| Constituency | Dates |
|---|---|
| Bodmin | 1433 |
Herford, one of the more obscure men to represent Bodmin in Parliament in the fifteenth century, is difficult to identify. It seems unlikely that he was a complete outsider, for the burgesses of Bodmin (unlike those of other Cornish boroughs) were not by this date in the habit of returning men without any connexion with the south-west. This factor would seem to rule out an otherwise promising candidate, a Shropshire-born clerk of the Exchequer who was appointed controller of the pipe in 1436 but is not known to have had any interests in Devon or Cornwall.1 CPR, 1441-6, p. 178; CCR, 1435-41, p. 204; CFR, xiv. 69, 261; xv. 269; xvi. 99; PRO List ‘Exchequer Offs.’, 74; St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, recs. XV.48.9, m. 5; XV.48.12, m. 5; XV.48.13, m. 5.
The Bodmin MP was probably the yeoman who appeared at the sessions held in the borough on 28 Mar. 1439 to stand surety for the local esquire George Denshill.2 KB145/6/24. It is possible that he was rather more substantial than his description in the court record would suggest, and he may in fact have been the man of this name who owned lands in and around Plymouth, as well as a ‘garden place’ called ‘Britaigne syde’ in that town, and was able to sell a further house in Exeter for no less than £10. If this was he, Herford left no children, and his property eventually descended to his nephew Andrew Hunt, the son of his sister Thomasina.3 C1/32/318; 206/71; 207/15.