Family and Education

m. Eleanor.

Offices Held

Biography

The landed holdings of the Chinals family were in west Cornwall, and John was probably related to the Henry Chinals who had sat for Helston in 1372 and for Helston, Lostwithiel and Truro in 1380. In 1406 John and his wife conveyed their house in Penryn to William Waryn, a citizen of London; and in the following year they sold eight messuages and 24 acres of land situated in the same town and close by in Goldwest to William Richard*. They may subsequently have moved to Helston, or else already owned property there, for on a later occasion Chinals was referred to as being from that town.1 Either he or a kinsman of the same name was a follower of the two John Trevarthians*, with whom, in 1383, he had been indicted for felonies committed in Surrey.2 However, if this was indeed the same John Chinals, nothing more is known to his discredit. An attorney, he made regular appearances in the court of King’s bench on behalf of Cornish litigants in 1411, 1412, 1413 (notably during the Easter term when he was parliamentary burgess for Truro), and, lastly, in 1416 (Michaelmas term).3

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

Variants: Cheyenals, Chymwell, Chyvals.

• 1. Cornw. Feet of Fines (Devon and Cornw. Rec. Soc. 1950), 860, 866; KB27/613 m. 23d.
• 2. KB27/469 rex m. 2; CPR, 1381-5, pp. 352, 423.
• 3. KB27/599 m. 63d, 603 m. attorneys, 605 m. 37, 608 m. attorneys, 622 m. 89.