MARTHAM, John, of Hastings, Suss.

This Portsman should not be confused with his contemporaries, John Martham, the MP for Rye in 1382, John Martham of Sandwich, who died before 1407, and John Martham of Winchelsea, from whom he is carefully distinguished in a list of jurors in 1422.1Egerton 2088, f. 99; Cotton Julius BIV, ff. 40, 41; E179/225/36.

All that is certain is that in November 1412 this John was entertained at Hythe during discussions about an agreement proposed between the fishermen of the Cinque Ports and those of the French coast opposite, to fix a tariff for ransoms; and that under Henry V he held land at Wilting, Bexley, and elsewhere near Hastings, on which as a Portsman he claimed exemption from parliamentary fifteenths.2Hythe jurats’ bk. C, f. 27; E179/225/34, 36, 40; Romney assmt. bk. 2, f. 72.