ALDESCOTE, Richard, of Shrewsbury.

Aldescote’s name was derived from ‘Alduscote’, now Allscott, in the parish of Wrockwardine, Shropshire, but he himself was living in Shrewsbury by August 1380, when his stepson John Colle, then a minor, was abducted from his custody there by one John Powell of Woodhouse. Together with his brother Roger, Richard was admitted as a burgess, in July 1384, on payment of a large entry fine of £3, and before very long he was elected as one of the local coroners. He served as a juror at the inquiry held in the town in 1389 concerning a proposed grant by Thomas Pride to St. Alkmund’s church, and was among the 12 councillors elected in Shrewsbury abbey church later that year, on 16 Aug., to help fulfil the new ‘composition’ for the reform of the town’s government.3CPR, 1396-9, pp. 201, 472-5; Trans. Salop Arch. Soc. ser. 3, v. 37; C143/407/32. Six years afterwards, during his first term in office as a bailiff, Aldescote represented Shrewsbury in Parliament. As a result of a further ‘composition’ and the subsequent removal from office of the bailiffs appointed in September 1398 ( Robert Thornes and William Biriton), Aldescote’s second election as bailiff took place in May 1399.4Trans. Salop Arch. Soc. ser. 4, iv. 44; Shrewsbury Guildhall, box II, 67, f. 11. Before April 1401 he and his brother, as well as several other Shrewsbury men, stood accused of the manslaughter of John Moldesdale. He appears to have been acquitted, however, for in December 1404 he attended, as an assessor, a meeting of the Shrewsbury guild merchant.5CCR, 1399-1402, p. 246; Trans. Salop Arch. Soc. ser. 3, v. 44.