CALOWE, John

John, a lawyer, was perhaps related to Nicholas Calowe, the keeper of the Marshalsea prison in the 1440s.1 CPR, 1441-6, p. 102. Although his background is obscure, he probably came from Dorset and received his training in the law from John Newburgh II*, an outstanding practitioner. He is first noted in Hilary term 1459, as party to transactions concerning the Dorset manors of Bere Regis, Combe and Sturminster Marshall, which belonged to the Turberville family, their purpose being to put into effect entails to benefit the sons of William Turberville*, with a final remainder in Newburgh’s favour.2 Dorset Feet of Fines (Dorset Recs. x), 385-6. When, in the following year, Newburgh was elected knight of the shire for Dorset in the Parliament summoned to meet on 7 Oct. 1460, Calowe accompanied him to the Commons as one of the MPs for Bridport (where his mentor held office as recorder). He is not known to have ever held any property in the town, and almost certainly resided elsewhere, for in a pardon of 28 June 1462 he was described as a ‘gentleman’ formerly ‘of East Lulworth’ (Newburgh’s seat), and as at that time living in Sydling, to the north of Dorchester.3 C67/45, m. 22. The pardon may suggest that Calowe had not welcomed Edward IV’s accession in the previous year.4 There is nothing to suggest that he was the man of this name who became a yeoman in the new King’s household in 1466-7: E101/412/2.

Calowe took out another pardon on 23 Oct. 1467, this time of his outlawry in Hertfordshire for failing to satisfy the Crown of a fine imposed for neglecting to bring to court Richard Bolton alias Saunder, of Whitelackington, Somerset, for whom he had stood bail in the closing years of Henry VI’s reign.5 CPR, 1467-77, p. 36. That he had done so also points to his close links with Newburgh, for Newburgh and Bolton were both appealed by the widow of William Bastard*, one of the filacers of the King’s bench, for Bastard’s murder in 1462.6 KB27/808, rot. 84.

Calowe occasionally appeared as a juror at inquisitions post mortem in Dorset.7 C140/12/13, 40/5, 51/11, 77/75, 80/41. He continued to act for Newburgh in conveyances of land, and from 1471 (following the death of Newburgh’s son and heir at the battle of Tewkesbury) he served as a feoffee of his estates in Dorset and elsewhere, some of which were settled in 1478 on the senior lawyer’s grandson. It was specifically as a feoffee for the Newburghs that Calowe obtained pardons in July 1484, January 1486 and February 1488, each one exonerating him for acquiring property without royal licence.8 CP25(1)/294/74/40; CIPM Hen. VII, i. 38-40; ii. 954; C67/54, m. 3. Calowe’s service to the family continued even after his patron’s death, for, described as his former servant, he was named as a supervisor of Newburgh’s will dated 29 Mar. 1484. Even so, he was not well rewarded for his devotion, for the wealthy Newburgh left him no more than 20s.9 PCC 20 Logge (PROB11/7, f. 149).

During Edward IV’s reign Calowe had received no appointments to ad hoc commissions of royal administration, but when Richard III came to the throne in the summer of 1483 he was appointed j.p. in four counties, in two of them as a member of the quorum. This sudden rise to prominence may be attributed to his association with (Sir) Nicholas Latimer*, then chamberlain to the new King’s close supporter, the duke of Buckingham. His equally speedy removal from all four benches followed on from Latimer’s treasonous backing of Buckingham’s armed rebellion that same autumn. Latimer’s estates were forfeited by attainder in the Parliament of January 1484. Following the reversal of this attainder under Henry VII, Latimer involved Calowe in his attempts to gain back control of them in the royal courts, allegedly by subterfuge. In a contrived case, brought in 1492 and continued until October 1493, one John Smyethe brought legal actions against Calowe for the Dorset manors of Dewlish, East Pulham and Duntish, another in Somerset and some 1,700 acres of land, of which Latimer had apparently enfeoffed him. As a consequence, Calowe was required to appear in Chancery to answer a suit brought by Edith, Latimer’s daughter and coheir-apparent, and her husband John Mordaunt†, who alleged that Latimer, Smyethe and Calowe had colluded to deprive Edith of her inheritance. At the same time, Sir John Turberville†’s suit for Dewlish also brought Calowe into court as a defendant.10 C1/101/39-43; CP40/924, rots. 203d, 204.

The date of Calowe’s death is not recorded. He may have been the father of William Calowe, the serjeant-at-law who took his place on all four county benches,11 CAD, iv. A8458, 9806. and of a namesake, John Calowe, a coroner of Dorset in 1498.12 KB9/417/86.