MAYHEW, Robert

Robert Mayhew’s origins are obscure, although it is likely that he was the son of a local man.2 It seems highly improbable that the MP was the s. of the London brewer, Robert Mayhew (d.1430) as given in HP Biogs. ed. Wedgwood and Holt, 582, and unlikely that he is to be identified with the Dover man of the same name, who was one of that Port’s chamberlains in 1432-3 and 1437-8 and a jurat in 1440-1: Add. 29165, f. 174v; 29810, ff. 6v, 20v. His putative father, Thomas, was a freeman of Sandwich and as such claimed exemption from the parliamentary subsidy in the hundreds of Wingham and Eastry in 1416 and 1421. In 1413 the Cinque Ports as a whole had given him financial assistance in his suit before the King concerning his duty to render ship service.3 E179/124/88, 93; E. Kent Archs., New Romney recs., assmt. bk. 1384-1446, NR/FAc 2, f. 84. Thomas was dead by the autumn of 1430 when his widow, Joan, claimed a similar exemption from parliamentary taxation. The family may have also held some property in London if she is to be identified with the Joan Mayhew who declared property worth £12 p.a. in Kent and London for the subsidy assessment of 1435. Thomas Mayhew’s widow was still alive in 1443.4 E179/124/110; 225/48; 226/83; E159/212, recorda, Hil. rot. 14 (x)d.

The first mention of Robert in the records of Sandwich came in December 1437 when he was chosen as one of the treasurers. There is evidence, however, that his first experience of government in the Port was marred by controversy. On the following 17 Feb. two local men asked for him to be examined by the jurats regarding payment for certain woolfells he had bought from a Brabantine merchant two years earlier.5 Sandwich ‘Old Black Bk.’, f. 40. The outcome of this investigation is not known, but it may be significant that Mayhew was not involved in town government again until 1449, when he was elected as one of the jurats. He nevertheless maintained links with Sandwich’s elite and in 1443 he was exempted from the parliamentary subsidy for property in the hundred of Wingham which he held jointly with John Green I*.6 E179/124/110. Thereafter his service as jurat was almost certainly continuous until his death (although his name does not appear in the defective records for 1451-2). In December 1452 he agreed to pay the town an annual rent of eight marks for the joint farm of the common mill.7 Sandwich ‘Old Black Bk.’, f. 90. Mayhew’s standing as one of the leading jurats was confirmed on the following 20 Feb. when, along with John Drury*, he was elected to attend the Parliament summoned to meet at Reading.8 Ibid. f. 90v. Unfortunately, the details of his parliamentary career are unknown.

Little is known of Mayhew’s private affairs or of his occupation, although he was described as a dyer in 1452. In the previous year two men from Sandwich had entered into recognizances of £20 each to him and Simon Ruddock concerning the wardship of a local boy, John Goffe.9 Ibid. ff. 80v, 87v. In December 1453, while his Parliament was yet in being, Mayhew was among the three candidates put forward for the mayoralty, but there are no subsequent references to him and it is likely that he died shortly afterwards and possibly while still an MP, as the final session did not close until 18 Apr. 1454. It is unclear if he married, but Thomas Mayhew, who was appointed as one of the town’s brokers in December 1454 (a position he enjoyed until 1457), and the Robert Mayhew who was elected as mayor of Sandwich in December 1486 and died while in office, were almost certainly his kinsmen, perhaps even his sons.10 Ibid. ff. 95v, 99, 102, 104; W. Boys, Sandwich, 418; Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone, Canterbury consistory ct. wills, PRC 32/3, f. 164.