PULHAM, Hamon

Possibly related to the Pulhams of Suffolk,6 Gilbert Pulham of Suff. was a servant of Elizabeth, wid. of Sir John Ingoldisthorpe†: CFR, xiv. 367; CPR, 1422-9, p. 446. John Pulham attested the return of the knights of the shire for Suff. in 1432 and several John Pulhams attested the same county’s return to the Parl. of 1437. Hamon became a freeman of Great Yarmouth in the accounting year 1437-8, as did John Pulham, evidently a kinsman. They each paid the customary fee of two marks to gain admission to the franchise.7 Great Yarmouth ct. rolls, 1437-41, Y/C 4/146, mm. 6d, 17d; 147, m. 17; 148, m. 21; 149, m. 18d. John died in 1459. Hamon does not feature in his will: Norwich consist. ct., Reg. Brosyard, f. 165. During the same year, Hamon and John Ramston sued ‘Caybowsenson’ (presumably a foreign merchant) for debt in the borough court; but afterwards they were amerced for failing to pursue their action.8 Y/C 4/146, mm. 2, 6d. Hamon returned to that court with his wife Joan in November 1438, to sue John Watersone for detaining certain chattels from them.9 Y/C 4/147, mm. 2d, 11. Joan was no longer alive in 1444, when Hamon and his second wife, Agnes, sued Thomas atte Fenne*, again in the borough court, for a debt of £10.10 Y/C 4/151, m. 2.

In the following year Hamon began his first term as a bailiff of Yarmouth. A few months after that term expired, he gained election to the Parliament of 1447. This cannot have caused him much inconvenience to attend, since it met at Bury St. Edmunds and sat for a mere three weeks. He attested his own return to his second Parliament eight years later, for the election took place during one of his subsequent terms as bailiff. Following the Parliament of 1455, Pulham was appointed a j.p. at Yarmouth, and in May 1460 the Crown placed him on an ad hoc commission of inquiry. This was charged with investigating the complaint of David Blabour, a merchant and shipowner from Aberdeen. Blabour alleged that the crews of two vessels from Yarmouth had boarded and looted one of his ships, which had taken refuge in that port from bad weather, and the commissioners received orders to arrest the culprits and recover the stolen merchandise.11 CPR, 1452-61, p. 607.

Just 19 days after issuing this commission, however, the Crown ordered (Sir) Philip Wentworth*, (Sir) Miles Stapleton* and others to apprehend Pulham and bring him before the Chancery to answer certain unspecified charges.12 CPR, 1452-61, p. 609. Possibly this latter commission related to his conduct as bailiff, for he and John Codlyng, his co-bailiff in 1459-60, obtained a royal pardon in November 1461.13 C67/45, m. 15. By the following spring Pulham was one of the King’s coroners in Great Yarmouth. He exercised the office alongside his erstwhile opponent, Thomas atte Fenne, with whom in March 1462 he investigated the activities of John Lyghter, a local butcher suspected of felony.14 Y/C 4/167, m. 5 of file stitched on to m. 18.

Pulham’s busy public career is testimony to his status as one of Yarmouth’s most important merchants. He possessed several quays at Great Yarmouth and probably had a stake in its fishing industry since he owned two fish houses there. The borough authorities frequently amerced him over the years for failing to repair his quays, and in 1461 they penalized him for allowing merchandise to pass illicitly through the port.15 Gt. Yarmouth ct. rolls, 1453-4, 1455-6, 1460-1, 1463-4, 1464-5, 1466-7, Y/C 4/160, m. 15; 162, m. 15; 165, m. 8; 168, m. 15d; 169, m. 21; 171, m. 18; Reg. Gelour, ff. 125-6. Wine was among the commodities unloaded at his quays: in the first quarter of 1448, for example, he imported over 30 tuns of wine, paying nearly £4 in subsidy charges.16 E122/194/9, mm. 2d, 5. Within England, his commercial dealings are likely to have extended beyond East Anglia, since he sued John Sherman of Nottingham for debt in the borough court in 1455.17 Y/C 4/162, m. 1d.

Pulham appears not to have held office in Great Yarmouth after the mid 1460s but he remained active in his later years. In 1467, for example, he and John Alman, his associate during his last term as bailiff, came to the borough court to bring suits for debt against three other burgesses (including Ralph Lampet*), and he was also a litigant in the same court in the early 1470s.18 Gt. Yarmouth ct. rolls, 1466-9, Y/C 4/171, m. 5d; 177, m. 5; 178, m. 3.

In his will, dated 24 Aug. 1475,19 Reg. Gelour, ff. 125-6. Pulham requested burial beside his first wife, who lay in the churchyard of St. Nicholas in Yarmouth. He bequeathed sums to that church, to a local hospital and to each of the town’s friaries, and he left his then wife, Maud, a life interest in the house where he lived, along with various tenancies belonging to it. He also gave her free disposal of all his household goods. Although unspecified, these probably included the silver spoons, brooch, candlestick and other items that he had acquired from the corporation in the early 1450s. (Described as ‘waifs’ in the borough court rolls, these were goods, possibly from wrecked ships, which strangers had abandoned.)20 Gt. Yarmouth ct. rolls, 1450-1, 1453-4, Y/C 4/157, m. 5d; 160, m. 9d. He also gave Maud a life interest in his property in the hundred of Lothingland, Suffolk, including a ‘place’ in Gorleston and various lands which he had bought there and in neighbouring parishes. Pulham ordered the sale of this property after her death, although he did give her the option of selling it with the advice of Edmund Wydewell*, possibly his business partner, during her lifetime. If she did so, she was to have a share of the money raised, with the remainder going to support a chantry priest (for two years) and the Lady light in St. Nicholas’s church, as well as repairs to Gorleston church and Yarmouth harbour. The only real property over which he gave her completely free disposal was a small close in Gorleston. Pulham also directed that after Maud’s death her executors should, with the help of Wydewell, sell all the other Gorleston holdings and spend the proceeds on charity. During her lifetime, however, she and Wydewell were to dispose of his remaining properties in Yarmouth (a house, several tenements and his fish houses), in order to settle his debts and ensure the ‘quiethood’ of his soul. He appointed Maud his executor and Wydewell, his ‘worshyppfull frend’, as supervisor of the will, which was proved on 19 Apr. 1476. Maud appeared in the borough court to have it enrolled in the following August.21 Ibid. 1475-6, Y/C 4/180, m. 14. It appears from the will that Hamon died childless, although the Robert Pulham with whom he was associated in a suit at Yarmouth over a decade earlier must have been a relative.22 Y/C 4/167, m. 13. This Robert, who was apparently still alive in 1474, was not John Pulham’s son: Great Yarmouth ct. roll, 1465-6, Y/C 4/170, m. 2d; Reg. Brosyard, f. 165.