should be reelected in as many places as possible was not acted upon at Winchelsea. He is not mentioned by name in the journals but he may have attended a committee concerning the import of fish to which the burgesses for Winchelsea were appointed on 6 Mar. 1587.

When the Queen granted to Winchelsea in 1586 part of the land formerly owned by the Black Friars, Moyle received a messuage and a garden in the town. He may, perhaps, have been the Mr. Moyle who was a servant of (Sir) Roger Manwood.

E. Suss. RO, Winchelsea mss; Misc. Gen. et Her.(ser. 5), iv. 233; APC, xiv. 51; D’Ewes, 412; W. Cooper, Hist. Winchelsea, 109; Lansd. 40, f. 148.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: M.R.P.

Notes