GRAINSBY, Roger, of Grimsby, Lincs.

Roger Grainsby stood surety for three of the burgesses returned by Grimsby to Parliament, namely Richard Duffield (in 1420), Roger Dale (December 1421) and John Langholm† (1427). He was closely involved in municipal affairs for many years; and, indeed, while serving his second term as mayor in 1426 he rode to Westminster for three days on official business. Two years later Grainsby was involved, as a trustee, in a collusive action brought against John Empryngham, his associates on this occasion including Ralph, Lord Cromwell, Lord Willoughby and Lord Welles. That he owned at least one ship is evident from a dispute which arose in 1432 as a result of a naval action in which vessels belonging to him and nine other Grimsby merchants recaptured from the French the James and the Mary of Lynn. The division of spoils proved a matter of contention, but the claimants finally agreed to accept arbitration.C219/12/4, 6, 13/5; South Humberside RO, 1/600; E. Gillett, Grimsby, 48-49, 59. Grainsby seems to have been fairly affluent, for besides his own home in ‘Flesshewerrawe’, he owned three tofts, a ‘seld’ and a small quantity of farmland in Grimsby. He also occupied an unspecified amount of property a few miles south in Grainsby (from which his family probably took its name) and the neighbouring village of Wathe. The latter holdings were conveyed by him in the autumn of 1436 to a small group of feoffees, while the former descended first to his son, John, and then, in 1475, to his grandson.CAD, iii. C3397; vi. C5104; South Humberside RO, 1/560/42.