GRIMSBY, Simon II (b.1367), of Grimsby, Lincs.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421, ed. J.S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe., 1993
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b.1367, s. and h. of William Grimsby (d. Aug. 1369) of Grimsby and Bradley by his w. Joan (fl. 1385). m. by Jan. 1385.1

Offices Held

Mayor, Grimsby Mich. 1400-2.2

Collector of a tax, Lincs. (Lindsey) Nov. 1404, Dec. 1406.

Biography

At the time of his death in 1369, William Grimsby owned two messuages and land worth £5 p.a. in Bradley and Grimsby. These he settled in trust for his infant son upon his widow, Joan, and his close friend, William Humberston, rector of Belgrave in Lincolnshire, who appears also to have acted as the boy’s guardian. He hoped in this way to avoid the seizure of both his estates and his heir by the Crown, but in January 1385, when Simon was just 18, proceedings were begun in the chancellor’s court against Humberston for the recovery of revenues which had been concealed for so long. Simon had, moreover, by then married without obtaining the necessary royal licence, and the Crown thus found him answerable for an additional sum of 20 marks. The outcome of this case is not recorded, but it is evident that Simon remained close to his erstwhile guardian who, in February 1394, chose him as one of the executors of his will.3

Simon Grimsby had, meanwhile, barely come of age when he was required, in March 1388, to take the general oath in support of the Lords Appellant. He was already regarded as one of the more influential burgesses of Grimsby, and in 1396 another leading resident, William Welle*, made him a trustee of his estates in Wathe.4 It was not, however, until 1400 that he held municipal office, serving two consecutive terms as mayor. Comparatively few of the MPs returned for Grimsby were appointed by the Crown to posts in local government, but he was twice called upon to collect taxes in Lindsey, a fact which likewise confirms his standing in the borough.

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: C.R.

Notes

Variants: Grymesby, Grymsby.

  • 1. C44/13/13; CIMisc. iv. no. 291.
  • 2. E368/174, 175.
  • 3. C44/13/13; CIMisc. iv. no. 291; Early Lincoln Wills ed. Gibbons, 53.
  • 4. RP, iii. 403; CAD, iii. C3755; vi. C3885.