MAINWARING, Randall (by 1507-64 or later), of Chester, Cheshire.

The Mainwarings of Chester were descended from an illegitimate son in the senior branch of the family at Peover, Cheshire. Randall Mainwaring, who is to be distinguished from a kinsman and namesake of Kermincham, Cheshire, was admitted to the freedom of Chester in 1528 as a draper. He is found importing general goods in 1533-4 and iron and Spanish goods in the 1540s; in 1554 he was one of the merchant adventurers of Chester who sued out a pardon for having exported leather, calfskins and wheat to Spain without paying customs. Seven years later, being then in the Fleet prison, he was pardoned as a draper and alderman of Chester the outlawry incurred for non-appearance in the common pleas over a debt. In 1564 the bishop of Chester, in the last reference that has been found to Mainwaring, described him as unfavourable to the Elizabethan settlement.Vis. Cheshire, 164, 166; LP Hen. VIII, xiii, add; CPR, 1553-4, p. 465; 1554-5, p. 38; 1558-60, p. 190; 1560-3, p. 372; Freemen, Chester (Lancs. and Cheshire rec. soc. li), 18; Chester RO, sheriff’s bk. 7B (customs entry bk.); 8, ff. 15, 42; 9, ff. 2-32, 95-102, 107-17; Cam. Misc. ix(3), 73.