SMITH, John I

Of unknown origins, Smith was probably already a jurat of Sandwich when elected to his only Parliament in 1425, although the first evidence of his holding that office is from early in the following decade. Given that he subsequently became mayor of the town, he is a surprisingly obscure figure. During his mayoralty he employed Henry Cock* as his deputy and appears to have attended just one meeting of the Brodhull,3 Ibid. ff. 5v, 8; White and Black Bks. of Cinque Ports (Kent Rec. Ser. xix), 1. perhaps suggesting that other commitments distracted him from his duties. He is not heard of after his reappointment as a jurat in December 1434 and he may have died shortly afterwards.

The evidence for Smith’s private affairs is similarly scanty. He is recorded as a vintner in a bede roll which commemorated him and his wife, Jane, for bequeathing a vestment, a cope ‘of imperial’ and ‘a grayell’ to their home parish church of St. Mary’s, and in December 1433 he obtained the farm of the common crane on Sandwich wharf for £8 p.a. In March the following year, two London vintners appeared before the mayor and jurats to acknowledge payment of £54 arising from a recognizance given to them by the MP and John Stokker, almost certainly in connexion with business dealings.4 Boys, 373; ‘Old Black Bk.’, ff. 14v, 16.