REDESHULL, John

Whatever his origins, Redeshull was by no means an outsider to Wycombe when he represented it in Parliament. He acquired a messuage there from Thomas Merston* and his wife in 1425,1 CP25(1)/22/118/17. and he was among those to whom Merston conveyed a local rent 20 years later.2 Centre for Bucks. Studies, CH1 T/6/5. One of the executors of Roger More* of Wycombe in late 1445,3 CP40/746, rot. 162d. he was probably also the John Redeshull, ‘senior’, involved in the conveyance of a meadow in the town in the spring of 1450.4 Centre for Bucks. Studies, CH1 T/6/10.

Thanks to the loss of most of the borough’s records, it is impossible to establish whether Redeshull held office at Wycombe. If he did not, it is possible that it was because of an attachment with the royal household. A John Redeshull was a groom of the chamber by the mid 1420s and attended the King’s coronation in November 1429. He also received robes in 1434-5 (as a yeoman of the King’s jewels) and 1444-5 (as a yeoman of the chamber).5 E404/42/274; 43/347; E403/683, m. 1; E361/6, rot. 20; E101/409/13; Add. 17721, f. 38d. When the Parliament of 1450 passed its Act of Resumption this John and a Household associate, John Welsbourne II* (certainly a Wycombe man), obtained an exemption covering any grants they had received from the Crown, provided that none of these was worth more than £10 p.a.6 PROME, xii. 128.