TOLLER, John II

It is possible that the man who sat for New Windsor in 1460 was in fact John Toller I*, the Chancery clerk. Indeed, this royal official is known to have been involved in the town’s affairs through his association with Thomas Manning, the dean of Windsor, for whom he stood surety at the Exchequer in 1451.3 CFR, xviii. 238; However, it is much more likely that the man returned for the borough to this Parliament was the John Toller who later occupied the local offices of bailiff and mayor.

Toller was also known as alias Hampton,4 e.g. St. George’s recs. XV 43/36. and it was by the latter name that he first appeared in the local records, in 1457. Together with his wife, the only child of Robert Marett, he then paid a rent of 2s. 6d. for a garden in Eton, just across the river from Windsor.5 Eton Coll., Eton deeds, 63/178. Also as Hampton he witnessed a deed at New Windsor in October 1458, and as Toller alias Hampton he leased a tenement in the town during the following decade. It would seem that his business as a tailor prospered in a modest way, for in 1472 he was able to take out a ten-year lease of a garden belonging to the clerks of St. George’s chapel, for which he paid 6s. 8d. p.a.6 St. George’s recs. XV 43/29, 33, 45/211. Toller is regularly recorded witnessing deeds in his home town from 1470 to 1495,7 Ibid. XV 43/28, 45, 50, 54, 62, 63, 58/C 12; Eton Coll., Windsor deeds, 893. and during this period his fellow burgesses elected him as bailiff for five terms and once as mayor. Shortly before he first took up the role of bailiff, in 1472, he was named on the parliamentary indenture for New Windsor as a mainpernor for William Evington†, one of the burgesses-elect.8 C219/17/2. Besides his official duties, Toller also did service as an alderman and as a juror in the borough court, while in 1492 he was one of seven ‘suitors’ who together with the mayor and steward made a formal settlement to bring a local dispute to an end.9 R.R. Tighe and J.E. Davis, Annals of Windsor, i. 400n; Berks. RO, Windsor ct. rolls, WI/JB/1/1; Eton Coll., Windsor deeds, 236. Still active in the town’s affairs in 1496, Toller is last recorded in 1500, as renting property from the community.10 Eton Coll., Windsor deeds, 895; Tighe and Davis, 450n.