KIRKHAM, Thomas

Kirkham’s parentage has not been discovered, although it is possible that he was the son of a Beverley merchant who in the late 1380s and 90s traded in cloth through the port of Kingston-upon-Hull in partnership with York merchants, and also imported goods from Portugal.5 Kermode, app. 4. Thomas, who established himself in York as a mercer, purchased the freedom of the city in 1402.6 Freemen of York (Surtees Soc. xcvi), 106. Little is known of his early career, but in February 1411 he became one of the wardens of Ouse Bridge, a position he held for the customary term of one year. By 1415 he had married and in the same year he and his wife, Joan, were admitted to the city’s prestigious guild of Corpus Christi.7 York Bridgemasters’ Accts. 468; Reg. Guild Corpus Christi, 18.

Before Kirkham attracted more senior civic office, he had to cut his teeth in the unpopular capacity of one of the collectors of a fifteenth and tenth in late 1419. Among the collectors, he was the only man of standing: his fellows were respectively a baker, a sauce-maker and a ‘hayster’.8 CFR, xiv. 302. Nevertheless, the collectors proved, if anything, overzealous in the execution of their task. On examination of their accounts before the city council it was found that they had collected 12d. more than the £162 required, while they had also ventured into the suburb of Bootham and had collected the 44s. for which the collectors of the North Riding of Yorkshire, rather than those of the city, were customarily answerable.9 York Memoranda Bk. iii. 185. Nevertheless, it seems that the city fathers of York were satisfied with Kirkham’s performance. In February 1421 he was named one of the city chamberlains and it was probably in this capacity that he attended the two parliamentary elections of that year and set his seal to the sheriffs’ indenture. The following September he was chosen one of the city sheriffs, and in this capacity himself came to preside over two successive elections. Membership of the council of 24 probably followed soon after the end of his shrieval year, and he was certainly among its number by October 1425.10 Ibid. 80; York City Chamberlains’ Acct. Rolls, 209-10. By contrast, few details of Kirkham’s mercantile activities have come to light, but it seems that he was active in the overseas trade to the end of his life. In 1430-1 he exported unfinished cloth and hides from Kingston-upon-Hull, while in 1436 he was among a group of English merchants owed money in the Baltic port of Danzig.11 E122/61/32; Kermode, app. 4.

Kirkham once again witnessed the parliamentary elections at York in March 1432, and on 15 June the following year he was himself elected, alongside John Louth*, to attend the Parliament summoned to meet at Westminster on the following 8 July.12 C219/14/3, 4. By the time of his election, Kirkham was almost certainly already a member of the aldermanic bench, and he returned from Westminster and was present at the guildhall on 19 Sept. to hear a petition presented by the city’s vintners, before riding south once more for the second parliamentary session.13 York City Chamberlains’ Acct. Rolls, 9. Following the dissolution, Kirkham continued to serve on the city council and in February 1435 he was elected as mayor. His mayoralty was apparently unremarkable, but may have been marred by illness, for on 26 Oct. 1435, while still serving as mayor, he made his will. He asked to be buried in the church of Holy Cross, Fossgate, next to his first wife, Joan, and made provision for his soul there and at the nearby St. Saviour’s. Individual bequests were assigned to his two sons, Thomas and Richard, and his daughters, Katherine (the wife of John Crathorne), Joan and Alice, and to four of his grandchildren. He settled his property beside Walmgate Bar on his eldest son, Thomas, for his life, with successive remainders to his siblings, and made provision for his unmarried daughter, Alice, subject to the oversight of the executors or supervisor of his will. As his executors Kirkham appointed his son Richard and three fellow merchants, Thomas Crathorne*, Robert Chapman and John Turpyn, while another mercer, John Warde, was to be supervisor. In the event, Kirkham survived to add a codicil to his will on 1 May 1437, probably on his death bed, since probate was granted five days later.14 York registry wills, prob. reg. 3, ff. 485v-486v; CP40/717, rots. 32d, 206d.

Neither of Kirkham’s sons went on to play an active role in the government of York. Thomas had been made free in 1425 and his brother, Richard, six years later. Little is known of Thomas, but Richard continued the family business as a mercer. On his father’s death he was admitted to the Mercers’ Company and traded in cloth to the Baltic and Low Countries.15 Freemen of York, 137, 143; York Mercers (Surtees Soc. cxxix), 48; Kermode, app. 4. At some point before his death Kirkham had married a second wife, Margaret, the widow of a fellow merchant, William Spencer. She survived him until 1443.16 CP40/717, rot. 197; York registry wills, prob. reg. 3, ff. 36, 60-61.