ANDREW, Richard (d.1460), of Cambridge.

As his other surname implies, Andrew was probably a spicer by trade. He witnessed a deed in Cambridge for John Sexton II in March 1411, and it was in the same year that he began to attend borough elections to Parliament. (He is known also to have taken part in nine further elections between April 1414 and 1449.) Not until after his own second return to Parliament did Andrew hold major office in the town, but in 1426, when bailiff, he was among the first eight burgesses to be nominated to the common council of 24 by John Knapton and

Richard Bush†

, and in the autumn of that year he was one of seven representatives of the town called upon to attend the Magna Congregatio of the university. In 1452 he was obliged to find pledges, having been the first to find the body of a baker who had been murdered in Cambridge.E210/4244; Cooper, i. 175-6; CPR, 1446-52, p. 527.

In 1421 Andrew acted as a feoffee of property in Cambridge, most likely on behalf of Richard Bush. He himself owned a substantial number of holdings in the town, including a tenement in St. Mary’s parish; and by 1436 he was estimated to enjoy an annual income of £10 from his lands in the shire as a whole. He is known to have sold a ‘place’ in Cambridge to John Hynton, who petitioned the chancellor regarding Andrew’s retention of certain relevant deeds after payment of the asking price (£40) had been made. Then, in November 1446, Andrew made over to Henry VI, for the foundation of Queen’s college, a plot of land in St. Botolph’s parish, measuring about 90 yards by 24, which he had recently purchased.CP25(1)30/95/24; Add. 5813, f. 174; East Anglian, n.s. xii. 376; C1/15/54; CChR, vi. 74; Cambridge Antiq. Soc. 40. ser. ix. 4. The new college was remembered in Andrew’s will, dated 30 Aug. 1459: to the president and fellows he left 80 marks and a tenement in St. Botolph’s parish, together with more property in Haslingfield, Madingley and St. Peter’s parish, worth £54 13s.4d. altogether. In return for these, the college was to maintain a bible clerk and hold an obit in St. Botolph’s church on every anniversary of the testator’s death. An inventory of 1472 describes one of the buildings left to the college as the hostel of St. Nicholas in St. Andrew’s parish. Other bequests included a sum of 80 marks which was to be administered by three keepers appointed by the mayor and bailiffs. From this fund burgesses might borrow up to two marks on security, offering prayers for Andrew and his family as a token of gratitude. The trustees were to have three booths at Sturbridge fair and a house in St. Andrew’s parish belonging to the benefactor, and to devote the profits to the celebration of masses in St. Mary’s church on his anniversary; on that occasion provisions were to be distributed among the poor. Further sums were designated for the chapel of St. Mary and the guild of St. Andrew in the same church. Andrew died on 13 Mar. either in 1460 or 1461. His will was proved on 1 July in the latter year.Cambridge Antiq. Soc. 40 ser. ix. 66; Cooper, i. 210; Add. 5813, f. 145.