Constituency Dates
Shaftesbury 1421 (Dec.), 1422, 1423, 1425, 1427
Dorset 1431
Somerset 1433, 1435, 1437
Family and Education
s. of Thomas Hody (d.1442), of Kington Magna, Dorset; er. bro. of Alexander*. educ. chantry school, Woolavington, Som., ?M. Temple.1 J.H. Baker, Men of Ct. (Selden Soc. supp. ser. xviii), i. 881; Readers and Readings (ibid. xiii), 144. m. by 1430,2 Dorset Feet of Fines (Dorset Recs. x), 307; Som. Feet of Fines (Som. Rec. Soc. xxii), 190. J. Edwin-Cole, Gen. Fam. Cole, 6-7 wrongly identifies Hody’s wife as one of coheiresses of the Coles of Nethway. In fact, Margery, the wid. of Hody’s father-in-law John Jewe, married as her second husband John Cole I* to whom she brought her dower lands (J. Hutchins, Dorset, ii. 228-9, 232; Reg. Chichele, ii. 89-91), and the Cole manor of Nethway came to Hody by purchase in 1435: CP25(1)/46/83/114. Elizabeth (d. 3 Aug. 1473), da. and h. of John Jewe (d.1416), of Whitfield in Wiveliscombe, Som. and Pilsdon, 5s. inc. William†, 3da. Kntd. bef. June 1440. Summ. as King’s serjeant-at-law 1439, as c.j.KB 1442.3 Hody died before the Parl. assembled.
Offices Held

Attestor, parlty. election, Som. 1429.

Commr., Berks., Bristol, Cornw., Devon, Dorset, Essex, Hants, Kent, London, Mdx., Northants., Oxon., Salop, Som., Surr., Wilts., Worcs. May 1428 – Oct. 1441; of gaol delivery, Dorchester June 1428, June 1429, Feb., July 1434 (q.), Feb. 1435, Aug. 1436 (q.), Ilchester July 1429, May 1430 (q.), May 1431 (q.), July, Aug. 1435 (q.), Aug. 1436, May 1437, May 1440 (q.), Wells Feb. 1430, Bristol Mar. 1439, Hereford castle, Oxford castle Jan. 1439 (q.), Gloucester castle Feb. 1439, Worcester castle June 1439 (q.), Gloucester castle, Oxford castle (q.), Shrewsbury, Worcester castle Feb. 1440, Old Sarum Dec. 1440, Newgate Jan. 1441, Canterbury castle July 1441;4 C66/423, m. 8d; 424, mm. 6d, 8d; 427, mm. 23d, 32d, 430, m. 9d; 433, m. 9d; 435, m. 17d; 436, m. 14d; 437, mm. 4d, 25d; 438, m. 4d; 440, m. 21d; 443, mm. 10d, 20d; 445, m. 21d; 446, mm. 5d, 24d; 448, mm. 9d, 20d, 450, m. 22d. to take assize of novel disseisin, Devon June 1438, Cornw. Oct. 1439 (q.).5 C66/442, m. 29d; 445, m. 21d.

J.p.q. Som. 2 Dec. 1430 – d., Berks. 12 Feb. 1439 – d., Salop 13 Feb. 1439 – June 1440, Staffs. 21 Feb. 1439–d.,6 Omitted in The Commons 1386–1421, iii. 384–6. Glos. 18 May 1439 – Apr. 1440, Suss. 8 July 1440 – d., Mdx. 8 July 1440–d.,7 Omitted in ibid. Kent 24 July 1440 – d., Surr. 16 Oct. 1440 – d., Essex 17 Feb. 1441 – d.

Escheator, Som. and Dorset 26 Nov. 1431 – 5 Nov. 1432.

Recorder, Bristol c. 1438 – Apr. 1440.

Serjeant-at-law, July 1438;8 Order of Serjeants at Law (Selden Soc. supp. ser. v), 162. King’s serj. 8 Nov. 1438; c.j.KB 13 Apr. 1440–d.9 KB27/716, rot. 1.

Justice of assize, western circuit 24 Jan. 1439, eastern circuit 10 June 1440.

Address
Main residences: Stowell, Som.; Pilsdon, Dorset.
biography text

More may be added to the earlier biography.10 The Commons 1386-1421, iii. 384-6.

Like previous Parliaments, that of 1437 (which in the event was to be Hody’s last as an elected Member) saw him heavily involved in the business of the Crown as well as that of the Commons. On 18 Mar. 1437, the day before he headed the deputation sent by the Commons to inform the King of the replacement of (Sir) John Tyrell* as Speaker by William Burley I*, he was ordered by the treasurer, Lord Cromwell, to attend upon a matter pending between the King and John Vanne of Sherborne before Chief Justice Juyn, and on 14 May he and a fellow lawyer, Robert Rodes*, were each paid ten marks in reward for their efforts in the recently-dissolved Parliament. More similar rewards were to follow after Hody had taken the coif.11 PROME, xi. 216; E403/725, m. 19; 727, m. 3; 734, m. 8.

Like many successful lawyers, Hody had extensive professional connexions among the gentry and nobility, many of whom shared the assessment of the London Brewers’ Company who in 1437-8 described him as ‘a parfyte man yn the lawe’.12 Baker, i. 881. By 1435 he was in receipt of an annuity of 40s. from Sir William Ferrers of Chartley,13 E163/7/31/1. but one such tie which in the event proved particularly long-lasting was that with the Butler earls of Ormond. Whereas Sir John served James Butler (later earl of Wiltshire), as a feoffee, his second son William would later maintain this connexion into the 1490s.14 Genealogist, n.s. xxii. 26.

Author
H.W.K.
Volume
Commons 1422-1461
Notes
  • 1. J.H. Baker, Men of Ct. (Selden Soc. supp. ser. xviii), i. 881; Readers and Readings (ibid. xiii), 144.
  • 2. Dorset Feet of Fines (Dorset Recs. x), 307; Som. Feet of Fines (Som. Rec. Soc. xxii), 190. J. Edwin-Cole, Gen. Fam. Cole, 6-7 wrongly identifies Hody’s wife as one of coheiresses of the Coles of Nethway. In fact, Margery, the wid. of Hody’s father-in-law John Jewe, married as her second husband John Cole I* to whom she brought her dower lands (J. Hutchins, Dorset, ii. 228-9, 232; Reg. Chichele, ii. 89-91), and the Cole manor of Nethway came to Hody by purchase in 1435: CP25(1)/46/83/114.
  • 3. Hody died before the Parl. assembled.
  • 4. C66/423, m. 8d; 424, mm. 6d, 8d; 427, mm. 23d, 32d, 430, m. 9d; 433, m. 9d; 435, m. 17d; 436, m. 14d; 437, mm. 4d, 25d; 438, m. 4d; 440, m. 21d; 443, mm. 10d, 20d; 445, m. 21d; 446, mm. 5d, 24d; 448, mm. 9d, 20d, 450, m. 22d.
  • 5. C66/442, m. 29d; 445, m. 21d.
  • 6. Omitted in The Commons 1386–1421, iii. 384–6.
  • 7. Omitted in ibid.
  • 8. Order of Serjeants at Law (Selden Soc. supp. ser. v), 162.
  • 9. KB27/716, rot. 1.
  • 10. The Commons 1386-1421, iii. 384-6.
  • 11. PROME, xi. 216; E403/725, m. 19; 727, m. 3; 734, m. 8.
  • 12. Baker, i. 881.
  • 13. E163/7/31/1.
  • 14. Genealogist, n.s. xxii. 26.