BUNTING, Richard (by 1519-58/60), of New Romney and Snargate, Kent.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Apr. 1554

Family and Education

b. by 1519, 1st s. of John Bunting. m. Joan, 2s. suc. fa. 1544/46.1

Offices Held

Chamberlain, New Romney 1544-5, jurat 1546-d., bailiff 1550-1, 1555-6; bailiff to Yarmouth 1554.2

Biography

Richard Bunting was executor and residuary legatee to his father, who died between 1544 and 1546, and as overseer of his brother’s will in 1549 he was charged with the sale of a house and the custody of the proceeds for his nephews. His father and brother had both asked to be buried in St. Martin’s church, and after the church had been declared redundant by the archbishop of Canterbury in 1549 he rented the churchyard from the town chamberlains: when the church itself was pulled down and sold he bought three tombstones, paving tiles and lead.3

Bunting was first elected by New Romney, with William Tadlowe, to the Parliament called for 1 Mar. 1553, but the lord warden, Sir Thomas Cheyne, refused to return them and appointed two others, of whom Simon Padyham was one, in their place. The town nevertheless paid 20s. each to Bunting and Tadlowe, ‘being put from his election by our said lord warden’. Later in 1553 Bunting went to Rye to discover whether that port had paid its Members, the election there having been likewise overridden, and when the next Parliament was summoned for the following October he and Tadlowe together rode to the lord warden ‘to require his favour concerning the election of burgesses’. Tadlowe was elected to that Parliament and Bunting to the next, which opened in April 1554: he was paid £3 4s. wages for his attendance and reimbursed 9d. which he had spent on ‘having out a proviso’.4

In April 1556 Bunting was a witness to Tadlowe’s will and in the following September he attended a meeting of the Brotherhood of the Cinque Ports for the last time. It was probably soon after this that he moved to Snargate, a hamlet five miles north-west of Romney, although he remained a jurat and as such witnessed an indenture on 4 June 1558. He must have died within the next 18 months leaving no will, for his widow was granted administration of his estate on 31 Jan. 1560.5

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: Helen Miller

Notes

  • 1. Presumably of age in 1540 when witness to a will, Canterbury prob. reg. C17, f. 68; C20, f. 54; A Act 15, f. 158. Information from C. G. Bunting.
  • 2. Romney chamberlains’ accts. 1528-80, ff. 57, 86v, 94; Cinque Ports White and Black Bks. (Kent Arch. Soc. recs. br. xix), 233-5, 241-2, 250-1.
  • 3. Canterbury prob. reg. C22, f. 45; Arch. Cant. xx. 156-60; Romney chamberlains’ accts. 1528-80, f. 68v.
  • 4. Romney chamberlains’ accts. 1528-80, ff. 80v, 82v, 85, 94.
  • 5. Canterbury prob. reg. C26, f. 149; A Act 15, f. 158; Cinque Ports White and Black Bks. 254; Romney bor. recs. bdle. 83.