Family and Education

?educ. Winchester 1545. m.

Offices Held

Mayor, Devizes 1571, 1577.

Biography

Though his surname was common in sixteenth-century Wiltshire, Reynolds himself had connexions with southeast England, and may well have been related to his namesake who represented Rye in 1547 and 1563. He acted on behalf of Devizes in a lawsuit in 1576, but this does not mean that he was a lawyer. Nor was he a clothier. His only recorded transaction concerned the purchase of timber, which may, however, have been for private purposes, as he owned a house and other property in the town and leased a barn and some land from the corporation. He had several servants and was assessed at £9 for the 1576 subsidy. He represented the borough in Parliament after promising not to take wages. During the second session he was named to three committees, on 16, 17, 18 Feb. 1576, dealing respectively with woollen cloth, ‘innholders and tipplers’, and leather. He died in 1577, having made his will 29 July. He bequeathed money to a brother, Thomas, of Romney, and to a number of churches, including that of St. John the Baptist, Devizes, where he asked to be buried.

B. H. Cunnington, Annals Devizes, p. xviii et passim; Two Taxation Lists (Wilts. Arch. Soc. recs. br. x), passim; C2/Eliz./D.6/16; CJ, i. 106; PCC 45 Daughtry.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: W.J.J.

Notes

• 1. Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament.