JOBSON, Walter (d.1605), of Hull, Yorks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Family and Education

m. 29 Aug. 1540, Elizabeth, wid. of William Page, clothworker of London, at least 1s.1

Offices Held

Warden, London Clothworkers’ Co. bef. 1544-aft. 1559; sheriff, Hull 1545-6, mayor 1549-50, 1556-7; commr. subsidy 1549, 1559; for survey of church goods 1553.2

Biography

Though the surname is not uncommon in Yorkshire, it has not been possible to trace the origins of this Member. Clearly, however, he was connected with, and possibly a relative of, Sir Francis Jobson, who had married the half-sister of John Dudley, Earl of Warwick. Perhaps Walter Jobson was also in Warwick’s entourage, for he was associated with him and Francis Jobson in the sale of 100 ‘foders’ of lead in 1547. Another example of ties between the three men concerns a grant of monastic lands made by Edward VI to the Earl of Warwick in May 1551, which the Earl then sold to Sir Francis Jobson, and he, at the beginning of Mary’s reign, to Walter Jobson. Sir Francis was involved in the attempt to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne, and Walter voted against a government bill in the Parliament of 1555. Unpopular though his radical inclinations must have been with the government of the day, as a prominent townsman he could always be sure of a seat at Hull, and, fittingly, the last Parliament in which he sat was that which re-established a protestant form of worship.3

Jobson was still prominent enough a member of the London Clothworkers’ Company in 1559 to be chosen sheriff of London. He refused to serve ‘by reason of sickness and debility of body wherewith he of long time hath been and yet is sore vexed, diseased and troubled’. Next, he refused to pay a fine, and was committed to the Wood Street counter. Five days after his imprisonment he agreed to pay the fine of £200 on condition that he and his children should be exempt from appointment to the office in future. In 1560 he was still corresponding with Sir Francis Jobson, but perhaps the relationship had become less close as Walter was not mentioned in Sir Francis’s will. In June 1565 Jobson, describing himself as a merchant of Hull, brought a suit in Chancery alleging the supply of bad beer against a Londoner, William Partridge, which shows that his trading interests were still wide. He died in December 1605 when he must have been very old, and was succeeded by his son Walter, aged 58.4

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: A. M. Mimardière

Notes

  • 1. Reg. St. Mary le Bow, London, ii. 317; PCC 7 Alenger; PCC admon. act bk. 1559-71, ff. 49, 89; CPR, 1557-8, p. 330.
  • 2. DKR, 30, pp. 186-7; Clothworkers’ Co., orders of ct. 1536-58, f. 305a; Tickell, Hist. Hull, 675-6; E179/203/254, 265; CPR, 1550-3, p. 394.
  • 3. LP Hen. VIII, xix(2), p. 311; Richardson, Ct. of Augmentations, 1536-54, pp. 49, 305; E315/327/10; Lansd. 106, f. 50; Guildford Mus. Loseley mss 1331/2.
  • 4. London Jnl. 17, ff. 145, 154; London Rep. 14, ff. 212r, 335r, 336v; HMC Hatfield, i. 254; PCC 25 Peter; C3/100/58/; C142/410/88.