FUST, Richard, of Warnham and Chichester, Suss.

Fust came from a family which had been settled at Warnham, near Horsham, since the early 14th century.Bodl. Chs. Suss. 186, 193, 281, 284; Add. Ch. 8093. Described as ‘of Warnham’, in May 1403 he stood surety at the Exchequer for the prior of the alien house at Cogges, Oxfordshire, guaranteeing payment of his farm, and he witnessed deeds at Warnham from 1404 to 1415.CFR, xii. 210; Add. Chs. 8858-60; Bodl. Ch. Suss. 286-7. However, as a consequence of his marriage to Margaret Wheghelton, he also acquired landed interests in south-west Sussex, on the coast near Chichester. Margaret had inherited a moiety of her father’s property, consisting of 20 acres of land in Broadbridge (held by the unusual service of rendering the King a white capon whenever he rode past), and about 44 acres nearby at Bosham, these last being of comparatively little value since they were frequently flooded. On Margaret’s death in 1420 (when her heir was found to be her son, William Scardevyle, born about 1390), these holdings were estimated to be worth £5 p.a. In addition, Fust acquired that same year an annual rent of 60s. from the manor of West Thorney, in the same part of Sussex, which rent was then payable by his own son, Walter (d.c.1453). In 1425 he handed over possession of certain lands at Warnham to Walter, and two years later made a formal release to him of all the family property there and at Horsham, Sullington and Rudgwick.CIPM, xvi. 73, 481; VCH Suss. iv. 184-5, 195; C138/44/14; CFR, xiv. 335, 374; CP25(1)240/84/18; Add. Chs. 8871, 8874, 8892.

Fust had been present at the shire court held at Chichester for the Sussex elections to the Parliaments of 1407, November 1414, 1415, 1419, May 1421, December 1421 (the occasion of his own single return for Chichester), 1422, 1425 and 1426; and he again attested the shire indenture in 1433. Furthermore, his name had been put down by the sheriff of Surrey and Sussex as a pledge for the appearance in the Parliament of May 1421 of all the burgesses elected from Surrey. Fust’s continuing connexion with the citizens of Chichester is indicated by his appearance as a witness to deeds on behalf of Geoffrey Hebbe (in March 1422) and William Hore (in May 1434).C219/10/4, 11/5, 7, 12/2, 5, 6, 13/1, 3, 4, 14/4; Suss. Arch. Colls. lxxxix. 129, 133. His younger son, John, was to represent the city in Parliament in November 1449.