biography text
Clerk may have originally been a servant or official of Reading abbey, for when he joined the guild merchant of the town in 1391 his entry fine was commuted ‘at the prayer of the abbot and prior of Reading’. A weaver, he witnessed Reading deeds in 1409, 1411 and 1413. Following his single return to Parliament and his mayoralty of 1414-15, he attested the parliamentary elections of 1417, 1419, 1420, 1422, 1423 and 1427.3VCH Berks. iii. 348; Goring Chs. (Oxon. Rec. Soc. xiv), no. 325; Reading deeds, 97, 99, 103; C219/12/2-4, 13/1, 2, 5.