The Tracys were an important family in Bridport in the 14th century: Henry Tracy† had represented the borough in the Parliaments of 1312 and 1314, and William, John’s father, served it as bailiff at least three times during Edward III’s reign. William held many properties in the town, one of which, a messuage in South Street, was settled on John by his mother in 1370, a year after his father’s death. In addition to his own inheritance, Tracy held reversionary interests in the lands at Walditch and Shipton belonging to his sister, Hillary, and, from 1382, property elsewhere in Dorset.
In 1373 John Tracy ‘the younger’ was attached by the sheriff of Dorset to appear before the King’s bench to answer for a breach of the peace, and it may have been he who subsequently entered into recognizances for £100 with William Wyther†, since the bonds were made leviable in the same county. After completing his training as a lawyer, Tracy made several appearances at the borough court of Bridport where, probably by royal appointment, he was to serve towards the end of his career as steward. At Symondsbury in 1390 he witnessed the conveyance by Sir Robert Assheton’s heir of the manor of Eype, and he also became involved in transactions relating to property in Bridport and Dorchester on behalf of William Hamond† and John Hayward, the latter being his fellow MP on at least six occasions. Tracy acted as an attorney in pleas of novel disseisin heard at the Dorchester assizes in 1398 and 1401,