ALCOTE, John, of Strood and Rochester, Kent.

In January 1400 Alcote acquired a messuage in Strood, at no further a distance from Rochester than the length of the bridge across the Medway. Nevertheless, he was counted as a ‘stranger’ to the city because he had not been born there; and in order to secure admission as a freeman he agreed with the authorities to serve Rochester in the Parliament of 1410 at his own expense. Whether he already held property in the city is uncertain, although he did come into possession of a house there in February 1417.1CP25(1)111/254/9; C219/10/5; Harl. Ch. 49F 16.