JAMES, John, of Weymouth, Dorset.

In 1379 James was recorded shipping cloth from Melcombe Regis, but he actually lived in the neighbouring town of Weymouth where he regularly witnessed deeds from 1388 to 1414. Besides his service in the Commons, he also represented Weymouth at the shire court at Dorchester following the borough elections to the Parliaments of 1407 and 1413 (May).In the latter year he was occupying a house next to one belonging to Thomas Cole I, and although in 1415 he became, on behalf of Thomas Faringdon, a feoffee of property in Dorchester,E122/102/10; C146/144, 1415, 2376, 4823; Recs. Dorchester ed. Mayo, 181, 206; C219/10/4, 11/2; PCC 27 Marche. it was still as a merchant ‘of Weymouth’ that, in October 1419, he took out a royal pardon for failing to attend the court of common pleas to answer William Nicholl of Southampton touching a suit for debt. This, if nothing else, raises the possibility that he was related to the merchant family of Southampton of the same name.CPR, 1416-22, p. 227; HMC 11th Rep. III, 13, 76.