MIDDLETON, John

Middleton, a London mercer, must be distinguished from several men of the same name who were active in the city and elsewhere in this period, including a vintner and a royal household official. Nor should he be confused with either of two namesakes among the mercers, one of whom had died by 1418, while the other entered the livery of the Company at some point between 1433 and 1436.8 Med. Acct. Bks. of the Mercers, 70-71, 78-79, 82-83, 86-87, 322-3; Sutton, 556; CPR, 1436-41, p. 2. Born in Derbyshire, the later MP arrived in London in the mid 1420s, and was apprenticed to the two-times mayor William Estfield*, to be admitted to the freedom of the city in 1436-7.9 C1/27/37; Med. Acct. Bks. of the Mercers, 500-1. The following year, presumably benefiting from the influence of his prominent master, Middleton was admitted to the first of the three stages which led to membership of the livery of his craft, a process he duly completed in 1439-40. Four years after this he took on the first of a large number of apprentices whom he would train during his long career, among them his own eldest son, John.10 Med. Acct. Bks. of the Mercers, 686-7, 774-5, 796-7, 954-5. During his career Middleton was chosen as warden and subsequently master of the Mercers on no fewer than five occasions, the last of his terms of office separated from the first by just over 30 years,11 Sutton, 556-7. while his prominence in the Company was also reflected in his inclusion among the feoffees of the Mercers’ quitrents issuing from property near the Guildhall. He maintained his high profile within the Company right up to his death, and even in his final years, in 1475 and 1476, and after his retirement as an alderman, he was among a group of prominent mercers charged with negotiations concerning the payment of customs duties by members of the Company.12 Acts of Ct. Mercers’ Co. ed. Lyell and Watney, 43, 45-46, 54, 79-86, 92, 94.

Middleton maintained close relations with a number of his fellow mercers, including Geoffrey Feldyng* and William Cantelowe*, with whom he frequently served as a trustee in property transactions, including for the leading men of other crafts, such as the grocer, Stephen Brown*.13 Cal. Wills ct. Husting London, ed. Sharpe, ii. 579; London hr 179/9; 184/17; 187/11, 41; 188/4; 191/9; 200/11; 210/10. Perhaps the closest ties connected Middleton with his former master, William Estfield. He acted as a feoffee of some of Estfield’s property and was appointed one of his former master’s executors, as well as being remembered in his will. Among the bequests Estfield left to him was a large legend of the saints, along with a breviary and a vestment of gold decorated with popinjays.14 Sharpe, ii. 509-11; London hr 169/30; 175/19. The settlement of Estfield’s affairs was to occupy Middleton for several years after the former’s death in 1446. Most of Estfield’s property passed eventually to his grandson, the Sussex landowner John Bohun, and after some initial disagreements between the two men, in November 1464 Middleton made a formal charter of demise to Bohun of the Pope’s Head in Lombard Street and other property in London which he had held with Estfield and other feoffees including Henry Frowyk I* and William Melreth*.15 London hr 179/12; C1/27/37; CCR, 1461-8, p. 257; 1468-76, no. 1130. Middleton also played a pivotal role in what became Estfield’s most enduring legacy to the city of London, the extension of one of the city’s fresh water conduits, which carried water from Paddington in the west of the city. In October 1453 the executors gained permission from the mayor and aldermen to execute Estfield’s scheme, and even though progress was slow, by the time of Middleton’s own death a large part of the new conduit had been built. In addition, Middleton used his position as an executor of Estfield’s estate to establish a further water supply, this time extending from Highbury, to the north of the city, as far as the parish of St. Giles Cripplegate.16 Cal. Letter Bk. London, K, 355-7; L, 158, 207; J. Stow, Surv. London ed. Kingsford, ii. 40-41. Conversely, the execution of Estfield’s ambitious plans gave Middleton an excuse to remain in control of some of the testator’s landholdings, and thus the older man’s manor of Wotton in Surrey did not find its way into the hands of Estfield’s heirs until 1484, some seven years after Middleton’s death.17 VCH Surr. iv. 156.

Middleton’s fortunes as a merchant no doubt owed a great deal to his connexion with Estfield. Like many mercers he quickly became involved in overseas trade, and by the 1460s at the very latest had become a Merchant Adventurer, a status which enabled him to expand his business interests on the continent. The export of cloth inevitably lay at the heart of his commercial activities, although it was not until the 1460s that his name appears regularly among those of the denizen merchants who shipped this commodity through the port of London. Nevertheless, the size of some of the shipments he made suggests that he was among the most prominent exporters: in 1471-2 he took no fewer than 399½ cloths across the Channel. The profits made from such shipments, as well as his domestic dealings, enabled him to import goods from the continent, in particular linen cloth, bolting cloth and canvas.18 E122/73/23, mm. 4, 16v, 18d-19; 194/19, mm. 7v-8; 203/4, ff. 6, 8, 9v. Evidence for his business links in England can be inferred principally from the many examples of gifts of goods and chattels which were typically pledged as security for merchandise which had been bought on credit. Middleton was frequently a recipient of such ‘gifts’, the earliest of which was made by a London grocer to him and others in the autumn of 1438. Subsequent transactions suggest that he was involved in business dealings with men from a number of different crafts, as well as fellow mercers, to whom he may well have supplied imported goods from the continent. His links with haberdashers appear to have been particularly strong at a time when members of that craft became increasingly involved in the retailing of goods traditionally sold by mercers.19 CCR, 1435-41; 1447-54, pp. 141, 330, 401; 1454-61, pp. 178, 249, 426; 1468-76, no. 570; Cal. P. and M. London, 1437-57, p. 176; 1458-82, p. 170.

