BOWYER, John, of Wells, Som.

It is possible that Bowyer was the same man who, as ‘of Combe Flory’, Somerset, in November 1383 received royal pardon of outlawry for unspecified offences.3C67/29 m. 5. However, certainly for most of his life the subject of this biography lived in Wells, where members of his family had previously held property. He became a freeman of Wells in 1390, when he was described as a ‘coruyser’ (shoemaker) and was pledged by John Blithe. In the course of his career he himself provided securities for the admission of other new freemen. At Michaelmas 1397 Bowyer served as a juror at Wells at an inquisition concerning a case of mistaken identity. Earlier, in May 1395, and again later, in 1407, he was appointed by the master of Wells as a tax collector in the town. In May 1413 at Ilchester, Bowyer furnished security for all those elected to represent the four Somerset boroughs in Parliament.4Wells City Chs. (Som. Rec. Soc. xlvi), 78, 129, 133, 136, 138; HMC Wells, ii. ch. 264; C145/260/12; Wells convoc. bk. ff. 114, 170; C219/11/2.