PASMORE, John (by 1505-44), of Sutton in Halberton, Devon and Lions Inn, London.

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

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. by 1505, 1st s. of Thomas Pasmore of Sutton by Thomasie. educ. Lions Inn. m. by 1526, Cecily, da. of John Seman of Sutton, 7s. 3da.; 1s. illegit. suc. fa. Feb./Mar. 1529.2

Offices Held

J.P. Devon 1540-d.; escheator, Devon and Cornw. 1541-2.3

Biography

John Pasmore came of a cadet branch of a gentle family seated at Pasmorehayes in Tiverton. He had an uncle and a cousin of the same name, both of whom survived him, but as a lawyer whose counsel was retained by the city it was presumably he who was returned for Exeter in March 1543.4

Halfway through the second session of the Parliament of 1542 Pasmore and George Kirk replaced William Hurst and Thomas Spurway, who were said to be sick. Like Pasmore, Spurway came from near Tiverton and may have had a hand in his election. Alone among Members for Exeter in the early 16th century Pasmore was not a freeman; that he was not made one on election, as was the custom when non-freemen were chosen, was probably due initially to his absence in London and afterwards to his removal in favour of Hurst. His fellow-Member Kirk was to be superseded by Spurway before the second session was over and it was perhaps about the same time that Hurst displaced Pasmore, who had ceased to be one of the city’s Members by the following session; early in 1544 he received from Hurst a token payment of 5s., and he and Spurway supervised the copying of one of the city’s charters in the Exchequer. He may have accompanied Hurst back to Exeter, where on 25 Mar. the city’s receiver paid him his quarterly fee. Four days later he was dead.5

By his will of 25 Aug. 1543 Pasmore asked to be buried at Halberton. After providing for his wife and children he left the income from his lands near Tiverton to maintain his children until they came of age and to educate the sons, and bequeathed to his mother-in-law all his possessions in Lions Inn and in several houses outside Temple Bar. He was succeeded by his 18 year-old son Denis who did not sue for livery until 1552. His widow married Richard Bidwell of Gatton in Shobrooke, Devon.6

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: A. D.K. Hawkyard

Notes

  • 1. Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament.
  • 2. Date of birth estimated from marriage. Vis. Devon, ed. Colby, 166; Vis. Devon (Harl. Soc. vi), 207; Vis. Devon, ed. Vivian, 589; PCC 3 Jankyn, 8 Pynnyng.
  • 3. LP Hen. VIII, xv, xvi, xviii, xx.
  • 4. Ibid. iv; CPR, 1547-8, p. 263; 1553, p. 383; Trans. Dev. Assoc. lxi. 199, 206; Exeter act bk. 2, f. 52v.
  • 5. Exeter L28; receiver accts. 1542-3, 1543-4.
  • 6. PCC 8 Pynnyng; C142/70/14; CPR, 1553, p. 383; CP 40/1142, r. 672.