Not to be confused with the John Spicer who, living in Derby in the 1390s, was a cloth manufacturer,E101/346/9; JUST 1/1501 m. 84. the MP was, in fact, a spicer. In June 1414 he was a member of the Derby jury giving evidence to a general commission of oyer and terminer, and he later acted similarly at the sessions of the peace in 1416, at the local assessments for a royal aid in December 1431, and at special judicial sessions presided over in April 1434 by the duke of Bedford. In the meantime, in 1420, John, son of Henry Booth, had granted to him among others an annual rent of six marks from lands at Egginton. Spicer provided securities in January 1428 for the payment of fines owed to the queen by several Derby men. He attended the borough elections in 1425 (then standing surety for Elias Stokkes), 1426 (doing likewise for Roger Wolley), 1427 and 1429 (again acting for Stokkes). Late in 1432 Spicer and these two friends, Stokkes and Wolley, were all imprisoned in Nottingham gaol, and a royal commission set up on 12 Nov. and headed by the King’s chamberlain, Ralph, Lord Cromwell, ordered their trial. Nevertheless, in May 1434 he was named among the Derbyshire gentry sworn not to maintain those who broke the peace.KB9/11 m. 17d, 204/2 mm. 33, 34; E101/122/9; Feudal Aids, i. 276; Derby Bor. Lib. Every ms 3359; C219/13/3-5, 14/1; CPR, 1429-36, pp. 272, 410.
