Penne was probably a local man, descended from a family resident at Totnes by the reign of Henry IV. It seems unlikely that he was the Exeter yeoman of this name active in the 1420s: KB27/646, rot. 28d; 647, rots. 46, 83; 651, rot. 83. He is not known to have been of any great significance in the local community or to have held office in the town, although he was occasionally empanelled on local juries. C139/167/1. Nevertheless he must have been a familiar figure among the burgesses, for in the course of property transactions he came into contact with some of the more prominent of their number, men such as John Prall* and the eventual mayor, Richard Tucker.HP Biogs. ed. Wedgwood and Holt, 676, citing Molton Catalogue of Deeds; N. Devon RO, Chichester of Arlington mss, 50/11/12/10. While he was thus well qualified to represent Totnes in the Commons, it seems that he may have owed his return in 1453 to a longstanding connexion with the Holand dukes of Exeter. He was granted a daily wage of 2d. for his life out of the revenues of the manor of Dartington by John Holand (d.1447), and evidently still maintained his ties of service to the more erratic Henry Holand who in 1453 secured the return of a number of his retainers to the Commons. E152/10/544, m. 2; CIPM, xxvi. 543; S.J.Payling, ‘Ampthill Dispute’, EHR, civ. 896.
