THORPE, Hugh, of Dunwich, Suff.

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

Feb. 1383

Family and Education

m. 1s. Robert.

Offices Held

Tax collector, Suff. Mar. 1395.

Bailiff, Dunwich Sept. 1396-7, 1400-3, 1404-5.1

Biography

As bailiff Thorpe made the Dunwich returns to the two Parliaments summoned in 1397. In January 1403, when he contributed 8s. to the first half of the subsidy granted in the Parliament of the previous year, he was living in All Saints parish. During his last bailiffship he was among the burgesses who, in April 1405, were bound to Thomas Mowbray, Earl Marshal, to abide by an agreement with Sir Roger Swillington whereby they relinquished their claim to a marsh and foreshore rights between the ‘old haven’ at Dunwich and the ‘new haven’ at Walberswick. In 1407 Thorpe brought suits in the borough court, and five years later in July 1412 he sued Peter Helmeth* for a debt of 12s.3d. He was himself once fined by the court for digging a ditch on the common way. Meanwhile, he had attested the Dunwich elections to the Parliaments of 1410 and 1411.2

By 1427 Thorpe’s son Robert (who was to represent the borough in 1435) was holding his father’s tenement worth 27s.1d. a year, a sum indicating a relatively extensive property.3

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: K.N. Houghton

Notes

  • 1. E368/170-8.
  • 2. C219/9/12, 13, 10/5, 6; Add. Chs. 40672-3, 40704, 40709, 40718.
  • 3. SC11/886-7.