SHERMAN, Richard, of Derby.

In 1364 Richard, along with his kinsmen Edmund and Hugh Sherman, the latter being a shearman in fact, served as jurors at coroners’ inquests held in Derby. He himself owned property in the town, where he traded as an ironmonger. He was assessed to pay the poll tax of 1379 at the highest rate of 18d. Later, certainly in the 1390s, he also went in for the manufacture of cloth.JUST 2/27 m. 2; E179/91/28A; E101/121/22, 343/21, 346/9. Sherman was first returned to Parliament in 1384 only shortly after relinquishing office as bailiff. In May 1385 he went surety at the local assizes for William Groos, but when later (in July 1393) he and Thomas Shore were brought before the King’s bench sitting at Derby, it was for breaches of the peace against this erstwhile associate. At the same time Sherman was indicted with Shore, John Stokkes and John Prentice I for forcibly dispossessing Henry Cook of his property in the town. Meanwhile, he had acquired, apparently by legal means, a messuage and a garden in St. Michael’s parish.JUST 1/1496 m. 28d; KB9/529 m. 30, rex m. 25d; Nottingham Univ. Lib. Middleton ms D1721/1.