Family and Education

Offices Held

Biography

Despite his six returns to Parliament, very little is known about this man. It is possible that he spent his early years at Norbiton, Surrey, for in October 1355 a John atte Wyke, then resident in the town, made a grant of land in Kingston to John and Alice Wenge. Members of the atte Wyke family had, however, been living in Bletchingley since the beginning of the 14th century and John was almost certainly connected with them. In February 1383 and again in February 1399 he was a juror at the inquisitions post mortem held in the borough on the estates of the 2nd and 4th earls of Stafford. He may also have been the John Wyke who, in October 1405, lodged a complaint against a sheriff of London’s men on the ground that they had arrested him in Southwark and detained him for no apparent reason, but this cannot be proved.1

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: C.R.

Notes

Variants: Vyk, Wyksys.

• 1. CAD, i. B1624; U. Lambert, Blechingley, i. 177; C136/47/11, 107/7; SC8/147/7345. It seems very likely that the John atte Wyke who became bailiff of Bletchingley manor in 1429 was his son. The latter farmed on an extensive scale, and was usually designated John atte Wyke, junior (Staffs. RO, D641/1/2/231 m. 2, 232, 233E; Surr. RO, 87/16/9-11).