DEEPING, John (d.1439), of Rochester, Kent.

In the course of his professional career Deeping was twice (in November 1406 and in May 1425) appointed to act as a general attorney for the prioress of Dartford, who was a recluse, on both occasions also receiving authorization to brief other attorneys in the lawcourts on her behalf. In April 1407 he joined with others including John Martyn (the future judge, who was employed with him as counsel by the prioress), in obtaining a royal licence to grant to the priory property at Sutton-at-Hone.CPR, 1405-8, pp. 265, 328; 1422-9, p. 280. He attended shire courts held at Rochester to attest electoral indentures for Kent and its two boroughs for the Parliaments of November 1414, 1420, 1426, 1427 and 1431 (to the first of which he was himself returned). In the meantime, in July 1418, along with the prior of St. Andrew’s, Rochester, he had been instructed by Margery Ludwick and John Sileby, clerk, to give seisin to certain trustees of a messuage in Rochester recently recovered in an assize of novel disseisin. In 1417 and 1422 he witnessed deeds in the city.C219/11/4, 12/4, 13/4, 5, 14/2; CCR, 1413-19, p. 507; 1422-9, p. 193; Harl. Ch. 49F 16.

Deeping died shortly before 14 June 1439, when the sheriff of Kent was ordered to elect a coroner in his place. He had apparently held the post for about 25 years. He was survived by his widow, Joan, who in her will made on 29 May 1453 and proved on 7 June 1454, requested burial in the cemetery of St. Nicholas’s church, Rochester.CCR, 1435-41, p. 223; Rochester consist. ct. wills, ii. f. 7.