biography text
William Jordan was probably related to Stephen Jordan, who was living in Sandwich in 1362. He himself owned lands in the east Kent hundreds of Kinghamford, Wingham, Cornilo and Eastry, on which, as a Portsman, he claimed exemption from taxation between 1373 and 1395. His wife brought him property elsewhere in the shire, at Goudhurst, only for him to dispose of it in 1385. When mayor in January 1389 Jordan sat on the jury which confirmed the amount of the Ports’ exemption from the parliamentary fifteenths.2Sandwich deed Sa/TB1/1; E179/223/4, 7, 11, 225/22; CP25(1)109/225/433.