John Darras represented Shropshire twice in the House of Commons of England.
18 Facts About John Darras
1.
2.
John Darras was the son of: Ralph Darras or Daras of Neenton and Joan Forcer, daughter and coheiress of Thomas Forcer, and, together with her sisters Burga and Elizabeth, coheiress of Sir Henry Ribbesford of Ribbesford, near Bewdley in Worcestershire, who was the brother of their grandmother, Avice or Hawise le Forcer.
3.
The Darras family were not large landowners but part of the emerging landed gentry.
4.
John Darras fought legal battles to secure her inheritance, but alongside his aunts, not his mother.
5.
John Darras is known to have acted for others in land transactions, including Malcolm de la Mare, Thomas Whitton and John Meisy.
6.
However, as John Darras is not recorded as active on Joan's behalf in the Corbet property disputes of 1385, it must have been in the second half of the 1380s.
7.
However, they were not of the first rank, and both they and John Darras were increasingly to seek advancement through the affinity of the FitzAlans, the Earls of Arundel, who were supreme both economically and politically in Shropshire as well being among the greatest magnates in England.
8.
John Darras inevitably took his wife's side, sometimes bringing him into disrepute with the king and his government.
9.
John Darras had reiterated the position after Harley's death in a new fine in 1376, and this position was assumed by the inquisition post mortem following Sir Fulk's death.
10.
John Darras, now married to Joan, was just as vigorous in pursuing the interests of Joan and her brother, Roger.
11.
Charleton and Sir John Darras Hill were authorised to take security for good behaviour from them and to familiarise themselves in advance with the complexities of the case.
12.
However, it is likely that Joan and John Darras received the consolation of regular rent from them.
13.
John Darras formally enlisted as an esquire in the retinue of Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel in 1387.
14.
John Darras served with him in a naval campaign against the French, which culminated in a significant victory off Margate.
15.
John Darras seems to have good connections with both parts of the victorious coalition and from this point he contrived to remain in royal favour, albeit sometimes with difficulty.
16.
The jury was dismissed and John Darras was ordered to summon a new panel for the next assizes.
17.
John Darras was the returning officer when Cornwall was elected to Parliament.
18.
Later in the year John Darras attended the election of knights of the shire, witnessing the return of Cornwall and David Holbache, a prominent lawyer and a close associate of Arundel.