CARTER, John II (d.1432), of Scarborough, Yorks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421, ed. J.S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe., 1993
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

May 1421

Family and Education

prob. s. of John Carter I*. m. at least 1s.1

Offices Held

J.p. Scarborough 10 Feb. 1411-Dec. 1413.

Bailiff, Scarborough Mich. 1411-12, 1415-16, 1420-1.2

Biography

John II is first mentioned in August 1392 when, as ‘John Carter the younger’ he witnessed a deed in Scarborough. He was quite probably a son of John I, and thus a member of one of the most powerful families in the borough. He first became bailiff in September 1411, and seized the opportunity as officer responsible for holding the parliamentary elections to have himself returned to the House of Commons just two months later. Indeed, all three of his terms of service as an MP occurred while he occupied municipal office, although it is now impossible to tell if he had some personal reason for wanting a seat in the Commons. Few commissions of the peace were issued specifically for the Scarborough area during our period, and his appearance on one of these in February 1411 suggests that his local influence was so strong as to assure his election to Parliament irrespective of whatever post he may have had at the time. One of his tasks as bailiff, in the summer of 1412, was to distrain Richard Carter, who may well have been his brother, for damages owed to the Hanse merchant, John Dordewant, by the late John Carter I and another of his kinsmen, John Carter ‘atte Monkes’, with whom he is easily confused.3

Not much is heard of John II after he finally retired from public life in 1421, although he is known to have brought an unsuccessful action for the recovery of a debt of £40 against a Norfolk man at some point over the next eight years. As well as extensive holdings in Scarborough (including land next to a tenement of William Seamer’s* in Cook Row), he owned a modest amount of property at Everley in the Yorkshire village of Hackness, which descended to his son and namesake after his death. He died intestate shortly before 3 Oct. 1432, the administration of his goods being then assigned to a group of Scarborough men. One of them was named Laurence Carter, and may well have been another son.4

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: C.R.

Notes

  • 1. Yorks. Arch. Soc. Rec. Ser. lxix. 48.
  • 2. C219/10/6, 12/4; E159/180 m. 14; E368/184 m. 127, 185 m. 98v, 193 m. 105, 194 m. 91; SC1/57/30.
  • 3. White Vellum Bk. Scarborough ed. Jeayes, no. 18C; C219/10/6, 12/4, 5; SC1/57/30.
  • 4. CPR, 1429-36, p. 14; Yorks. Arch. Soc. Rec. Ser. lxix. 48; Borthwick Inst. York, York registry wills, ii. ff. 550, 618.