BINGHAM, John, of Nottingham.

It seems likely that John was one of the Binghams of Car Colston, near Bingham, some ten miles east of Nottingham, who held property in the latter town. He was not of the main line, however, for Sir Richard Bingham, who died in 1387, left his estates to a grandson, William, then aged three.Ibid. i. 404-5; Notts. IPM (Thoroton Soc. xii), 103-4.

Early in his career Bingham had quite extensive mercantile interests. In 1388 he acted as agent at the Middleburg Staple for John Samon, senior, of Nottingham for the recovery of 84 sacks of wool he had sold to

Sir Nicholas Brembre

†, who, as Richard II’s supporter, was condemned for treason in the Merciless Parliament of that year. The alnage accounts of the 1390s and 1401-3 reveal his involvement in the manufacture of cloth, and in 1398 he and John Tansley owed £34 14s.8d. in customs duties.Nottingham Archs. ct. rolls 1285 m. 22, 1293 m. 35; CCR, 1385-9, p. 400; CPR, 1396-9, p. 363; E101/343/21, 346/9. Bingham perhaps lived in Stoney Street, Nottingham, for in 1395, and during his bailiffship, the constables presented that a hue and cry had been raised there against a servant of his. That he took an interest in the affairs of others is clear from his appearance as a witness to local conveyances and as executor of the will of a former mayor, William Hunston, as well as from his nomination by Thomas Leek, as feoffee of lands in Bathley and elsewhere. He served as a juror in March 1414, giving evidence against lollards, and was distrained, but not sworn, to serve again that June at the royal inquiries into crime.Nottingham Recs. i. 309; ii. 15; CPR, 1401-5, p. 144; Nottingham Archs. ct. roll 1305 m. 17d; CP25(1)186/37/38; KB9/204/1 m. 27, 2 m. 21. At the Nottingham borough elections of 1406 and 1414 Bingham stood surety for Walter Stacy, perhaps already his brother-in-law, in 1421 for John Alestre and Robert Glade, and in 1427 for

John Manchester

†, having in the meantime, in 1411, along with Ralph Bingham, possibly his brother, attended the shire elections. Both Binghams held office as coroner of Nottinghamshire: on 8 July 1429 the sheriff was instructed to arrange the election of a replacement for Ralph, then said to be sick and aged, and four days later received similar instructions with regard to John, considered to be insufficiently qualified for the post. The latter afterwards served at Nottingham as a juror at the inquisitions post mortem on Agnes and John Merbury.C219/10/3, 6, 11/5, 12/5, 13/4, 5; CCR, 1422-9, p. 441; Notts. IPM, 201; ibid. (Thoroton Soc. xvii), 4.

Bingham probably married the coheir of Richard Wilford several years before 1419, when he made a settlement on Gervase Wilford of a messuage and four bovates of land in Wilford. He died before December 1442, when Walter Stacy’s widow conveyed to her sister, his own widow, and the latter’s son Richard Bingham all her share of Wilford’s estate.Clifton mss, D899, 903. It seems highly likely that this Richard was the j.KB of 1447-76, for the witnesses to the transaction included several prominent figures, among them William Babington, c.j.c.p., and in 1467 Justice Bingham was in possession of a messuage that had once belonged to Richard Wilford. He also held property in Nottingham.Ibid. D906; Nottingham Recs. ii. 125, 410, 418; CPR, 1452-61, p. 616.