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LEIGHTON, John, of Bedford.
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Despite the fact that in 1417 he was, next to William Dowe*, the richest man in Bedford, very little is known about John Leighton. He attested the indentures for the borough elections to the Parliaments of 1419, 1421 (Dec.), 1422, 1425 and 1426; and it was as a result of the claim for expenses which he and his colleague, Thomas Bole*, submitted after sitting in 1423 that controversy developed between the burgesses of Bedford and the rest of the community over exactly who was liable for paying the wages of MPs. Leighton was himself one of the spokesmen chosen by the burgesses when the dispute came up for settlement at Westminster, in February 1425, before two justices of the court of common pleas. The rest of his career remains somewhat obscure, although he may well have been the John Leighton of Harrowden, Bedfordshire, who witnessed a deed in 1427. He was evidently still alive eight years later, when he again acted as a witness, this time in Bedford.
Bedford Town Hall, DDX67/87; C219/12/3, 6, 13/1, 3, 4; Beds. RO, DDW18, 167; Ancient Chs. and Muns. Bedford (1895), no. 20.