KIRKTON, Robert

More may be added to the earlier biography. The Commons 1386-1421, iii. 524.

At the beginning of Kirkton’s final Parliament the burgesses of Hull successfully petitioned for the confirmation of the charters Edward I, Edward III, Richard II and Henry IV had granted their town, and obtained letters patent confirming all legacies of land made there since Edward I’s reign. SC8/26/1294; CPR, 1429-36, p. 294; Hull Charters and Letters Patent ed. Boyle, 32-33. He was again associated with John Grimsby*, his fellow MP on that occasion, in Michaelmas term 1435, when they and several other townsmen, including the merchants, John Aldwick* and John Gregg*, and the mariner, Richard Baker, faced proceedings in the court of King’s bench over debts they had contracted with the Crown in Middlesex: the King claimed £30 from both Kirkton and Grimsby and 100s. from each of their associates. They subsequently failed to appear at Westminster, so risking outlawry, but there is no further record of the suit in the plea rolls. The circumstances of the case are unknown, although it is likely that it arose from fines they had incurred, possibly for the non-payment of customs. KB27/698, rex rot. 16.

Kirkton’s will reveals a connexion with York as well as Hull, making it likely that he was the Robert Kirkton, ‘merchant’, who purchased the freedom of the city in 1438. Movement between the mercantile communities of Hull and York was not uncommon, although it was unusual for a burgess of Kirkton’s status to take such a step. York registry wills, prob. reg. 2, ff. 104v-105; Freemen of York (Surtees Soc. cxvi), 152; J. Kermode, Med. Merchants, 74-75.

Kirkton drew up his will on 6 June 1445, immediately before his death. He asked to be buried in the church of St. Cross in Fossgate at York and provided for his funeral there. The arrangements he made for the welfare of his soul included bequests to the guild of St. Christopher in the city and to Knaresborough priory. He also left 3s. 4d. to the mercers’ guild of Corpus Christi at York, and clothing and plate to John Catterick*, a mercer from the city whom he appointed supervisor of his will. His bequest of a mirror and small chest to his servant Nicholas Danby is perhaps further evidence of his connexion with York, since it is possible that Danby was a kinsman of another of its mercers, Thomas Danby*. As for Hull, Kirkton directed that all the debts owed to him were to go to the maintenance of a recluse in the Charterhouse there, left his remaining properties in the town and nearby Myton to his widow and provided generously for Seman Burton*, one of its merchants. Apart from leaving Burton a gift of clothing, he ordered that he should receive 13s. 4d. from every pound arising from sales of property made by his widow, whom he named as his executrix. Kirkton died within three days, for the will was proved on 9 June. Margaret Kirkton spent her widowhood at York and died in the spring of 1455. York registry wills, prob. reg. 2, ff. 104v-105, 330v-331.