Although the Meres family had long been settled in Lincolnshire, it was not until the late 14th century that they achieved a position of real importance in the county. This was thanks to Sir Roger Meres, a royal judge, who, from 1369 onwards, was a member of John of Gaunt’s council. By 1372, just one year after attaining the bench, he had secured the stewardship of Boston from Gaunt, and thus began to exercise considerable influence locally as well as nationally. His son John, the subject of this biography, evidently came of age before January 1377, when he joined with him in offering a bond worth £400 to Thomas Hasilden I, the controller of Gaunt’s household. We do not know exactly when John married, but during the Michaelmas term of 1379 Sir Roger made a generous settlement of land upon him and his wife, Margaret. The couple and their offspring were to hold an extensive estate in Kirton, Coningsby and Gosberkirk, together with a fishery on the river Witham, at a quit rent, and were consequently able to live comfortably until the judge died, leaving them the rest of his estates. These comprised additional land in Kirton and Holbeach as well as the manor of Aubourn, all of which were confirmed to John and Margaret in 1386, the year after Sir Roger’s death. One of the parties to this transaction was Sir John Littlebury, who is said to have been Margaret’s father, although no direct evidence of their relationship has survived. Another of Meres’s trustees was Richard Welby, his neighbour and the father of his friend, Roger, with whom he maintained a lifelong connexion.
In common with other leading members of the Lincolnshire gentry, Meres took the general oath, administered in March 1388, in support of the Lords Appellant; and this was probably why, ten years later, when Richard II was in a position to strike back at his former enemies, he decided to sue out royal letters of pardon. Meanwhile, in June 1390, he had been excused any demands liable to be made upon him at the Exchequer because of an administrative error concerning his father’s work as a commissioner of the peace, but his dealings with the Crown were otherwise extremely limited, and he confined his interest to purely regional affairs.
Meres’s one return to Parliament took place at the very end of his career when he was nearing retirement, and little is known about his activities afterwards. In April 1408, Sir John Copledyke chose him to be one of his executors, and it was into his hands that the bishop of Lincoln committed the administration of the estate. He is last mentioned in December 1409, as a defendant in an assize of novel disseisin at Lincoln. He lost his case, but since he was, once again, simply acting as a trustee, the judgement did not materially affect him. His commission as a j.p. in Holland (where he had served continuously for over 21 years) was not renewed after June 1410, by which date he must either have died or else withdrawn to live quietly on his estates. He left one son, named John, who eventually succeeded him as lord of Kirton.