John Bell

John Bell was a native of Boston, England. He was a son of a Boston merchant, and he himself played a prominent part in the cloth trade as the account of the alnager for Holland from 1395 to 1398 shows him to have been among the leading cloth sellers of the area. Bell also imported oil, wax, herring, canvas and Spanish iron.

He is first recorded at Michaelmas 1380, when he began to account as bailiff in Boston for Edward III’s son-in-law, John, duke of Brittany and earl of Richmond. In 1382 he received the first of many royal commissions, and in 1383, he was receiver-general of the lands in Lincolnshire which had been forfeited by the earl of Richmond following his shift of allegiance to Charles V of France. After the Richmond estates were granted to Queen Anne in 1386 he again assumed the post of bailiff, which he retained until 1397, some three years after her death. He also took an active part in the running of the Boston Staple, and was employed almost continuously from 1389 onwards as a customs officer in Boston.

During his career in the first decade of the 15th century, Bell was extremely popular as a feoffee-to-uses. His flourishing relations with King Henry IV (r. 1399 – 1413) made it even more desirable to engage his services, and in this capacity Bell managed numerous estates.