WYCOMBE, John, of Wells, Som.

In 1387 Wycombe furnished security for a tailor at his release from prison in Bristol. He himself was engaged in the cloth trade, being assessed for alnage at Wells for 51 ‘dozens’ between 1395 and 1397 and for two-and-a-half broadcloths in 1402. He had been made a freeman of Wells in 1396, after pledges had been provided on his behalf by Richard Ferrour; and in later years he performed various duties of local significance (offices apart). For example, in 1407 he was chosen by the master of Wells to consider, as a member of an improvised council, Edward Goudgrome’s petition for re-admission to the freedom. In May of that year he was bequeathed £1 by another burgess, Richard Groos, and in 1411 he offered guarantees to enable Thomas Dynt to obtain his citizenship. Wycombe attested the parliamentary indentures for Wells at Ilchester in 1410, during his second of two successive terms as master. He had earlier come into close contact with the cathedral authorities at Wells: in 1395 he and his wife had been beneficiaries under the will of Thomas Spert, the chancellor of the cathedral, who named him as an executor. He is not recorded after January 1415.CCR, 1385-9, p. 291; E101/343/28, 30, 344/4; Wells City Chs. (Som. Rec. Soc. xlvi), 131, 136; Som. Med. Wills, 27; C219/10/5; HMC Wells, ii. ch. 535; convoc bk. f. 174; Bristol Wills, 52-53.