KIRKBY, John II

As is suggested by his four elections as mayor of Reading within the space of just seven years, Kirkby numbered among the most prominent of the burgesses. While holding office he was returned to the Parliaments of 1429 and 1433, and as mayor he lent his authority to the parliamentary indenture dated 14 Apr. 1432. He twice attested other electoral indentures.4 C219/14/3, 5; 15/2. A leading member of the guild merchant, in 1432-3 he supplied a notebook with black covers for the use of the guild, and he appeared as a pledge for admissions to the fellowship in 1433 and 1434, on the second occasion for a foreigner named Albricht Slutor who was admitted at the request of the earl of Warwick.5 Reading cofferers’ accts. R/FA/2, no. 22; Reading Recs. i. 3, 4. Little is known about his trading interests as a ‘merchant’, or his property in Reading, save that the latter included a cottage in Gutter Lane which he rented from St. Laurence’s church. He contributed 6s. 8d. for works on the fabric of the church in 1440, this being the highest amount donated, with only five people giving so much.6 CP40/715, rot. 611d; Trans. Berks. Arch. Soc. 1881, p. 5; C. Kerry, Hist. St. Laurence, 12. In the spring of 1434, while mayor, he had been listed among the men of Berkshire required to take the oath against maintenance, as generally administered on the authority of his second Parliament.7 CPR, 1429-36, p. 403.

Kirkby is not recorded after January 1442, when he last attested a parliamentary indenture at Reading, and he died at least two years before 26 Mar. 1449. On that date William Lyncoln of Reading, a writer of court-hand, came before the mayor and aldermen of London and exhibited the transcript of a deed dated the third year of Henry VI (1424-5) whereby John Lyncher and his wife had settled on Kirkby and his wife, Anne, and Kirkby’s heirs a tenement in Horner Street, Reading. This Lyncoln declared on oath to be a true deed, but then showed the court a transcript of another deed of the same date, purporting to be a grant of the same property with remainder not only to Kirkby’s heirs but also to the assigns of him and his wife. He connfessed that two years after Kirkby’s death he had forged this second document at the request of the MP’s widow.8 Cal. P. and M. London, 1437-57, pp. 113-14.