BREWYS, Robert, of Liskeard, Cornw.

A namesake of Robert’s had held office as portreeve of Liskeard in 1358 and 1368, and a kinsman, William Brewys, was to do likewise in 1392. The precise dates of Robert’s own term as portreeve are not known, but whether he was appointed at Michaelmas 1389 or 1390 he would still not have been in office at the time of his return to the Parliament which met on 3 Nov. 1391. Apart from the records of his two mayoralties, he is mentioned in connexion with local lawsuits heard in courts held at Liskeard in 1402, and in 1419 he was named as a feoffee of land in the parishes of St. Germans and Ladock belonging to a fellow townsman, John Gryk.2SC2/160/26; CAD, iii. D691. He was possibly the Liskeard tanner of this name who in 1420 was sued in the King’s bench for a trespass (KB27/637 m. 59), but it was probably another Robert Brewys who in 1438 with his wife Isabel held a tenancy for life of a number of properties in Liskeard for 18s. a year (Cornw. Feet of Fines (Devon and Cornw. Rec. Soc. 1950), 1034, 1049).