Family and Education

Offices Held

Bridge warden, Wallingford 1397-8; alderman Mich. 1401-2, 1409-10; mayor 1411-15.1

Tax collector, Berks. ?Nov. 1404,2 Dec. 1406.

Biography

Horlok, who came from the village of North Moreton, three miles from Wallingford, paid 3s.6d. in 1385 for the right to trade in the town. While his main occupation appears to have been that of fishmonger, he seems, like some other Wallingford merchants, to have dealt in a variety of commodities. In the records of the local courts, where he was frequently amerced for selling unwholesome or excessively priced fish, he was also called a grocer and salter, and another record shows him to have sold 100 ‘magna spykenayles’ for the repair of the castle.3

From the 1380s onwards Horlok owned property in both Wallingford and in neighbouring Crowmarsh. Elected bridge warden in 1397, he subsequently served as a county tax collector and in a number of municipal offices, most notably as mayor for four years in succession. He was present at the parliamentary elections for Wallingford of 1410, 1413 (May) and 1414 (Apr.). The last notice of him occurs in 1415.4

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: Charles Kightly

Notes

• 1. Berks. RO, W/JBb/55, W/RTb/100, W/TLa/14; Boarstall Cart. (Oxf. Hist. Soc. lxxxviii), nos. 805, 832-3, 836-7; Bodl. Chs. Berks. 131, 133; C219/11/2, 3.
• 2. CFR, xiii. 61 has John Horlok, but John is otherwise absent from the local records.
• 3. Berks. RO, W/JBb/42, 43, 45-47, 49, 53-58; E101/490/5, 6.
• 4. Bodl. Chs. Berks. 130, 133; CP25(1)191/24/66; C219/10/5, 11/2, 3.