Family and Education

Offices Held

Mayor, Shaftesbury Mich. 1414-15.1

Tax collector, Dorset Sept. 1431, May 1437.

Biography

Thomas was a descendant of John Haselmere, mayor of Shaftesbury in 1331-2 and 1351-2, and a kinsman of another John who in 1402 was living in Bleke Street.2 He himself held pasture land in St. James’s parish, and in 1426 he acquired a house in the parish of St. Lawrence from Walter Swift, second cousin to Robert Fovent*, only to sell it again two years later.3 His only known election as mayor of Shaftesbury occurred early in his career, within a few months of his having represented the borough in the Leicester Parliament of 1414. From then on until October 1444 he often appeared as a witness to conveyances of property in the town.4

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

• 1. Shaftesbury Recs. ed. Mayo, 43.
• 2. Egerton 3135, ff. 43, 79; Dorset Nat. Hist. and Antiq. Soc. xv. 45.
• 3. Shaftesbury Recs. 77; J. Hutchins, Hist. Dorset, iii. 94.
• 4. Harl. Ch. 79E 51; C146/3904; Shaftesbury Recs. 77, 78.