LEIGH, Alexander

The Leighs were a prominent family in fifteenth-century Hythe. Alexander’s precise relationship with John senior, who first served as a jurat in 1401-2 and sat in Parliament on three occasions between 1421 and 1432, is undocumented, but he was probably his son. Alexander first appears in the local records in 1416 when he obtained part of a tenement in Hythe, and in January 1420 he was assessed on his goods and chattels, worth £6, in West Ward.2 Hythe jurats’ acct. bks. 1413-14, H 1052, f. 30; 1419, H 1054, f. 14. John senior probably died around 1432, when he was last recorded as a jurat, and Alexander was first chosen among their number in February 1433. John junior, almost certainly Alexander’s younger brother, joined him as a jurat in February the following year.3 Ct. bk. H 1018, f. 126.

In the early part of his career as a jurat Alexander sat regularly in the bailiff’s court, but seems to have had few extraordinary duties, never, for example, acting as an arbiter in local disputes. In April 1441 he was chosen to represent Hythe at a meeting of the Brodhull, a duty he performed only twice more (in 1458 and 1461).4 White and Black Bks. of Cinque Ports (Kent Rec. Ser. xix), 14, 39, 43. He continued his putative father’s business as a fisherman, paying maltolts on large quantities of herring, mackerel and sprats in the early 1440s. By 1444-5 he had also acquired a rental income of 8s. 4d. p.a. from property in Hythe. He received allowances from the Port’s authorities for money spent on repairs to the haven and lent to meet the costs of its ship service for Margaret of Anjou’s voyage to England.5 Jurats’ acct. bk. H 1055, f. 54v. Three years later his allowances included 100s. for a papal bull purchased through the good offices of Archbishop Stafford, 400 herring which he had presented to Stephen Slegge*, one of the Hythe’s barons in the Parliament of 1445-6, and 9d. for fish given to Sir Thomas Kyriel*.6 Ibid. f. 100.

On 4 Oct. 1450 Leigh and John Honywood* were elected by the commonalty to attend the Parliament summoned to assemble at Westminster on 6 Nov. They left Hythe on 4 Nov. and returned home on 20 Dec., but although both men left again for the second session on 18 Jan. 1451, Leigh went back to Hythe at some point in the middle of the session before travelling again to Westminster on 6 Mar. He then stayed there until 29 Mar., the last day of the second session, only to return to Westminster once more on 21 Apr., some two weeks before the opening of the third, which he attended until 10 May. The date of the dissolution is uncertain, but Parliament may still have been in session on 5 June, when both men rode back to Westminster. While Honywood claimed the accustomed wages of 2s. a day for 133 days, Leigh claimed for 13 more. These wages, as well as a riding allowance of 13s. 4d. on his first departure for Westminster, were set off against his maltolts in 1452-3. In the same year Leigh was also allowed 6s. 8d. for attending the warden’s court of Shepway at Dover, a payment of 2s. 11d. made to the town’s attorney, John Chenew*, at London, and 4s. 4d. for the provision of ships for the recovery of Bordeaux in October 1452.7 Ibid. ff. 28, 174. He continued to be involved in the affairs of Hythe throughout the 1450s, providing, for example, timber for the rehaul of its ordnance in 1457-8 and making further payments to Chenew in 1458-9, while in 1451 he had been one of the feoffees of property demised to the use of the corporation by Thomas Russell II*.8 Jurats’ acct. bk. H 1019, ff. 61, 90; Hythe hundred ct. pprs. 1398-1445, H 1059.

On 21 Sept. 1460 Leigh was again elected as one of Hythe’s parliamentary barons. Along with Robert Christian*, he set out for Westminster on 5 Oct., spending 59 days there and returning to Hythe on 2 Dec. Both men left again for Westminster on 26 Jan. 1461, but although Christian remained there for 11 days, the date of Leigh’s return (perhaps hastened by the march on London of Queen Margaret’s Lancastrian army) is no longer legible in the account book. It was probably to report on the proceedings of the Parliament that he attended the meeting of the Brodhull in April. He was soon in Westminster once again for, on 25 June, the commonalty of Hythe chose him and Thomas Honywood* to attend the coronation of Edward IV.9 Jurats’ acct. bk. H 1019, f. 1v.

Leigh played a prominent role in Hythe affairs during the early 1460s, continuing to serve as a jurat. On 17 Jan. 1464 he accounted for his maltolts on 8,000 herring and a rental income of 13s. 4d. p.a. The allowances he claimed on that occasion give some indication of the nature of his duties on behalf of the commonalty. He had lent 13s. 4d. towards a gift from Hythe presented to the earl of Warwick at his first warden’s court of Shepway in 1461, spent 20d. during the sessions held by the lieutenant of Dover castle and 8d. on the expenses of Lord Fauconberg, and advanced 13s. 4d. towards the wages of the bailiff to Yarmouth and for a voyage to Calais.10 Ibid. f. 116v. On 19 May 1465 he was one of four Hythe men elected by the jurats to be the Port’s barons at the coronation of Elizabeth Wydeville. The accounts mistakenly record that they left Hythe on 23 June (almost a month after the coronation had taken place) and remained in Westminster for eight days.11 Ibid. f. 149. Leigh was last chosen as a jurat on 2 Feb. 1465 and there are no subsequent references to him in the local records. Members of family continued to be active in the government of Hythe after Alexander’s death. Thomas Leigh, possibly his son, who had been chosen one of the chamberlains in March 1463, served as a jurat between 1468 and 1476.12 Ibid. f. 109; jurats’ acct. bk. 1467-84, H 1058, ff. 1, 23, 39, 59, 78v, 96v, 116v, 136.