ALDWICK, John

The earlier biography failed to notice that Aldwick’s father, Thomas, had been admitted to the freedom of Hull in 1392, and that he himself became a freeman by patrimony in 1407. Thirty-one years later it was the turn of his only son, Geoffrey, to be similarly admitted.3 Ibid. bench bk, 1, BRG 1, f. 18v; bench bk. 2, BRE 1, p. 240; The Commons 1386-1421, ii. 22.

The identity of Aldwick’s wife is provided by a lawsuit of Easter term 1440 when the Grimsby lawyer, Richard Duffield*, sued him and his wife, Elizabeth, described as the widow of another Grimsby lawyer, William Fosse, for a debt of 40s. Fosse died in the early 1420 s and it is thus probable that the couple had been married for some time.4 CP40/717, rot. 71d.

It was during Aldwick’s mayoralty that the burgesses of Kingston-upon-Hull received a new charter, incorporating them as a county and placing the government of the town in the hands of a mayor and 12 aldermen. Aldwick was named, as mayor, among the 13 individuals thus chosen on 23 May 1440, and he took up his role as one of the aldermen of St. Mary’s ward at the end of his official year.5 Kingston-upon-Hull bench bk. 3, BRE 2, f. 9v.

Although scant evidence remains of Aldwick’s mercantile concerns his activities, like those of many of the town’s leading merchants, sometimes brought him into conflict with the Crown. In October 1432, along with John Grimsby*, John Gregg* and five other men, he was outlawed in Middlesex for his failure to pay specified sums to the King, perhaps in relation to fines incurred for the non-payment of customs. In December that year a commission led by James Strangeways, j.c.p., was appointed to value their goods and chattels in Yorkshire.6 E159/209, commissiones Mich. rot. 11; KB27/698, rex rot. 16.