HILLY, John

More may be added to the earlier biography. The Commons 1386-1421, iii. 376-7.

The records of the central law courts make clear that throughout the period of Hilly’s parliamentary career he was active as an attorney at Westminster for litigants from Sussex. He was described as an apprentice of the ct. of King’s bench: KB27/655, rex rot. 5d; 667, rot. 43. Frequently his appearances in court coincided with the sessions of Parliaments in which he represented Arundel or Chichester. Among those from whom he received briefs were William Warnecamp*, John Cobbehay* and Richard Smith I* of Arundel (all his sometime fellow MPs), and several of the canons of Chichester cathedral. CP40/647, rot. 83; 651, rots. 13d, 268d, 483d; 652, rot. 233; 661, rot. 193; KB27/688, rot. 1. Typically, in the Easter and Trinity terms of 1425 he acted for such Chichester worthies as the bishop, the dean and chapter, the mayor and commonalty and the former MP Richard Fust†. CP40/657, rots. 52, 255; 658, rots. 168, 215d, 446d. While his fourth Parliament was in progress in the Michaelmas term of 1427, he brought a personal suit against a local esquire, Robert Tauk of Westhampnett, for a debt of £7, while at the same time assisting his own son John in his more important action against Tauk for the much larger sum of 100 marks. These pleas continued unresolved while the Parliament of 1431 was in session and for several years longer until Tauk’s death towards the end of the decade. CP40/667, rot. 68d; 680, rot. 165; 715, rot. 94d. Meanwhile, in Trinity term 1432, besides making appearances on behalf of the warden of St. Mary’s hospital, Chichester, and for the prior of Boxgrove, Hilly had begun a plea regarding an assault on one of his servants. CP40/686, rots. 202d, 255, 304d. The plea rolls provide evidence of his activities in court in a number of the law terms of the 1430s for such plaintiffs as the sometime mayor of Chichester, Henry Grenelef*, and in his own lawsuits he was usually described as ‘of Chichester, gentleman’. CP40/691, rot. 146d; 699, rots. 47d, 186, 187d, 475d; 724, rot. 184, att. rot. 2.

Yet although Hilly’s professional career had seemingly progressed smoothly, it had been dramatically interrupted on at least two occasions. The first began with an encounter in a street in St. Andrew’s parish, Chichester, in the spring of 1422, which resulted in him being accused of causing the deaths of Alice, daughter of John Rukke of Angmering, and her unborn child by violently attacking her with a stick or cudgel. Two legal processes commenced against him: he was straightaway indicted before the j.p.s for Sussex, and Alice’s brother brought an appeal in the King’s bench in the following year. In Easter term 1424 Hilly pleaded not guilty in the latter suit, and bail was provided for him by his fellow lawyers John Corve* and William Sydney* among others, and when it came to a trial by jury in the following term judgement was given in his favour. The presentment made before the j.p.s was heard in King’s bench in Hilary term 1425, and he was similarly cleared of the charge. KB27/651, rot. 15; 652, rot. 51d; 655, rex rot. 5d. It may be speculated that Hilly’s status as an ‘apprentice of the court’ ensured for him a speedy and sympathetic hearing. This was not the end of the matter, however, for in 1428 Hilly himself brought a plea in King’s bench against Thomas Janyn and John Exton* of Chichester on a charge of conspiring together to bring a false and malicious prosecution against him, specifically for killing the child in Alice’s womb. KB27/667, rot. 43. The other interruption to Hilly’s career came in the late 1430s, when, as he later complained, the false allegations of the mayor of the staple of Chichester, William Hore I*, got him incarcerated in prison for three years as a felon. The quarrel between Hilly and Hore had apparently arisen over tenure of some land in the northern suburb of Chichester, and on 15 Apr. 1438 they were each bound in £200 to abide by the award of mediators (including the lawyers William Sydney and William Ryman*) for the settlement of their disputes. In the following September a concord was reached, one of the clauses being that Hore should deliver to Hilly sufficient cloth to make robes for himself and his wife. Shortly after Hore’s death in 1448 his executors tried to sue Hilly on the bond, but Hilly retaliated by bringing an action in Chancery against them, claiming that Hore had failed to keep the terms of their agreement, and that the executors should not only forfeit the bond for £200 but should also pay him 100 marks in damages. Here our MP had the upper hand. By this date he had entered the service of the chancellor, John Stafford, archbishop of Canterbury, who himself formally delivered the plea into the King’s bench in accordance with the privileges allowed to his servants. C1/75/45; KB27/752, rot. 21; C254/145/77, 103.

It is likely that Hilly exaggerated the length of time he was imprisoned at Hore’s suit, for his personal appearances in the court of common pleas had continued at regular intervals throughout the 1440s. For instance, in Hilary term 1446 they included a suit he brought following an assault on his wife, and later that year he sued Sir Henry Hussey* of Harting for the sum of 12 marks – his accumulated fees for 12 years’ service as Hussey’s attorney in the court, as retained in 1429. Matters between him and the knight had still not been resolved by 1449. CP40/740, rots. 97, 211, 347d, att. rot. 1; 742, rot. 117d; 753, rot. 43d. Hilly probably acquired his property in London to provide him with somewhere to live while conducting his business at Westminster.