FLEMING, Richard

Fleming’s career is one of the least well documented of those of the men who represented London in Parliament in this period. Little is recorded of his origins, although it is probable, given his connexions with Kent, that he was related in some way to John Fleming† of Rochester. The lack of information about his career is not helped by the paucity of evidence surviving for his company, the Ironmongers. It is, nevertheless, clear that he was one of the most prominent and wealthy members of his craft: he was named as master of the company in March 1463 when the Ironmongers acquired their first charter from Edward IV. As was frequently the case with the London companies, this was not a ‘foundation’ charter, as the Ironmongers had undoubtedly formed their guild some years before. Thus Stow’s description of Fleming as the first master of the Company reflected the importance that such charters often came to assume, particularly when other records did not survive.5 J. Stow, Surv. London, ed. Kingsford, i. 147. Like other ironmongers, including men such as John Hatherley* and John Reynwell*, it is likely that Fleming traded in a variety of commodities, not just iron. He was, for instance, involved in a number of transactions with London fishmongers such as William Beaufitz* and William Crowcher: in the mid 1450s Fleming and Beaufitz were among the recipients of gifts of goods and chattels which were frequently pledged in return for credit. Several of these gifts provide clues as to the nature of his trading activities: in July 1458 he was a recipient of one such gift from a man from Dartford in Kent, while in November the same year both he and John Stokker, a London alderman, received a gift from a London shipwright. In the absence of other evidence it is dificult to be certain about his business interests at this time, although it is highly likely, as these references suggest, that he was concerned in maritime trade from both London and the Kent coast.6 CCR, 1447-54, p. 345; 1454-61, pp. 208, 295, 352.

Fleming’s activities in the property market are similarly difficult to reconstruct. It is clear that he lived in the riverside parish of St. Magnus the Martyr where, in December 1453, he was said to be a churchwarden. The same year property in Thames Street was quitclaimed to Fleming, Beaufitz and a fellow ironmonger, Nicholas Marchall, by Richard Cokflete of Rochester and Joan his wife. While Joan was the daughter of a London fishmonger, Richard Toky, and sole heiress of her brother Roger, the transaction provides evidence of Fleming’s enduring connexions with the city of Rochester.7 Corp. London RO, hr 182/3. Less surprising is Fleming’s link with Marchall: in July 1462 the two ironmongers and a scrivener, Thomas Fermory, were joint recipients of a grant of the reversion of a 99-year lease on an inn in Gracechurch Street.8 Cal. P. and M. London, 1458-82, p. 22. Back in Kent, Fleming acquired holdings in Tenterden, Rolvenden and Halden through his marriage to Eleanor, the sister of the landowner Thomas Pitlesden. As Pitlesden had no children, he agreed to sell the reversion of his lands to Fleming and his wife, while keeping back a life interest in half of them for his own wife, Parnell.9 English deeds, 373.

Fleming’s civic career followed a conventional path, beginning with service on committees appointed by the city government in the mid 1450s. In April 1458 he made his first bid for membership of the aldermannic bench, although in the contest for the vacant ward of Vintry he was beaten by Thomas Oulgreve by six votes to four.10 Jnl. 5, f. 253; 6, ff. 195, 234. Later that year he was chosen to serve on a royal commission which was to investigate the trading activities of Genoese merchants in the capital, although the commission was later vacated. In the autumn of 1459 Fleming was chosen as one of the two representatives of the commonalty to attend the Parliament summoned to meet at Coventry, the prime purpose of which was to proceed with the attainders of the Yorkist lords. There is no suggestion that he himself had any particular ties with the court party: it is more likely that he was chosen as someone who was neutral in the escalating civil conflict, in preference to the increasing number of Londoners who were in sympathy with the Yorkist cause. Indeed, shortly before the Parliament assembled the city had gone out of its way to assure the government of its support by sending a delegation to the King.11 Jnl. 6, ff. 160, 166.

In March the next year Fleming twice put himself forward as a candidate for the aldermanry. He failed to be chosen for Dowgate on the fifth of the month, but three days later was selected for the ward of Farringdon Without. In September the same year he was chosen as sheriff, and two months later he managed to transfer his aldermanry to Billingsgate Ward, which was adjacent to his own parish of St. Magnus.12 Ibid. ff. 21, 199, 204-205v, 278. While continuing to appear regularly at meetings of the court of aldermen, Fleming was not notable for any distinction during the early 1460s, although in 1464 he was among those who lent sums of money to the city for payment of the expenses of its MPs.13 Jnl. 7, ff. 58, 72v. In the meantime he had been chosen as one of the city’s four auditors, and it was in the summer of 1464, shortly before he was due to relinquish the post, that he made his will, dated 25 Aug. He asked for burial in the church of St. Magnus, and left the sum of ten marks to the fraternity of St. Mary there. He also established a chantry for ten years, and an obit for 20. Among his bequests were sums of money left to his sister, Elizabeth Godfrey, and to two individuals who were to assist his widow, Eleanor, with transactions involving his property in Kent and London. He also left ten marks to the Ironmongers’ Company. The residue of his estate was to be divided into two parts, the first to go to Eleanor with the remainder divided between his four sons and two daughters. The will was proved just five days later. Eleanor survived Fleming for another decade, during which she married as her second husband William Kerver. She was dead by May 1476 when letters were drawn up by one of her sons, William Fleming, authorising two attorneys to receive seisin of his portion of the Flemings’ holdings in Kent.14 Cal. Letter Bk. London, L, 35; PCC 5 Godyn (PROB11/5, ff. 35v-36); C1/20/110; CCR, 1468-76, no. 60; English deeds, 373.