PLOMER, Robert

Almost certainly related to the Geoffrey Plomer who was bailiff of Bedford in 1400-2,2 Bedford bor. recs., deeds, BorBE2/49, 52. Robert was active by the autumn of 1408 when he received a conveyance of three acres in the town’s ‘Seynt Maryfeld’.3 Beds. and Luton Archs., deed, 1408, W18. He also held lands at ‘Lytlyscroft’ and a tenement in St. Paul’s parish,4 Ibid. 1410, W19; Beds. Historical Rec. Soc. xxv. 21. and a couple of local subsidy rolls indicate that he was one of the wealthiest residents of Bedford during Henry V’s reign.5 Bedford bor. recs., subsidy rolls, 1416-17, BorBD1/2, 6. His first known term as bailiff of Bedford coincided with a quarrel between the town’s freemen and non-burgesses, over the expenses of its MPs. In February 1425, a few months into that term, he was among the representatives that the burgesses sent to Westminster, to argue that all residents of the borough, even those not enfranchised, should contribute to those expenses.6 Ibid., award of William Babington c.j.c.p. and John Cokayne, 1425, BorBG1/1. In the following year Plomer was returned to the Commons with Henry Boner*, his fellow bailiff in 1424-5 and 1431-2. He appears not to have held any other office after completing a term as mayor of Bedford in 1442 but he was still alive in January 1446.7 Beds. and Luton Archs., deeds, 1419, 1446, W20, W29. The will, made in 1500, of Isabel Wyttesley ‘alias Plomer’ of Bedford does not refer to the MP.8 Beds. Historical Rec. Soc. xlv. 16-17.