HAYWARD, John (bef.1530-by 1572), of Dorchester, Dorset.

In 1551 John Hayward sold two burgages in Dorchester to a merchant in the town: he retained another burgage on the north side of Pease Lane, probably the house in which he lived. He probably had a legal education: without it he would hardly have been appointed under steward and coroner. During the 1550s and 60s he witnessed a number of town deeds. His election as the junior Member in 1558, with Christopher Hole, is unexplained: there were other townsmen whose age and municipal experience better qualified them, so that he probably enjoyed support from outside the town, perhaps from the 2nd Earl of Bedford who owned property there and who was to dominate Dorchester under Elizabeth. The date of Hayward’s death has not been ascertained. George Robinson, Hole’s nephew, replaced him as under steward by 1572.1Date of birth estimated from first reference; C. H. Mayo, Recs. Dorchester, 39, 339, 343, 362.