Middleton’s commercial success brought him to the Crown’s attention, and before long the administration sought to avail itself of his expertise. In October 1446 he and Thomas Cook II* were chosen by the chancellor as arbiters between a York merchant and Baldwin Sanheuy, an alien trader.20 CCR, 1441-7, pp. 444-5. Ten years later he and Cook were among the representatives of the Mercers, Drapers, Goldsmiths and Grocers who were appointed to ascertain how the amount of coinage in circulation might be increased by alchemy. It was, however, not merely Middeton’s specialist knowledge that the government sought to harness: on several occasions he – like other merchants – was approached for, and provided, loans of ready money. In December 1449 he contributed the sum of just one mark to the collectors of a loan of 1,000 marks which was made by the city to the Crown, but in July 1453 he alone lent the sum of £20.21 E 403/793, m. 16.

Middleton’s commercial success also enabled him to acquire property in London, although its exact extent and location are obscure. A survey taken by the Mercers’ Company in 1475 merely indicated that, as a resident of Cordwainer Street Ward, he had an income of at least £10 p.a. or £100 worth of goods, figures which clearly bore no relation to the actual size of his assets.22 Acts of Ct. Mercers’ Co., 78. Among his properties were holdings in the parish of St. Mary Aldermanbury, and in the summer of 1446 a tenement that had formerly belonged to William Estfield was settled on Middleton and his first wife, Margaret.23 London hr 175/1; C1/50/31-37.

Compared to his long mercantile career Middleton’s period of office-holding in London’s government was comparatively brief, albeit distinguished. Unusually, he possessed no previous experience beyond his company office when in September 1449 he was chosen city chamberlain. The election was contested, but, notwithstanding his inexperience, he was the clear front-runner, winning by 15 votes to three.24 Cal. Letter Bk. London, K, 329; jnl. 5, f. 15. While serving as chamberlain he attested the election of the city’s MPs for a first time, and was appointed to the first of a number of committees which were established to deal with a range of issues affecting the citizens. On relinquishing the chamberlainship in September 1450 Middleton was immediately chosen by the commonalty as one of the sheriffs, while his fellow mercer John Sturgeon* succeeded him at the city chamber.25 Cal. Letter Bk. London, K, 332; jnl. 5, ff. 26v, 30v, 46v, 66, 89v, 234v; jnl. 6, ff. 17v, 85, 154v, 182, 184v, 195, 272. These offices qualified him for the elite group of the city’s aldermen, and in April 1451 he put himself forward for the aldermanry of Langbourn Ward, but his candidacy was rejected, and he suffered another rebuff in July the same year when he failed to be selected as alderman for Broad Street. It was scant consolation that in February 1453 he was elected to represent the city in the Parliament summoned to meet at Reading early in the following month alongside his fellow mercer Cantelowe, and two grocers, Stephen Brown and John Walden*.26 Jnl. 5, ff. 56v, 61, 103v. It was not for another two years after the dissolution, in March 1456, that Middleton made another attempt to join the ranks of the city’s aldermen, this time for the ward of Dowgate, but again failed to be chosen. Yet on this occasion he had also been nominated for the westernmost ward of Farringdon Without by William Marowe*, Cook and John Felde, and on 17 Mar. he was elected unopposed. He was duly sworn in as an alderman on 21 Apr. Unwieldy Farringdon was almost certainly not Middleton’s first choice of ward, and like many ambitious men he sought to move to an inner-city ward at the first opportunity. He did not have to wait long, and on 20 Feb. 1458, he secured the nominations of two former sheriffs to be removed to Bread Street Ward. Some controversy may have accompanied his removal, for a month later the commonalty of Farringdon Without sought to present him again, either indicating that he was a popular alderman or, perhaps more likely, that they had not been impressed by his rapid departure.27 Jnl. 6, ff. 26v, 33, 64, 193, 194v. This local difficulty did not, it seems, overly trouble Middleton, and it certainly did not affect his standing among his peers, for he began to play an increasing role in the city’s affairs. Thus, later in 1458 he was named one of the city’s representatives before the King’s council to discuss matters relating to trade and the size of the fleet; in August he was among those charged with the settlement of ongoing disputes between the residents of Fleet Street and the lawyers of the Inns of Court (many of them situated in his former ward of Farringdon) which had erupted into violence; and in September he was chosen by his fellow aldermen as one of the city’s auditors, a post to which he was re-elected the following year. In October 1460, in the aftermath of the Yorkist victory at Northampton, Middleton was among those who were appointed to an ad hoc committee appointed to discuss ways of ensuring that the City’s interests would be represented in the recently summoned Parliament.28 Ibid. ff. 245, 249; Cal. Letter Bk. London, K, 395, 399. By the end of 1460, therefore, Middleton had held all but one of the principal offices of the city and might reasonably have hoped for elevation to the mayoralty in due course. Nevertheless, in March 1462 he came before the mayor and his fellow aldermen and asked formally to be exonerated from his aldermanry. Two aldermen were asked to examine his case, and they reported to the court that Middleton had given them reasons for his request which they found to be justified. Consequently, on 10 Sept. the same year, Middleton’s resignation was accepted.29 Jnl. 6, f. 17v; jnl. 7, f. 10.

