Family and Education

m. (?1) c.1560, Margery Tryckett; (?2) aft. 1574, Bridget, da. of Henry Over^†, wid. of John Nethermill and of Stephen Hales; 2s. 4da.

Offices Held

Sheriff, Coventry 1571-2, mayor 1580-1, alderman from 1588.

Biography

Myles was probably related to the family which lived at Berkswell, six miles from Coventry, and which was trading in the city in 1540. Perhaps he was the John, son of Thomas Myles, who between 1562 and 1579 sued Samuel Marrow, owner of Berkswell, about the seizure of his copyhold, and was described in Marrow’s reply as a ‘villein regardaunt’.

Myles, the 1593 MP, is not known to have taken an active part in the affairs of the House beyond his appointment to a committee concerning cloth on 14 Mar. He was a draper entrusted with the supervision of part of the corporation’s estates, and naturally profited from his position to obtain leases of property from the city. The general recession in the city’s business, however, is reflected in the modest size of the fortune he bequeathed his children, in comparison with that left by his father-in-law, Henry Over. Though he was sometimes sent on messages to the Earl of Leicester, it is unlikely that Myles’s interests extended much beyond Coventry. He is not to be confused with a namesake of Chester who was concerned in several suits over the recovery of loans. John Myles of Coventry died in 1597, leaving his estates to his eldest son and modest endowments to his younger children.

Vis. Warws. (Harl. Soc. xii), 253; EHR, lxi. 237; C3/119/87; 130/3, 119; D’Ewes, 501; Coventry Leet Bk. 821, 831; Coventry council bk. ff. 189, 191, 197, 205, 219; Coventry bk. of payments, ff. 60, 68; Trans. R. Hist. Soc. (ser. vi), 1-19; CSP Dom. 1581-90, pp. 52, 76; PCC 61 Cobham.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: S. M. Thorpe

Notes