Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Newenham, John de
NEWENHAM, JOHN de (d. 1382?), chamberlain of the exchequer, probably came of the Newenhams of Northamptonshire; he may be the John de Newenham who was rector of St. Mary-le-Bow in 1350 (Newcourt, Repertorium, i. 439). In 1352 he was incumbent of Stowe, and in 1353 of Ecton, both in Northamptonshire. In 1356 he acted on behalf of the prior and convent of Newenham or Newnham, Northamptonshire (Cal. Inquis. post mortem, ii. 284); and in 1359 he became prebendary of Bishopshill in Lichfield Cathedral (Le Neve, i. 589). Next year he was made prebendary of Leighton Manor in Lincoln Cathedral (his name is not given in Le Neve, ii. 176, as being illegible in the register, but Cal. Rot. Chartarum, p. 185, settles the difficulty); in 1363 Richard de Ravenser [q. v.], provost of St. John of Beverley, granted to Newenham the advowson of the church at Ecton, which Newenham in 1367 disposed of to the abbot and convent of Lavenden in Buckinghamshire. In 1364 he received the prebend of Stotfold, Lichfield Cathedral, and rectory of Lillingstone Dayrell, Buckinghamshire, and in the following year was appointed chamberlain of the exchequer. In 1369 he was ordered with two others to test certain plate made for the Earl of Salisbury (Rymer, Fœdera, iii. 858). During the following year he was at Portsmouth and Southampton paying wages to men-at-arms and others, and drawing a salary of 10s. a day (Brantingham, Issue of Rolls, pp. 255–6, 412). In 1371 he was rector of Little Bookham, Surrey (Manning and Bray, ii. 706). He continued as chamberlain until his death, which apparently took place in 1382, when John de Leyre is described as his executor (Palgrave, Antient Kalendars and Inventories, ii. 292).
Newenham, Thomas de (fl. 1393), clerk in chancery, was in all probability younger brother of the above; he is first mentioned as a clerk in chancery in 1367, when, like his brother, he appears for the convent of Newenham. In 1371 he was appointed one of the receivers of petitions to parliament, an office which he held in every parliament until 1391. He was one of the three persons appointed to the custody of the great seal (4 May to 21 June 1377), and on 22 June he delivered up the great seal to Richard II on his accession. From 9 Feb. to 28 March 1386 he was again appointed to the custody of the great seal during the absence of Michael de la Pole, earl of Sussex. He is last mentioned as clerk in chancery in 1393. Examples of the seals of both John and Thomas are preserved in the British Museum (MSS. Cat. of Seals).
[Foss's Lives of the Judges, iv. 65–6; Cal. Inquis. post mortem, ii. 199, 284; Cal. Rot. Chart. p. 185; Cal. Rot. Pat. p. 179 b; Rolls of Parl. passim; Rot. Origin. Abb. ii. 282; Rymer's Fœdera, iii. 858, 1077 (Record ed.) and III, iii. 60, 192, iv. 85, ed. 1745; Chron. Abbatiæ de Evesham (Rolls Ser.), p. 309; Brantingham's Issue Rolls; Nicholas's Proc. of Privy Council, vol. vi. p. clxxii; Palgrave's Antient Kalendars and Inventories, i. 205, 296, iii. 258, 260, 292; Weever's Funeral Monuments, p. 72; Baker's Northamptonshire; Cole's History of Ecton, p. 13; Bridges's Northamptonshire, iii. 165.]