FAWKES, Thomas, of Bishop's Lynn, Norf.

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

Family and Education


Offices Held

Chamberlain, Lynn Mich. 1379-80, 1390-1, 1398-9, 1404-5; constable Oct. 1386.1

Biography

Members of the Fawkes family had been burgesses of Lynn since the very beginning of the 14th century, and had used the port for their business, exporting forage and grain to Zeeland and Norway.2 Thomas himself was admitted to the freedom, along with his brother Edmund, on 17 Oct. 1375 (by payment of a £2 fine), their pledges for admission being Edmund Beleyeter* and Robert Botkesham*. In 1385-6 Fawkes served as a scabin of the Holy Trinity guild of merchants. His own main trading interest was in cloth.3 Although by 1392 he had become one of the council of 24, he never attained a post higher than that of chamberlain, nor was he ever chosen as one of the mayor’s councillors; but he was considered important enough to be an elector of the borough’s parliamentary representatives in 1384, 1386, 1388 and 1394, and of the town officers in 1393, 1394 and 1395, and, eventually, to sit as an MP.4 Fawkes was named in November 1403 as a feoffee of lands in nearby North Runcton, West Winch, Hardwick and Middleton.5

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

  • 1. Red Reg. King’s Lynn, ed. Ingleby, ff. 126, 133, 164; HMC 11th Rep. III, 222, 223; King’s Lynn Town Hall, Ea 40, 42.
  • 2. Cal. Freemen of Lynn, 5, 13, 20; Red Reg. f. 145d; CPR, 1364-7, p. 189.
  • 3. Red Reg. f. 121; N.S.B. Gras, Early Eng. Customs System, 531, 542; Lynn Town Hall, Gd 47.
  • 4. Red Reg. ff. 115d, 117-18, 120-1, 124d, 127, 129d.
  • 5. CP25(1)168/182/40.