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COMBE, William, of Chichester, Suss.
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Family and Education
Offices Held
Bailiff, Chichester Mich. 1382-3, 1384-8; mayor 1389-90.1
Constable of the Staple, Chichester Mich. 1390-1.2
Biography
William may have been a descendant of Richard atte Combe, who in 1357 had acquired a number of shops and tenements situated in East Street and ‘La Swynchepinge’ in Chichester. He was serving as bailiff of Chichester when returned by the city to Parliament for the first time in 1382, and was re-elected to the bailiffship at least four more times before being chosen as mayor. Little is known of Combe’s personal affairs, although the lawsuit he brought in 1394 against Hugh Martyn of Kings Walden, Hertfordshire, who owed him £12, suggests that he made his living by trade. He was among the leading citizens of Chichester present on 6 Mar. 1397 at the laying of the foundation stones of the Vicars’ Hall.3