MASON, John

More may be added to the earlier biography,2 The Commons 1386-1421, iii. 700. although doubts must remain as to whether the same John Mason sat for both Lewes and East Grinstead, owing to lack of information about the MP for Lewes. The man who represented East Grinstead in at least two Parliaments was living in the town by 28 Oct. 1402, when he supplied a large candle to be taken burning to the parish church for the baptism of Thomas St. Cler, the heir to substantial estates in Sussex. Mason later served as a juror at East Grinstead for the post mortem on St. Cler’s uncle Thomas† in 1416, and in a similar capacity at official inquiries about St. Cler’s inheritance conducted in 1423. Then, too, he was among those who, on 6 Mar. 1424, attested that St. Cler had attained his majority. By that date, Mason, now called ‘senior’ (presumably to distinguish him from a younger namesake), was himself over 60 years old.3 C138/19/25; C139/3/30; 13/50.