ROBARD, Thomas

Robard and his wife rented a number of properties in Winchester. In 1434 they took on a 16-year lease of a tenement in the High Street, paying 16s. p.a., and in 1438 a 26-year lease of a house with a garden in Fleshmonger Street, for 18s. p.a. Nearby they rented another garden and a cottage, and in Hollow Lane Robard was the tenant of more property from 1452 to 1466.2 D.J. Keene, Surv. Winchester (Winchester Studies, 2), ii. nos. 162, 196, 311, 312, 1033; Winchester Coll. muns. 1430. He appears to have made his living by trading in flints, timber and lime, which on occasion he supplied to the civic authorities.3 Keene, ii. 1333. Otherwise, little is recorded of his private affairs or his dealings with other citizens, although he did witness the will of Joan Pystor, or Baker, made in Winchester in May 1454.4 Winchester Coll. muns. 1207.

Robard contributed 2s. towards the expenses of Winchester’s representatives in the Parliament of 1445-6,5 Hants RO, Winchester recs., W/E4/4. but held no post of any distinction in the city before he himself entered the Commons in 1449. John Dutton*, the former mayor, stood surety for his attendance.6 C219/15/7. He assisted in the collection of parliamentary subsidies in the city in the years 1452-4, before his election as the junior bailiff.7 Winchester recs., W/E1/19, 20. Ex officio, he was required to respond to the sheriff’s precept to hold parliamentary elections in 1455.8 C219/16/3. Still numbered among the ‘commons’ of Winchester, on 23 Jan. 1456 he was among the 18 chosen from that group who, along with 16 selected from the elite ‘Twenty-Four’ were empowered to administer the affairs of the city. Last recorded in January 1467, attending a meeting of the citizens,9 Black Bk. 87, 92. Robard died before 1469, when his widow was occupying his property in Hollow Lane.10 Keene, ii. no. 1033.