GRIMSBY, John

By the early fifteenth century, the Grimsby family had resided at Kingston-upon-Hull for several generations and established a tradition of parliamentary service. Peter Grimsby† (d.1379), probably John’s grandfather, was mayor of Hull in 1361-2 and represented the town in the Commons of 1362, 1368 and 1371; Simon Grimsby, John’s father, served several terms as mayor and was a Member of four Parliaments of Richard II’s reign; and Walter Grimsby, possibly John’s brother, sat for Hull in the Parliaments of November 1414 and March 1416.5 The Commons 1386-1421, iii. 248-50; Kermode, app. 4. It is not known when John became a freeman of Hull although it is likely that he was already active there when he and Walter stood surety for Simon in January 1409.6 CCR, 1405-09, p. 487. In the autumn of 1414 he purchased a royal pardon as ‘of Hull’ but it was another decade before he held office in the town.7 C67/37, m. 14.

Like Simon Grimsby, John pursued a mercantile career, and he was among the Hull merchants who were active in Rouen late in Henry V’s reign.8 Kermode, 147n. It appears that he also traded with the Low Countries, for he was the subject of a certificate that the municipal authorities at Sluys sent to the Chancery in the late 1420s. In January 1429 the barons of the Exchequer were ordered to inspect this document (the details of which have not survived), with a view to exonerating him and his sureties, presumably of alleged misdemeanours on his part.9 E159/205, brevia Hil. rot. 17d. In April 1430 Grimsby obtained a licence to export 340 quarters of wheat to any lands at peace with the English Crown, although he was required to certify to the Exchequer from which port he would ship the grain.10 E159/206, recorda Easter rot. 17. In Michaelmas term 1435 he and several other burgesses of Hull, including the merchants Robert Kirkton*, John Aldwick* and John Gregg* and the mariner, Richard Baker, faced proceedings in the court of King’s bench over debts they had contracted with the Crown in Middlesex: the King claimed £30 from both Grimsby and Kirkton and 100s. from each of their associates. They subsequently failed to appear at Westminster, so risking outlawry, but there is no further record of the suit in the plea rolls. The circumstances of the case are unknown, although it is likely that it arose from fines they had incurred, possibly for the non-payment of customs.11 KB27/698, rex rot. 16. Ironically, assuming this hypothesis is correct, Grimsby had earlier served as a controller of customs at Hull. He had not always done so to the satisfaction of the Exchequer, being obliged in late 1427 to answer there for a quantity of un-cocketed cloth that he had seized and failed to declare;12 E159/204, recorda Mich. rot. 24d. although it had issued him a reward for his time in the office five years later.13 E403/706, m. 10.

Not long after relinquishing the position of controller, Grimsby took up office as one of the bailiffs of Hull. His term as such may, however, have been interrupted by other duties, since in November 1430 the Crown appointed the jurist, Master William Sprever and ‘John Grymesby, esquire’ as its ambassadors to Denmark. Assuming that the latter was the subject of this biography rather than a namesake, it is unclear to what he owed the style of ‘esquire’, notwithstanding his family’s local wealth and status. Even if the ambassador, it is unlikely that Grimsby actually went abroad with Sprever, who departed the realm in February 1431 and did not come home until the following December, since the account that the latter presented to the Exchequer failed to mention his fellow envoy.14 CPR, 1429-36, p. 129; E101/322/42. It is worth noting that Hull was Sprever’s port of departure.

In June 1433 Grimsby was returned to the Parliament of that year, and at the beginning of this assembly the burgesses of Hull successfully petitioned for the confirmation of the charters Edward I, Edward III, Richard II and Henry IV had granted their town, and obtained letters patent confirming all legacies of land made there since Edward I’s reign.15 SC8/26/1294; CPR, 1429-36, p. 294; Hull Charters and Letters Patent ed. Boyle, 32-33. During the recess following the first session of the Parliament, Grimsby assumed the mayoralty of the town and it was as such that he travelled to the second session in October. His election as mayor, and unusual re-election at Michaelmas 1434, perhaps reflected his role in securing the town’s privileges. Grimsby was returned to his second Parliament at the beginning of 1437. He and his fellow MP, Hugh Clitheroe*, were allowed the normal daily rate of 2s. for their wages and each received £7 10s. for the 75 days that attending and travelling to and from the Parliament (which sat for 66) took up of their time.16 Kingston-upon-Hull recs., chamberlains’ acct. 1436-7, BRF 2/355.

Grimsby died within months of the dissolution of the Parliament of 1437. He left no will and in July that year administration of his estate was granted to two merchants of Hull, William Burgh and Thomas Duby, and a couple of chaplains, William Ripplyngham and Richard Flynton.17 York registry wills, prob. reg. 3, f. 501v. For want of a will, there is no firm evidence for his holdings in the town. It is as a feoffee that he features in most of the extant local deeds in which his name appears,18 Cal. Hull Deeds ed. Stanewell, D. 286-9, 303. although it was probably on his own account that he participated in a series of property transactions in 1432-3, perhaps with a view to the eventual performance of the will (or valid will) he never made. In May 1432, for example, he demised a garden by the chapel of Holy Trinity to William Alcock;19 Bench bk. 2, BRE 1, p. 273. in the following April he conveyed a messuage and nine tenements in Kirk Lane to the merchants Ralph Forne and Stephen Gildhous and two chaplains, Thomas Merflete and John Wilde; and in June 1433 Richard Flynton, soon to become the administrator of his estate, took possession from him of two gardens in Aldkirklane. All of these properties afterwards passed to the feoffees of John Gregg, who outlived Grimsby by only a matter of months, and in 1445 they formed the endowment for Gregg’s chantry at Hull.20 Cal. Hull Deeds, D. 305, 306, 309, 312, 350, 352. It would appear that Grimsby had died childless.