Hythe

Borough

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Elections

DateCandidate
1510JOHN HONYWOOD 1
 JOHN BERDE 2
1512CLEMENT HOLWEY 3
 JOHN BERDE 4
1515(not known)
1523(not known)
1529JOHN HULL I 5
 STEPHEN HARRY
1536?JOHN HULL I 6
 ?STEPHEN HARRY 7
1539(not known)
1542(not known)
1545(not known)
1547WILLIAM BROOKE alias COBHAM8
 WILLIAM BADDELL 9
1553 (Mar.)WILLIAM DALMYNGTON 10
 JOHN KNIGHT II 11
1553 (Oct.)THOMAS JEKYN 12
 WILLIAM OXENDEN 13
1554 (Apr.)WILLIAM CARDEN
 JOHN ESTDAY
1554 (Nov.)JOHN ESTDAY
 THOMAS KEYS
1555JOHN KNIGHT II
 JOHN FOWLER
1558JOHN KNIGHT II
 RICHARD DAPER

Main Article

Hythe had a comparatively prosperous fishing industry and was still trying to keep its harbour free of shingle, but was none the less found by Leland to be greatly decayed. At the time of the Domesday survey it was a borough appurtenant to the archbishop of Canterbury’s manor of Saltwood and remained under archiepiscopal lordship until April 1540 when Archbishop Cranmer exchanged Salt-wood and the bailiwick of Hythe with the crown. It was governed by a bailiff appointed by the lord, 12 jurats chosen by the commonalty and a common assembly probably composed of the freemen: the archbishop seems to have made his appointments annually but tended to choose the same man in successive years, whereas after 1540 immediate reappointment became comparatively rare. In 1542 Hythe and New Romney, which was also under the archbishop’s lordship until the exchange of 1540, were asked to justify the appearance of their non-elected bailiffs at the Brotherhood of the Cinque Ports. During the reign of Edward VI the manor of Saltwood and the bailiwick of Hythe were first granted to John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, then sold back to the crown, later bestowed upon the 9th Lord Clinton, again sold back to the crown and then in June 1553 re-granted to Clinton. It appears, however, that the crown continued to appoint the bailiff. In 1575 Hythe was incorporated as the mayor, jurats and commonalty.14

Little is known about the parliamentary elections of the period but they presumably took place in the assembly. Until 1547 all the known Members were jurats, as required by an ordinance of the Brotherhood, but the senior Member returned to Edward VI’s first Parliament, William Brooke, eldest son of the 9th Lord Cobham and a client of Sir William Paget, was a stranger. Four later intruders were connected with and evidently nominated by the lord warden, Sir Thomas Cheyne: William Oxenden and Richard Daper were his servants and Thomas Keys and John Fowler were his friends or clients. Keys’s name was inserted in the Cinque Ports return. Seven of the ten jurats who sat also served at some time as bailiff and one, William Dalmyngton, became mayor; John Knight was the common clerk or recorder. None of the Members is known to have received wages but the surviving records show that regular payments were made later in the century.15

Author: N. M. Fuidge

Notes

  • 1. Add. 34150, f. 135.
  • 2. Ibid.
  • 3. Ibid. f. 136.
  • 4. Ibid.
  • 5. Ibid. f. 137; OR gives Hall.
  • 6. Add. 34150, f. 138.
  • 7. Ibid.
  • 8. Hatfield 207.
  • 9. Ibid.
  • 10. Add. 34150 f. 138.
  • 11. Ibid.
  • 12. Bodl. e Museo 17.
  • 13. Ibid.
  • 14. Leland, Itin. ed. Smith, iv. 64-65; K. M. E. Murray, Const. Hist. Cinque Ports , 208-9; Hasted, Kent (2nd ed.), viii. 232-3, 236-7; LP Hen. VIII , xv, g. 613(32); Cinque Ports White and Black Bks. (Kent Arch. Soc. recs. br. xix), 230; CPR , 1547-8, p. 171; 1549-51, p. 2; 1550-3, p. 203; 1553, p. 285; 1572-5, p. 493.
  • 15. C219/18B/145, 23/184, 24/224; Cinque Ports White and black Bks. 28.