The reasons for Middleton’s decision to retire from civic administration are not recorded. He may perhaps have been ill, but if so the illness was not serious enough to stop him from continuing to play an important role within the Mercers’ Company, where he was to serve as master on two subsequent occasions. Moreover, it seems that he now began to cultivate relations with the Yorkist Crown, serving a spell as a collector of tunnage and poundage in the port of London in 1463-5, and providing a series of loans to the Exchequer.30 E403/830, mm. 1, 3, 4; CPR, 1467-77, pp. 160-1. In May 1468 he was one of a large number of Londoners who pledged sums of money as security for the payment by the merchants of the Calais staple of £10,000 to Charles, duke of Burgundy, for his marriage to Edward IV’s sister, Margaret,31 E403/840, m. 11. and a year later – along with the mayor and 16 other merchants of the Calais staple – he was appointed to an embassy to treat with representatives of the duke on matters of trade.32 E404/74/1/45; Gt. Chron. London ed. Thomas and Thornley, 429; C.L. Scofield, Edw. IV, i. 453.

By 1475 Middleton had begun to put his affairs in order. It is possible that he had in some way fallen out with his son and heir, or that his second wife had brought her influence to bear over his testamentary arrangements to benefit her own children, for in May of that year he entered into a bond for the payment of the rather miserly sum of 40s. to the younger John on his coming of age.33 Cal. Letter Bk. London, L, 129. John, who had been apprenticed to his father in 1462-3, had in fact issued from his apprenticeship in 1474, and might have expected to take over the family business on his father’s death.34 Med. Acct. Bks. of the Mercers, 954-5. Almost exactly two years later, on 20 May 1477, Middleton drew up his will concerning his goods and chattels. He requested burial before the altar of St. George in his parish church of St. Mary Aldermanbury, but asked that his funeral be carried out without any worldly pomp. By a bequest of £200 he established in the church a chantry for the benefit of his soul, those of his two wives, and those of Estfield and one of the latter’s associates, William Kinwolmarsh (d.1422), the former treasurer of England. His charitable bequests included £100 to prisoners, lepers and the poor of London, while another £10 was left specifically to the poor of the Mercers’ Company and an annuity of £10 to paupers in his own parish for a term of ten years. Further annuities of £10 and £5 were respectively assigned to the poor of Middleton’s birthplace of Barlborough (where another £10 were to be spent on repairs to the parish church), and, for a term of five years, of the county town of Derby. To his friends and associates Middleton left a number of items of silver and gold plate. The most substantial bequests were reserved for his widow, Elizabeth, who was to receive £500, while his four sons by Elizabeth (Stephen, Thomas, William and Edward), and his daughter Anne, were each to have £100. Similarly, the residue of his estate was to be divided between his younger children, while their half-brother, the younger John Middleton, was explicitly excluded from receiving anything from his moveable goods. The will was proved on 8 Aug., leaving Elizabeth and two of Middleton’s sons, Stephen and William, in charge of the disposition of his estate.35 PCC 30 Wattys (PROB11/6, ff. 228v-229).

It is possible that Middleton had considered that his eldest son was adequately provided for by the landholdings which he stood to inherit, and which had been placed in the hands of a group of feoffees headed by the mercer Ralph Verney* and which also included the city recorder Thomas Urswyk II* and the common clerk William Dunthorn, but even their straightforward descent soon became subject to challenge.36 London hr 175/1; C1/50/31-37. Following Middleton’s death, his widow lost little time in marrying as her second husband the alderman Sir William Hampton†. In July 1478 the Hamptons and Middleton’s younger sons petitioned the chancellor on the strength of an alternative will, under the terms of which Middleton was supposed to have settled his property in St. Lawrence Jewry and St. Mary Aldermanbury on his widow for her lifetime with successive remainder to her four sons, claiming that his feoffees had unlawfully refused to grant them seisin, a charge which they and the younger John denied.37 C1/50/31-37. After Hampton’s death in 1483 Elizabeth went on to marry as her third husband Guy Wolston† of Northants.: CPR, 1485-94, p. 186.