John may have been the son of William Tonge, who had been admitted to the freedom of Leicester in 1378.Freemen Leicester ed. Hartopp, 26, 47. He himself witnessed deeds in the town between 1406 and 1409, and was clearly resident there at the time of his only return to Parliament.Wyggeston Hosp. Recs. ed. Thompson, nos. 573, 576-7, 580. However, there is a possibility that earlier in his career he had been living at Castle Donington, several miles away, for a man of the same name had been granted in 1398 or 1399 an annuity of £5 by Thomas Holand, earl of Kent, which annuity, drawn from the issues of the duchy of Lancaster manor there, was confirmed to him by Henry IV and was still being paid as late as 1411. In the course of that period the same John Tonge received wages as surveyor of the works at Donington.DL29/728/11987, 11988, 11995, 12001, 12011, 12015; DL42/15, f. 12.
