SYMON, John

Born in the early years of Henry IV’s reign, Symon was admitted to the freedom of Exeter in June 1421, paying the common entry fine of £1. Exeter Freemen ed. Rowe and Jackson, 43. The MP must be distinguished from a contemporary Exeter tanner of the same name: Exeter mayors’ ct. roll 8-9 Hen. VI, rot. 7d. He established himself as a merchant of the staple and soon rose to enough prominence in the city to be elected one of the aldermen in charge of the suburbs outside the gates. C244/3/131/6. Much of the aldermen’s work arose from the regulation of the alehouses found there, and typical of Symon’s regular duties was his presentation on 16 Dec. 1426 in the mayor’s court of Eleanor Robard, a tapster known as a common disturber of the peace, who had on this occasion assaulted two men with a ‘pyntepot’ and knocked one of them out. Exeter mayors’ ct. roll, 5-6 Hen. VI, rot. 12d. It was perhaps also in the context of his official functions that he came into conflict with one John Ware, who complained that on 29 June 1422 Symon had entered his close with a billhook, cut down the thorn bushes growing in his ditch, and removed and carried off the stakes fixed there. Ibid. 9 Hen. V-1 Hen. VI, rot. 48d. Symon served as alderman throughout much of the 1420s and early 1430s with only occasional interruptions. Although he never rose to be a bailiff of the city, he was on occasion entrusted with important duties, as in 1429-30 when he was sent to Tiverton with a letter from the Exeter authorities to the dowager countess of Devon. Exeter receiver’s acct. 8-9 Hen. VI, m. 2.

Symon was thus not without administrative experience when in 1432 he was chosen to represent the city in Parliament in peculiar, if largely obscure circumstances. The sheriff of Devon’s original indenture, sealed at Exeter castle on 15 Apr., named John Salter I* and the lawyer Adam Somaster* as the city’s elected representatives. However, on the schedule accompanying the indenture the name of the less distinguished Symon replaced that of Somaster and it was he who in the event rode to Parliament and drew £3 18s. 4d. in wages for his labours. As Symon’s colleague Salter was paid £4 16s., it is possible that as a result of the confusion surrounding his election he arrived late at Westminster and consequently missed part of the nine-week session. Ibid. 10-11 Hen. VI; C219/14/3. On his return homet Symon resumed office as alderman for a term, but also became a little more prominent in city affairs. He was among the citizens who dined at the guildhall with the sheriff and the lawyer Sir John Speke* to discuss matters affecting the city, and at Michaelmas 1433 he was chosen one of the two wardens of the Exe bridge. Exeter receiver’s acct. 11-12 Hen. VI, m. 2; mayors’ ct. roll 12-13 Hen. VI.

The full extent of Symon’s property has not been established, but for some years he rented property in the parish of St. Sidwell’s from the Exeter authorities, while it was evidently his marriage that had brought him a building in the High Street just outside the east gate and various closes of land which he conveyed to his fellow alderman Thomas Jolyblood in about 1427. Exeter receivers’ accts. 6-13 Hen. VI; mayor’s ct. roll, 5-6 Hen. VI, rot. 44d. Symon served a final term as alderman in 1435-6, having earlier that year found sureties in the shire court for the attendance of the Devon Members at Parliament. C219/14/5. In that same year he came into conflict with the college of vicars choral of Exeter cathedral over property in St. Sidwell’s fee, but the details of the dispute are now obscure. CP40/697, rot. 134. Symon is last recorded as a participant in the annual elections of the mayor and senior city officers in the autumn of 1436. Although by this date he was by no means an old man – in December 1428 he had been said to be aged 26 – he then disappears from the records and may have fallen victim to an epidemic disease or other ailment. C244/3/131/6. The John Symon, married to Mary and active in Exeter from the late 1440s, who attested the Devon elections of 1449 (Feb.) and 1453 may have been a son or other relative. CP40/756, rot. 309; 761, rot. 146; CCR, 1447-54, p. 332; C219/15/6; 16/2.