WARDEN, John (d.1628), of Widemarsh Street, Hereford.

Sometime in the late 1580s Warden inherited all his father’s messuages and lands in Hereford and its suburbs, but was obliged to pay his mother an annuity of £10 in lieu of a jointure.8 PROB 11/73, f. 329. During the 1601 election of Hereford’s high steward he supported Sir John Scudamore†.9 Add. 11042, f. 10. Warden was returned at a by-election during the poorly recorded final session of the first Jacobean Parliament, and was re-elected with his neighbour John Hoskins in 1614; but on neither occasion did he leave any trace on the records, either as committeeman or debater. He was named as an alderman in the 1619, and as an ex-officio magistrate in 1620 he helped Hoskins to break off an undesirable match for his orphan niece. By this time he claimed to be worth £3,000, and four years later he was assessed for a subsidy on £3 land.10 STAC 8/301/26; Herefs. RO, Hereford city misc. pprs. 4, f. 40. He gave to the library of the vicars choral of Hereford Cathedral, the works of the French Calvinist poet Du Bartas.11 F.C. Morgan, ‘Hereford Cathedral: the Vicars Choral Lib.’, Trans. Woolhope Field Club, xxxv. 235. A commissioner for the Forced Loan of 1626-7 by virtue of his civic office, he was active in the collection of the levy.12 C193/12/2, f. 83v; SP16/73/29; 16/78/46. He was a party to the election return of 26 Feb. 1628,13 Herefs. RO, Hereford city misc. pprs. 4, f. 56. but was dead by 2 June following, when his widow paid the church rate in his parish of All Saints.14 Herefs. RO, Hereford All Saints par. accts. Listed as a brewer in Widemarsh ward in 1629,15 Herefs. RO, Hereford city misc. pprs. 16, f. 1. she survived him for 20 years, bequeathing to her cousin Thomas Seaborne the ‘trench ware’ appertaining to the brewery. None of Warden’s descendants are known to have sat in Parliament.16 PROB 11/214, f. 393.