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NEWMASTER, John, of Wells, Som.
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Family and Education
Churchwarden of St. Cuthbert’s, Wells Mich. 1380-1, 1383-4; auditor, Wells 1383-4, 1392-3; rent collector 1384-5, 1389-90; constable of the peace 1392-3.1
Offices Held
Biography
Newmaster was admitted to the freedom of Wells before 1380, and in the course of the next 20 years he provided pledges for 11 other new burgesses. He was much concerned with borough affairs, not only serving in the offices listed above, but also being appointed to the master’s council at Michaelmas 1392 and as local collector of taxes in May 1394. A tucker by trade (one occupied in fulling and dressing cloth) he was assessed for alnage on 51 ‘dozens’ sold in Somerset between 1395 and 1397, and on two-and-a-half broadcloths woven in 1402. Newmaster’s property in Wells included an acre of arable land situated in ‘Culvercroft’, of which, however, he relinquished possession in 1400.2