SNELL, John I.

This MP was probably a kinsman, perhaps even the son, of Hugh Snell, one of the leading burgesses of Stafford in the mid 14th century. He may well also have been related to Nicholas Snell, who represented the borough in at least five Parliaments, yet despite his family’s local importance, he himself remains a shadowy figure. Legal records for Staffordshire refer to a John Snell of Whittington (near Lichfield) who was sued during the Easter term of 1410 for grazing his cattle on a neighbour’s land, and to a man of the same name who died in an accident at Yoxhall four years later, but their relationship, if any, to the subject of this biography cannot now be established.1Wm. Salt Arch. Soc. xvi. 73; xvii. 14.