FOXE, John (d.1586), of Aldeburgh, Suff.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

m. Francis, da. of Alexander Falke, 1s. 2da.

Offices Held

Bailiff, Aldeburgh 1566.

Biography

Foxe, an Aldeburgh merchant, owned a house in the town as well as a brewhouse, a millhouse and some leasehold and freehold land. He was trading by 1557, when his ship, the Mary Fortune, which had been recaptured from the French, was ordered to be returned to him. In December 1574 he was granted a licence to transport grain to Spain. As a leading townsman he was one of Aldeburgh’s spokesmen in 1578 in their dispute with Great Yarmouth over the latter’s monopoly of the sale of herrings and other fish. In the House of Commons he spoke as a local man in the debate on a bill concerning small-meshed fishing nets at the neighbouring borough of Orford, deploring the way country people spoilt the fisheries by taking away carts of young fry to ‘feed their swine and dung their ground’. He was also named to a committee on 27 Nov. concerning the better observing of the Sabbath. In his will, dated 20 May and proved 22 June 1586, he left £400 and some household stuff to his wife, and smaller amounts of money to his daughters and grandchildren. His son-in-law Francis Johnson was asked to help with the organization of the bequest. Foxe bequeathed his ‘old’ ship to Aldeburgh towards the building of their quay, £10 to his servant and £3 6s.8d. to Dr. Norton. Certain lands were to be sold to raise £200 to pay his debts. The residue of his estate was to go to his ‘unfortunate son Francis’, the executor.

HMC Var. iv. 301; CSP Dom. 1547-70, p. 93; APC, viii. 327; x. 410-11; xi. 52; Lansd. 43, anon. jnl. f. 173; D’Ewes, 333; PCC 32 Windsor.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: J.H.

Notes