Family and Education

Offices Held

Commr. of inquiry, Som., Dorset, Devon, Cornw. Jan. 14O5 (customs evasion).

Reeve, Colyford, Devon 1422-3.1

Mayor, Lyme 1437.2

Biography

Although the property of the Crogge family in Lyme was destroyed by gales in 1377, they continued to reside in the town, and Roger himself acquired land nearby at Colyford. In 1402, as owner and master of a balinger of Lyme, he joined the small fleet under the leadership of Henry Pay of Poole which captured a Spanish ship in the Channel and received a share of its cargo of wine, spices and fruit. The royal council apparently accepted the statement of local jurymen that the culprits had acted only in retaliation for the seizure in Spain of goods belonging to compatriots. Not long afterwards Crogge was appointed to a royal commission to investigate smuggling in the West Country. As a parishioner of Lyme, in July 1405 and June 1412 he gave evidence to the dean of Salisbury, then making visitations, as to the state of the local church.3 His standing in Lyme was evidently high: he was one of the burgesses sent to Dorchester to report the results of 13 of its parliamentary elections between 1407 and 1437; and, at the end of a long career, he served as mayor. In 1434 his name had been included on the list of Dorset notables required to take the general oath against maintenance.4

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: L. S. Woodger

Notes

• 1. SC6/1118/7.
• 2. J. Hutchins, Hist. Dorset, ii. 48.
• 3. C145/216/3; CP25(1)45/78/87; CIMisc. vii. 227; Reg. John Chandler (Wilts. Rec. Soc. xxxix), 21, 314.
• 4. C219/10/4, 12/2-6, 13/1, 3, 5, 14/1-3, 5, 15/1; CPR, 1429-36, p. 383.