HORDE, Jerome (c.1527-77/78), of Kingslow, Salop.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Oct. 1553
Apr. 1554
Nov. 1554

Family and Education

b. c.1527, 2nd s. of Richard Horde of Bridgnorth by Elizabeth, da. and coh. of Sir David Mathew of Radyr, Glam.; bro. of John. unm.1

Offices Held

Biography

A scion of Bridgnorth’s leading family, Jerome Horde was to settle at Kingslow in the parish of Worfield, six miles east of the town, presumably on property which passed to him on his father’s death between 1550 and 1554. He may have been a lawyer: men of his name, and perhaps of his family, had been members of the Inner and Middle Temple during the first quarter of the century, and although he cannot be traced at any of the inns the pursuit of the law would agree well with the pattern of his career, and in particular with his parliamentary record.2

Horde’s Membership of Parliament was unusual in two respects: he entered the Commons before his elder brother John and he sat in four consecutive Parliaments, three more than his brother and two more than any other Member for Bridgnorth is known to have attended. For a younger son, and one who, unlike John Horde, appears to have held no office in the town, this was an exceptional achievement, but it would have been less so if during the two years in question Horde had been studying or practising law in London. To have given him a lien on one of its seats would have been convenient for a borough which was ceasing to elect townsmen, so much so that when at the last election of the reign Horde was passed over—for what reason is unknown—Bridgnorth elected two young lawyers in John Broke II and Thomas Bromley II: both were of Shropshire origin, and both were to appear in Horde’s will. At the same time, Horde would hardly have retained his seat if he had joined the opposition in the House, which, on the evidence of the lists concerned, he chose not to do.

Horde never held office in the county and he died unmarried. His will, made on 23 Oct. 1577 and proved on 5 May 1578, shows that he held considerable property and was well-friended. John Broke II and John Giffard of Chillington, Staffordshire, were his executors and George Bromley, his neighbour in Worfield, the overseer; he made bequests to Thomas Bromley II and the son of Thomas Croft, and the list of his debtors included Thomas Fermor who had married one of his cousins. The corporation of Bridgnorth received a walnut bedstead and a green linen hanging with a design of ‘the otter, wildcat and deer’ towards the furnishing of the chamber used by the judges and the president of the council in the marches, a bronze mortar which could be melted down to repair any bell which should break, timber to repair the bridge and gravel for the streets. Horde also made provision for the settlement of a lawsuit between John Horde and other members of the family involving a sum of £500.3

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: Alan Harding

Notes

  • 1. Date of birth estimated from that of elder brother and from election. Vis. Salop (Harl. Soc. xxviii), 252-3; PCC 19 Langley.
  • 2. Trans. Salop Arch. Soc. liv, 182; Cal. I. T. Recs. i. 1-87 passim.
  • 3. PCC 19 Langley.