LANNARGH, John (1403), of Helston, Cornw.

The Lannarghs were an ancient family from western Cornwall who by the mid fourteenth century held property in the manor and borough of Helston-in-Kirrier, and who had provided parliamentary representatives for the borough in 1328, 1344 and 1348. CAD, iv. A10324; v. 10691, 11433-4, 12112. HP Biogs. ed. Wedgwood and Holt, 526-7 conflates the Lannarghs with the Lanhergys of Bodmin. Thereafter, the family’s descent is confused, but at least one of its branches became extinct in the male line. The heiress of this line, Elizabeth, daughter of Michael Lannargh, married the Crown official John Trewoofe†, and their eldest son and heir according to Cornish custom adopted the seat of his mother’s family as a subsidiary surname and consequently became known variously as James Trewoofe Lannargh or simply James Lannargh. James also had a younger brother called John, but there is no conclusive evidence to show that he used his mother’s name and it seems probable that the man who sat in Parliament in 1435 was in fact a different individual. The Commons 1386-1421, iv. 661-2.

When acting as a witness to the proof of age of John Trenewith* in September 1449 John Lannargh was thought to be aged 46 years and more, but he may in fact have been somewhat older, if it was he, rather than a namesake, who attested a property deed at Helston in November 1413. C139/140/42; CAD, iv. A9973. In the summer of 1428 he was nevertheless still young enough to set out for the French wars – as far as it is possible to tell, for the first time – in the retinue of Thomas Montagu, earl of Salisbury. E101/71/2/834. Nothing is known of Lannargh’s fate on this expedition, but he may have been with the earl at the time of his death at the siege of Orléans, and returned home not long after. He now settled down in the town of Helston and began to play his part in public life. Although he never held substantial property – in 1451 his lands in Cornwall (in Egloskerry and Talcarne as well as Helston) were assessed at just 40s. p.a. – he was of some standing among his fellow burgesses of Helston, where he was at least twice elected a portreeve. Cornw. RO, Arundell mss, AR1/194; E179/87/92; C1/17/394. From the early years of Henry V the senior of the two portreeves customarily adopted the style of mayor, and as Lannargh did so in 1435 when he is first known to have held the office, he may have served a previous term as the junior portreeve. It was around the same time that he was returned to Parliament, but it is not clear whether he had in fact presided over his own election. He is known to have been in office on 14 Jan. 1435, but since the annual elections of the portreeves probably took place in the spring, another man may have been mayor in September when the writ ordering the election arrived. CAD, iv. A10313; Harvard, English deeds APV6052; The Commons 1386-1421, i. 301. Nevertheless, Lannargh’s previous administrative experience and the respect that a former mayor commanded among his fellow burgesses are likely to have played their part in securing his return.

Little else is known of Lannargh’s career. In February 1435 he had witnessed a land settlement by Thomas Trewoofe, perhaps a distant kinsman, and in September 1446 he attested a certificate of the homage done by William Gurlyn to Ralph Reskymer. CCR, 1435-41, p. 428; CAD, iv. A9946. The latter deed is misdated by its editor. He seems to have died in the early 1450s, for at some point before 1456 Richard William Benet, claiming to be his cousin and heir, sued the clerk John Carew for the return of muniments relating to Lannargh’s estates, C1/17/394. while in September of that year one John Eresy was named as remainderman to property in Helston and elsewhere in Cornwall as ‘kinsman and heir of John Lannargh’. Arundell mss, AR1/195.