John Hodgetts lived at Darlaston, a village within the manor of Sedgley. It appears that William Hodgetts of Rushall (just outside Walsall) was his elder brother. There were two younger Hodgetts men at Dudley who may also have been his brothers.
John possibly served as an archer in France in 1375 but the earliest positive mention of him is in 1394 when he broke into a property at Tipton “with force of arms”, chopped down trees and stole grass. The motive is unknown.
In 1397, Isabella de Sutton of Dudley Castle died after a long life. Because she was a major landowner, a formal inquiry was held to determine the extent of her lands and decide her heir. This “inquisition post mortem” was conducted by a jury of landowners including John and William Hodgetts who regularly served on such inquests including for knights.
Multiple records connect John Hodgetts to the chief tenants of Darlaston: The Harpurs, especially John Harpur who was making a name for himself as a lawyer. The two Johns even owned land together which suggests 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 guarantee was called in.
The matter dragged on until John Hodgetts was summoned before the Barons of the Exchequer in 1415 but had, in the meantime, obtained a royal pardon. With John Harpur acting as his attorney, he presented the pardon, and the debt was forgiven. While it’s tempting to assume this was a military pardon ahead of the Battle of Agincourt, John Hodgetts doesn’t appear in its muster rolls, and was likely too old for military service.
John’s son and his descendants lived at nearby Handsworth.
Next: The First Handsworth Hodgettses
References
- Hodgetts Timeline 2 : Darlaston & Rushall
- Priests Newman, Simon, ‘Priests in the Middle Ages’, The Finer Times, Retrieved 16/7/2022.