Family and Education

poss. s. of Geoffrey Starling*. m. bef. 1403, Margaret.

Offices Held

Collector of customs and subsidies, Ipswich 10 Oct. 1399-16 Aug. 1402, 14 Oct. 1403-May 1406, 24 July 1408-1 Nov. 1409, Great Yarmouth 13 Apr. 1413-20 Feb. 1415.

Bailiff, Ipswich Sept. 1404-5, 1407-8, 1412-13, 1416-17.1

Dep. butler, Ipswich 14 June 1407-29 Jan. 1408.

Clerk of the King’s ships 19 Nov. 1409-22 June 1411.2

Biography

In 1403, together with his wife, Margaret, Starling took possession from the parson of Stoke of a tenement in Ipswich, and two years later they obtained a shop in St. Mary’s parish. Margaret brought him an interest in the manor of ‘Bokkyng’ in Crowfield as well as lands in Coddenham, Stonham Aspall and Creeting, all of which they sold or put into the hands of trustees in 1407. In addition, Starling also had property at Holbrook to the south of Ipswich, and it was as a resident of this place that in 1407 he secured admission as a freeman of Colchester.3

Starling’s post as collector of customs at Ipswich brought him into contact with William Kinwolmarsh, clerk, the treasurer of the household of Queen Joan, to whom the queen’s annuities, charged on the customs revenues, had to be paid. In December 1408 he acted as mainpernor for Kinwolmarsh at the Exchequer, when he was granted custody of estates pertaining to the French abbey of Bégard. The background to the recognizances for 50 marks which Starling entered with Robert Manfield, an official in the common bench, in May 1409, is now obscure. Six months later he was appointed clerk of the King’s ships, an office he was to retain for nearly two years, receiving throughout a daily wage of 1s.4

As bailiff of Ipswich, Starling was responsible for making returns to the Parliaments of 1407 and 1413 (May), on the second occasion recording his own last election. He was among the burgesses who attested the parliamentary indentures of 1410 and 1421 (May), but is not recorded thereafter.5

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: K.N. Houghton

Notes

• 1. E368/178-90.
• 2. E101/44/17.
• 3. Ipswich RO, recog. rolls 4-5, 6-14 Hen. IV; CP25(1)223/111/33; Colchester Oath Bk. ed. Benham, 92.
• 4. SC6/1093/1; CFR, xiii. 140; CCR, 1405-9, p. 503.
• 5. C219/10/4, 5, 11/1, 12/5.