SKINNER, Richard (by 1506-75), of Barnstaple, Devon.

As an ex-mayor Richard Skinner took precedence over the current mayor, William Salusbury, when they were elected for Barnstaple to the last Marian Parliament; he had recently been named one of the capital burgesses in the town’s new charter. First heard of as the lessee of the Luppingcote garden in Barnstaple in 1526-7, he later took leases of several properties from chantries within the parish church; for the subsidy of 1540 he was assessed at 10s. It is not known what was the nature of the variance ‘betwixt the town and Richard Skinner’ which in 1531-2 was referred to the recorder, Hugh Pollard. Skinner was buried in Barnstaple church on 12 Aug. 1575.Wainwright, i. 190, 206; ii. 28, 32; CPR, 1548-9, p. 363; 1549-51, p. 169; 1555-7, p. 391; E179/97/214; N. Devon Athenaeum, 1141; 1142; 3972, f. 50; D. Drake ms op. cit. 29.