Family and Education

s. of William Horseley of Shrewsbury.1

Offices Held

Assessor, Shrewsbury Sept. 1392-3, 1403-4, 1409-10, 1413-14; bailiff 1414-15, 1421-2; coroner 1415-16.2

Biography

Horseley’s grandfather, Thomas, a cardmaker, appears with his son William on the 1372 roll of Shrewsbury burgesses. Robert himself was admitted to the freedom in July 1384, and before the end of the century he became one of the leading mercers of the town. Save for his attendance in the Commons, his public activities seem to have been confined to local affairs: in March 1389 he served as a juror at an inquiry regarding the proposal by Thomas Pride* to found a chantry; he was again a juror at the sessions of the peace in 1408; he witnessed local conveyances, and did duty as an assessor at meetings of the guild merchant. Having just completed his fourth term as one of the six ‘supersedentes’ (assessors), he was elected as bailiff in the autumn of 1414; and it was early in his year of office that he was first returned to Parliament. In December 1416, shortly after again serving as parliamentary burgess, he was among those who gave their assent in the common hall to ordinances regarding the collection of the ‘taske’ of the town. Horseley is last heard of in September 1425 when he was once more a witness to a Shrewsbury deed.3

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

Variants: Herseley, Horseleg.

• 1. Trans. Salop Arch. Soc. (ser. 3), iii. 372.
• 2. Ibid. (ser. 1), iii. 243; Shrewsbury Guildhall, box II, 67, ff. 10-13d.
• 3. Trans. Salop Arch. Soc. (ser. 3), iv. 221, 230; v. 37, 48; vii. 322; liv. 74; Shrewsbury Guildhall, box II, 67, f. 84; box LXXVI, 2692; C143/407/32; Salop Peace Roll ed. Kimball, 33, 83.