Submitted by legacy on
Family and Education
s. and h. of Sir Saier Rochford of Boston. m. by c.1375, Alice, 1s. 2da. Kntd. by 12 Nov. 1399.CPR, 1399-1401, p. 164; P. Thompson, Boston, 177; Reg. Repingdon (Lincoln Rec. Soc. lviii), 211-12. Lincs. Peds. ed. Maddison, 829, is mistaken in stating that Rochford’s mother was Joan, da. and coh. of Sir Hillary, for although she did have a son named John Rochford he cannot have been our MP. The latter was succeeded by Sir Ralph Rochford of Fenn in Boston (d.1439/40) not by two young female descendants as was the case with Joan Hillary’s son: CFR, xiv. 423; Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (EETS, lxxviii), 120-8. During the lifetime of his uncle, Sir John Rochford the elder (d.c.1392), contemporaries usually referred to this MP as ’the younger’ or ’son of Sir Saier’ in order to avoid confusion. The problem of identification is, however, further complicated by the evidence of yet another namesake known as John Rochford of Boston. He and the subject of this biography were together parties to the endowment of Barling abbey in 1390 (C143/409/19; CPR, 1388-92, pp. 192-3), and were evidently related. John Rochford of Boston was himself a figure of some consequence. An adherent of the Lords Appellant of 1388, he served as a j.p. in Lindsey from 1387 to 1390, and, along with other members of the prolific Rochford clan, he took the oath in 1388 to support the Appellants’ rule. He served on occasional royal commissions, and in 1398 was twice pardoned for his attachment to King Richard’s enemies (C66/319 m. 16v; C67/30 mm. 18, 34; PR, iii. 400; CPR, 1385-9, p. 257; 1391-6, p. 430). Yet despite his connexion with leading figures in Boston (CP25(1)143/147/19, 144/148/39; JUST 1/1496 rot. 3v), we know that it was not he, but the subject of this biography who played a prominent part in the affairs of the Corpus Christi guild there.
Offices Held

Commr. of inquiry, Lincs. Nov. 1379 (disorder at Boston), Mar. 1382 (shipwreck), Norf. May 1388 (dispute over the manor of Denver), Lincs. May 1391 (refusal of chantry priests to perform their duties), Feb. 1392 (counterfeiting the great seal), May 1392 (negligent chantry priests), July 1393 (use of fraudulent weights by wool merchants), Dec. 1397 (attacks on the bp. of Lincoln), Lincs., Notts., Yorks. Mar. 1400 (goods of the abp. of Canterbury), Lincs. Dec. 1400 (dispute over the manor of Blyborough), May 1401 (possessions of a felon),CIMisc. vii. 181. Sept. 1401 (value of Somerton castle),Ibid. 198. Nov. 1402 (fair at Burgh-le-Marsh), Feb. 1410 (possessions of a felon);Ibid. 408, 412. array (Holland) Apr. 1385, Dec. 1399, Aug. 1402, July 1403, (Kesteven) Aug. 1403, (Holland) Sept. 1403; sewers Feb. 1390, May 1395, (Lindsey) Nov. 1399, (Holland) Feb. 1400, May 1403, July 1405, Norf. June 1406, June 1407, Lincs. July 1409, (Lindsey) Nov. 1410; to settle a civic dispute, Lincoln Mar. 1393; take charge of the goods of the vicar of Sibsey, Lincs. Feb. 1398; take securities Nov. 1400; proclaim the King’s intention to rule justly May 1402; take victuals for the royal army June 1405; inspect indictments for treason Nov. 1405; enforce statutes concerning weirs, Cambs., Hunts. Mar. 1410.

Alderman of the Corpus Christi guild, Boston 1381 – 86, 1391 – 94, 1397 – 99, 1409.Thompson, 117–18.

J.p. Lincs. (Holland) 20 Dec. 1382 – Feb. 1407, 7 June 1410 – d., (Kesteven) 16 May 1401-Mar. 1406.

Sheriff, Lincs. 21 Oct. 1391 – 18 Oct. 1392, 24 Nov. 1400 – 8 Nov. 1401, 4 Nov. 1409–29 Nov. 1410.

Steward of the duchy of Lancaster honour of Bolingbroke, Lincs. and overseer of feodaries and bailiffs, Lincs. bef. 3 Feb. 1399–12 May 1407.Somerville, Duchy, i. 575; DL42/15, f. 28.

Steward of the estates forfeited for treason by Thomas Holand, earl of Kent, Lincs. Feb. 1400 – d.

Constable of the bp. of Ely’s castle of Wisbech, Cambs. 17 Aug. 1401–d.Ely Episcopal Recs. ed. Gibbons, 75.

Collector of a tax, Cambs. (Isle of Ely) Mar. 1404, of a royal loan, Lincs. Sept. 1405; controller of a tax (Holland) Mar. 1404.

Parlimentarian
ROCHFORD, John (d.1410), of Fenn of Boston, Lincs.
Main residence: Fenn of Boston, Lincs.
Rechefort, Rechford, Rochefort, Rycheford
Author
C.R.
Volume
Commons 1386-1421
Web Title

ROCHFORD, John (-d.1410)

Will
Estates
Oxford 1644
No
Addresses
Religion
Image