Tax lists for the late 1300s have not survived but we know that a John Hodgetts lived at Darlaston, a village within the manor of Sedgley.

There was a boy archer by that name who served in France in 1375. His origin is unknown but he served under Edward Despenser from the Midlands, so he may have been from Darlaston.

The earliest positive mention of the Darlaston John is in 1394 when he broke into a property at Tipton, north of Dudley. Acting “with force of arms”, he chopped down trees and stole grass.

It appears that William Hodgetts of Rushall (just outside Walsall) was John’s elder brother. Walsall was in the manor of Thomas de Beauchamp who had commanded the English troops at Crécy and afterwards become undisputed master of the West Midlands. William was in iron, possibly in partnership with Warin de Walton as they sold 42 blooms of iron to the lord in 1390-1.

Both William and John Hodgetts were regular jurors on inquisitions post mortem held whenever a major landowner died e.g. when Isabella de Sutton of Dudley Castle died, they were involved in establishing the extent of her lands and naming the heir.

Multiple records connect John Hodgetts to the chief tenants of Darlaston: the Harpurs. The strongest connection was to John Harpur who was making a name for himself as a lawyer. He and John Hodgetts even owned land together; perhaps they were related.

In 1412, John Hodgetts provided a guarantee of £20 that a Coventry tailor named John Elys would “keep the King’s peace, especially towards one Nicholas Symcok”. Unfortunately, Elys ambushed Symcok and beat him to the point “his life was despaired of” so the Hodgetts guarantee was called in.

The matter dragged on until John Hodgetts was summoned before the Barons of the Exchequer in 1415. In the meantime, he had obtained a royal pardon. With John Harpur acting as his attorney, John Hodgetts presented the pardon, and the debt was forgiven. We know this was not a military pardon ahead of the Battle of Agincourt because John does not appear on the Agincourt muster rolls, and he was likely too old for military service.

John had a son who lived at nearby Handsworth. There were also two Hodgetts men at Dudley (Nicholas and Richard) who may also have been sons.