DAWNE, John atte (d.?1451), of Hythe, Kent.

Atte Dawne, sometimes known as atte Ravene, first appeared in the Hythe records in 1421 as a plaintiff in the bailiff’s court. In the following year he sued Beatrice Thrynkewater, one of his household, for leaving his employment prematurely. It seems she had eloped with Geoffrey Pryour and atte Dawne sued the latter for conspiracy. Hythe ct. bk. H 1018, ff. 3, 21, 22. In the same year he himself was presented by the hundred jury of Hythe for blocking the King’s highway with horse dung and by winnowing his wheat there. A further blockage was created by a pile of dung opposite his kitchen. HMC 4th Rep. 432.

In February 1423 atte Dawne first appeared among the jurats hearing cases in the bailiff’s court. He was listed again the following year, but then did not sit again until November 1428, although it is possible that his service as a jurat had been continuous throughout. He was clearly one of the leading figures in Hythe by the end of the decade. By February 1431 he was one of the churchwardens of the parish church of St. Leonard, and in 1433 he was elected to Parliament, alongside the experienced parliamentarian, Richard Rykedon*. In July 1435 he attended his only recorded meeting of the Brodhull, where he was one of the barons who presented Hythe and Sandwich’s choice as one of the bailiffs the Cinque Ports were sending to Yarmouth. White and Black Bks. of Cinque Ports (Kent Rec. Ser. xix), 6. As a jurat he was frequently involved in the quarrels of his fellow Portsmen, both while sitting in the bailiffs’ court and occasionally as an arbiter. In 1437 he was asked to arbitrate in the dispute between Richard Rye* and Richard Martyn who, Rye claimed, had assaulted one of his servants. Hythe ct. bk. H 1018, f. 145. Having served as jurat throughout the 1430s, he was chosen as a jurat in February 1442, but then not again until February 1449. The reason for his six years’ absence from the jurats’ bench is unclear, but he continued to follow his livelihood in Hythe and in July 1445 he was presented by the hundred jury for breaking the assize of malt. Hythe hundred ct. pprs. 1398-1445, H 1059. In 1448, described as ‘of Saltwood’ near Hythe, he had sued Richard Wyke for trespass and debt in the bailiff’s court. HMC 4th Rep. 433.

As a Portsman, atte Dawne had claimed exemption from the parliamentary subsidy on property in the hundred of Folkestone in 1446 and in that of Hearne two years later. E179/229/139, 140. He enjoyed rents worth 40s. a year from property in Hythe, and the maltolts he paid in Middle Ward during the 1440s reveal a wide range of economic activities. In 1442-3 his main source of income appears to have been from brewing beer, then paying maltolts on 93 barrels, while he also paid maltolts on £8 of ‘divers merchandise’ sold in the town. In addition, he traded in livestock. Two years later, as well as brewing and his activities as a merchant, atte Dawne also paid maltolts on several lasts of herring sold in the town. In 1448-9 he only paid maltolts on 52 barrels of beer and a calf sold in the market, while his annual income from rents had fallen to 20s. Atte Dawne frequently offset the payment of his maltolts against the expenses he had incurred in the interest of Hythe’s community. In 1442-3 he advanced 14s. 10½d. towards the repair of the haven and two years later he was allowed over 30s. which he had contributed towards the Port’s expenses in the voyage of Margaret of Anjou to England. H 1055, ff. 20, 30v, 49v, 69v, 116, 144v. Little is known about his wife, but she is probably to be identified with the Matilda atte Dawne who brewed beer in Hythe during the 1420s. Hythe hundred ct. pprs. H 1059.

The MP was last recorded accounting for maltolts on 19 Jan. 1451 and probably died before the end of the year. H 1055, f. 144v.A possible son, Robert, followed in his footsteps, being chosen as a jurat in 1453, and being elected to the abortive Parliament of 1469 and that of 1472. Another putative son, John atte Dawne junior, was admitted to the freedom of Hythe by birth in November 1454. Ibid., ff. 27, 184. William a Dawne†, who sat for Hythe in the Parliaments of 1483 and 1487 was also a kinsman, perhaps our MP’s gds.