John Doreward

John Doreward (died 1420) was a Serjeant-at-law and Speaker of the House of Commons of England.

Early life

Outside the affairs of parliament, little is known of Doreward. He was apparently the son of William Doreward of Bocking, Essex who was a member of parliament for Essex in the eighteenth and twentieth parliaments of Edward III.^[1] According to James Alexander Manning, he was "of Dorewood Hall",^[2] and the name survives in 'Durward's', at Bocking in Essex and in 'Durward's Hall', between Witham and Kelvedon.^[1] At Bocking, he founded a chantry in 1397.^[1]

Political life

Doreward was appointed High Sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire for 1399 and elected knight of the shire (MP) six times for Essex (1395, Jan 1397, 1399, Jan 1404, May 1413 and April 1414). He was elected Speaker of the House in 1399 and 1413.

The Constitutional History of England in its Origin and Development, vol. III, p. 18 ... In the case of Sir John Cheyne, the Speaker elected in 1399, the excuse of ill-health was accepted by the king as valid; the clergy had in fact objected to the nomination; Sir John Cheyne withdrew, and John Doreward was chosen in his place.^[3]

The chronicler Robert Fabyan, writing about a hundred years after Doreward's first election as Speaker, gives a more obscure version of events:

Than this feest with all honoure endyd, upon the morn beyinge Tuysday, the Parlyament was agayne begunne, and upon Wedneysdaye Syr John Cheyney, yt. before that tyme had occupyed as Speker of that Parlyament, by his owne laboure, for cause of such infyrmyties as he tha had, was dyschargyd, and a Squyer named Wyllyam Durwarde was electe to that roume for hym.^[2]^[4]

The Parliament was almost identical in makeup to the previous parliament held under Richard II, where thanks to the political manoeuvring of Sir John Bussy many of Parliament's powers had been stripped from them and given instead to a committee. The summoning of this parliament showed good political judgement on the part of the de facto king, Henry IV; in the words of Manning "[Henry] could not have hoped to assemble a body of legislators less favourable to the captive monarch"^[2]

The Commons voted a large subsidy to pay for the war against Scotland and the defence of Ireland and Calais in the hopes that their requests for additional powers would be granted. The commons also voted for the arrest of William Scrope and Henry Green, both councillors of Richard II.

Doreward was again made Speaker of the House of Commons for the parliament of 1413; this was the first of Henry V, and he was appointed again apparently after his predecessor had resigned from ill-health.^[2] The parliament of 1413 granted Henry V a subsidy for four years; an unusually long period, this is understood to be explained by the new king's popularity.

Some historians have assumed that the John Doreward (or Dorewood) in the parliaments of 1399 and 1413 were father and son, but they are evidently the same person; the Speaker of the House of Commons in both cases was a serjeant-at-law, which was not an appointment held by either of Dorewood's sons.

He was appointed a member of Henry IV’s council from Nov 1399 to May 1406.

Memorials

Doreward is commemorated by a brass memorial plate at St Mary's Church, Bocking, which can be found on the floor before the South Chapel. This gives the year of his death as 1420 and names his second wife as Isabella Baynard of Messing.^[5]

In 1440, Doreward's son, another John Doreward, founded an almshouse to be called the Maison Dieu of the town of Bocking, and later known as the Hospital of Bocking. Among its purposes was to pray for the soul of John Doreward, the founder's father.^[6]

Political offices
Preceded by Sir John Cheney	Speaker of the House of Commons 1399;	Succeeded by Sir Arnold Savage
Preceded by William Stourton	Speaker of the House of Commons 1413;	Succeeded by Sir Walter Hungerford

References

1 2 3 Round, J. H., 'John Doreward, Speaker (1399, 1413)' in The English Historical Review, Vol. 29, No. 116 (Oct., 1914), pp. 717-719
1 2 3 4 Manning, James Alexander, The Lives of the Speakers of the House of Commons, from the Time of King Edward III to Queen Victoria (London: George Willis, 1851) page 24 online at books.google.co.uk, accessed 11 August 2008
↑ Stubbs p. 454
↑ Fabyan, Robert, The Concordaunce of Hystoryes, publ. as The New Chronicles of England and France (1515)
↑ History at stmarys-bocking.co.uk, accessed 11 August 2008
↑ 'Hospitals: Bocking', in A History of the County of Essex: Volume 2 (1907), p. 183 online at british-history.ac.uk, accessed 11 August 2008

Speakers of the House of Commons

House of Commons
of England

14th century	Hungerford De la Mare Pickering Guildesborough Waldegrave Pickering Bussy Cheney Doreward Savage Redford Savage

15th century	Esturmy Tiptoft Chaucer Stourton Doreward Hungerford Chaucer Redman Beauchamp Flower Hunt Chaucer Baynard Flower Russell Walton Vernon Tyrell Alington, Sr. Tyrell Russell Hunt Bowes Tyrell Burley W. Tresham Burley W. Tresham Say Popham I W. Tresham Oldhall Thorpe Charlton Wenlock T. Tresham Green Strangeways Say Alington Jr. Wood Catesby Lovell Mordaunt Fitzwilliam Empson Drury Englefield

16th century	Dudley Englefield Sheffield Nevill More Audley Wingfield Rich Hare Moyle Baker Dyer Pollard Broke Higham Cordell Gargrave T. Williams Onslow Wray Bell Popham II Puckering Snagge Coke Yelverton

17th century	Croke Phelips R. Crewe Richardson T. Crewe H. Finch J. Finch Glanville Lenthall Pelham Lenthall Rous (Barebones Parliament) Lenthall Widdrington (2nd Protectorate Parliament) Chute, Long & Bampfield (3rd Protectorate Parliament) Lenthall Grimston Turnour Charlton Seymour Sawyer Seymour Gregory W. Williams Trevor Powle Trevor Foley Littleton

18th century	Harley Smith

House of Commons
of Great Britain

18th century	Smith R. Onslow Bromley Hanmer Compton A. Onslow Cust Norton Cornwall Grenville Addington

House of Commons
of the United Kingdom

19th century	Addington Mitford Abbot Manners-Sutton Abercromby Shaw-Lefevre Denison Brand Peel Gully

20th century	Lowther Whitley FitzRoy Brown Morrison Hylton-Foster King Lloyd Thomas Weatherill Boothroyd

21st century	Martin Bercow

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