SAVEREY, Peter

Saverey was one of several Southwark MPs in this period who practised a trade in London and belonged to one of the City guilds, in his case that of the tailors. Rather than serve an apprenticeship as a tailor, however, he obtained the freedom of the City by redemption in 1410-11, at a cost of £3, which suggests that his financial resources were already quite substantial. Indeed, on payment of a further 20s., he was admitted the same year to the livery of his chosen craft, marking the start of a successful career as a member of the tailors’ fraternity, dedicated to St. John the Baptist. In October 1429 he was elected as one of the four wardens for the ensuing year, and 11 years later he was chosen as master of the guild. Yet, in other respects he kept a relatively low profile within the craft: he enrolled few apprentices and contributed only occasionally to levies raised by the master and wardens, such as that raised in 1439-40 to pay for the new charter acquired by the guild from Henry VI.3 Merchant Taylors’ Co. accts. 34048/1, ff. 55v-56, 162, 204, 247, 295, 317v, 327v. He did nevertheless associate with some important London tailors, including other former masters such as William Auntrous, John Arcall and William Knotte: in 1446 all four were named among the recipients of the gift of goods and chattels made by another prominent tailor, John Locok, and four years later Saverey acted as Locok’s feoffee for a tenement in Candlewick Street in the parish of St. Mary Abchurch.4 Cal. P. and M. London, 1437-57, p. 171; Corp. London RO, hr 179/18.

Saverey’s limited presence in London is explained by his activities in Southwark, where he lived from at least 1417, when he was a juror at an inquisition post mortem concerning the lands of Sir Adam Francis† in the borough.5 C138/29/53. Throughout the 1420s and 1430s he periodically served on similar juries (including one held in February 1433 regarding the lands of John Mowbray, duke of Norfolk),6 KB9/210/69; C138/52/103; C139/60/42. and he was also a popular choice as a mainpernor and witness in local transactions. His return to Parliament for Southwark in 1427 aside, he once again left his mark on national affairs in 1437, when he was appointed as one of the collectors of the subsidy in the county of Surrey.7 CCR, 1409-13, p. 410; 1422-9, p. 468; 1435-41, pp. 130-2, 340; CFR, xvi. 355; E179/184/88, 89. It is probable that Saverey’s business affairs were likewise centred on Southwark, where in April 1440 a formal inquiry was held concerning his dispute with the widowed Alice Milton over the sale of cloth.8 C145/309/10. It is probable that Saverey, like many tailors, acquired his wealth from trading in fabric rather than the less lucrative clothing industry, and even after his admission to the tailors’ guild he was still styled a ‘draper of Southwark’.9 CCR, 1409-13, p. 410.

If Saverey’s connexions in London never propelled him into the ranks of the city elite, he was nevertheless able to contract a marriage to a city widow, Juliana, the former wife of the mercer William Brounyng. Juliana brought with her three children from her first marriage, who had each been left £10 by their father, but all died while still minors, two in 1420 and the third in 1433. On each occasion Saverey appeared before the mayor and aldermen to reclaim the legacy on behalf of his wife.10 Cal. Letter Bk. London, I, 242-3. The Savereys owned property in Southwark from at least 1430, when they acquired three messuages and three gardens in St. Gregory’s parish from Walter Green*, his wife Alice, and Thomas Motte*.11 CP25(1)/232/71/43; PCC 9 Stokton. Further afield, there were holdings in Frindsbury, near Rochester in Kent, and in the London parish of St. Botolph’s Bishopsgate. The total value of these properties is uncertain, but the lands in Kent and Surrey alone were said in 1436 to meet the minimum value of £5 p.a. required for inclusion in the income tax of that year.12 Surr. Hist. Centre, Woking, Loseley mss, LM/1719.

The focus of Saverey’s religious life lay in the bankside parish of St. Margaret’s, Southwark. In 1444-5 the churchwardens’ accounts listed ‘ii bellis of sylver ... that Julyan Saverey gaffe’, and in 1457 the accountant recorded some vestments ‘that Pers Savereyn hath freely graunted and yeven to God & to the chirche of Seynt Marget’. The vestments, which included four copes of blue and gold, were said to have cost £117, which reveals something of Saverey’s wealth at the time of his death. They were probably provided by his executors out of his estate, although the gift is not referred to in his will.13 London Metropolitan Archs., St. Margaret’s Southwark, churchwardens’ accts. P92/SAV/1 (printed in Brit. Mag. (1847), 484-95). In view of his attachment to St. Margaret’s it is not surprising to find Saverey among the founders of the guild of the Assumption in the church in May 1449, alongside John Gloucester III*.14 CPR, 1446-52, p. 264. As a prominent parishioner he also acted as a feoffee of John, Lord Berners, who acquired lands there in May 1454.15 CCR, 1447-54, p. 498.

Saverey made his will on 3 June 1457, asking to be buried by the altar in St. Margaret’s church. He established an obit there for ten years, for his soul and that of his late wife, leaving ten marks for the purpose, of which 13s. 4d. was to come from the three messuages in St. Gregory’s parish which he had acquired from Walter Green. The properties themselves were left to his elder daughter, Joan, with reversion to his other daughter, Alice Rule, who was to receive his tenements in St. Botolph’s Bishopsgate in London and in Frindsbury. In addition to these tenements he also left 20s. for the upkeep of his principal mansion for three weeks after his death. It is likely that this was not the full extent of his landed holdings, however, for as well as his two daughters he also had a son, George, who was not left any property in the will yet was old enough to be appointed an executor and, with his sisters, was left the residue of his father’s estate. Among Savery’s other bequests were sums of money for his servants and an apprentice, as well as 6s. 8d. to be divided among the inmates of the almshouse of the Tailors’ Company in the parish of St. Martin Outwich, indicating a continued connexion with the guild in London. The other executors of the will, proved on 7 July, were the testator’s son-in-law, John Rule, and Thomas Salle.16 PCC 9 Stokton. It is just possible that George was the boy of this name who was enrolled as a tailor’s apprentice in 1430-1: Merchant Taylors’ Co. accts. 34048/1, f. 215.