HASELMERE, Thomas, of Shaftesbury, Dorset.

Thomas was a descendant of John Haselmere, mayor of Shaftesbury in 1331-2 and 1351-2, and a kinsman of another John who in 1402 was living in Bleke Street.Egerton 3135, ff. 43, 79; Dorset Nat. Hist. and Antiq. Soc. xv. 45. He himself held pasture land in St. James’s parish, and in 1426 he acquired a house in the parish of St. Lawrence from Walter Swift, second cousin to Robert Fovent, only to sell it again two years later.Shaftesbury Recs. 77; J. Hutchins, Hist. Dorset, iii. 94. His only known election as mayor of Shaftesbury occurred early in his career, within a few months of his having represented the borough in the Leicester Parliament of 1414. From then on until October 1444 he often appeared as a witness to conveyances of property in the town.Harl. Ch. 79E 51; C146/3904; Shaftesbury Recs. 77, 78.