RICHMAN, alias BELHOUSE, Thomas, of Lyme Regis and Dorchester, Dorset.

Thomas was probably related to the John Richman who was living in Lyme in Richard II’s reign. His father had acquired property in South Street, Dorchester, which he inherited before 1402, when he settled a burgage near the south gate on his son, another John, and the latter’s wife. To this gift he later added another house in the same street.CIMisc. iv. 44, 107; Recs. Dorchester ed. Mayo, 151, 210. He himself evidently resided at Lyme. When, in July 1405, the dean of Salisbury visited the town, it was alleged that Richman had refused to offer to the Church a tithe of his catch from fishing in the sea the previous season. More seriously, it was then that a matrimonial action was started against him: Isabel Scotere, formerly a servant employed by Ralph Stikelane, claimed that he had contracted to marry her at Combe Pyne on 1 Jan. 1404; while Agnes Crogge (probably a kinswoman of Roger Crogge) asserted that she was his rightful wife—an assertion supported by Richman’s own confession and the testimony of his son. The case was still undecided in March 1406, and in October 1408, when another visitation of Lyme took place, Richman was cited, and fined, for having fornicated with Agnes.Reg. John Chandler (Wilts. Rec. Soc. xxxix), 21, 204.