HOKINGTON, John, of Oakington and Cambridge.

It was as ‘of Oakington’, a village about six miles from Cambridge, that Hokington was appointed as a tax collector in 1410 and 1413, and his name was clearly derived from that place. Yet he did hold property in Cambridge, too, for in 1419 he and his wife leased a messuage there to John Cappe, Henry Topcliffe and others for 33s.4d. a year during her lifetime; and eight years later they came to a similar arrangement with John Burgoyne and others, who agreed to pay £3 13s.4d. annually for two messuages and a shop. Hokington is not recorded as ever discharging office in the borough, although he did witness deeds there on occasion.CP25(1)30/95/19, 96/13; Harl. Ch. 51G 17. That he ranked among the lesser gentry of the shire rather than as a proper burgess is suggested by his frequent attendance at the county court for shire elections to Parliament; he did so no fewer than eight times between 1411 and 1422. His landed holdings also qualified him for the post of coroner, his replacement only being ordered, in February 1425, when he was considered to be too sick and aged to perform his duties.CCR, 1422-9, p. 165. Simon Hokington who later held lands in Cambridgeshire worth £5 a year, may have been his son: E179/240/268.