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

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Essex

Essex (UK Parliament constituency)

Essex was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1290 until 1832. It elected two MPs, traditionally referred to as Knights of the Shire, to the House of Commons...

 in the eighteenth and twentieth parliaments of Edward III

Edward III of England

Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...

. According to James Alexander Manning, he was "of Dorewood Hall", and the name survives in 'Durward's', at Bocking

Braintree, Essex

Braintree is a town of about 42,000 people and the principal settlement of the Braintree district of Essex in the East of England. It is northeast of Chelmsford and west of Colchester on the River Blackwater, A120 road and a branch of the Great Eastern Main Line.Braintree has grown contiguous...

 in Essex and in 'Durward's Hall', between Witham

Witham

Witham is a town in the county of Essex, in the south east of England with a population of 22,500. It is part of the District of Braintree and is twinned with the town of Waldbröl, Germany. Witham stands between the larger towns of Chelmsford and Colchester...

 and Kelvedon

Kelvedon

Kelvedon is a village and civil parish in the Braintree District of Essex in England, near to the town of Witham. It has a population of 3,485.-Origins:...

. At Bocking, he founded a chantry

Chantry

Chantry is the English term for a fund established to pay for a priest to celebrate sung Masses for a specified purpose, generally for the soul of the deceased donor. Chantries were endowed with lands given by donors, the income from which maintained the chantry priest...

 in 1397.

Political life

Doreward was appointed High Sheriff of Essex

High Sheriff of Essex

The High Sheriff of Essex was an ancient High Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the invasion of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years...

 and Hertfordshire

High Sheriff of Hertfordshire

The High Sheriff of Hertfordshire was an ancient High Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the invasion of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years...

 for 1399 and elected knight of the shire (MP) six times for Essex

Essex (UK Parliament constituency)

Essex was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1290 until 1832. It elected two MPs, traditionally referred to as Knights of the Shire, to the House of Commons...

 (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.

The chronicler Robert Fabyan

Robert Fabyan

Robert Fabyan , chronicler, was born in London, of which hebecame an Alderman and Sheriff. He kept a diary of notable events, whichhe expanded into a chronicle, which he entitled, The Concordance of Histories. It covers the period from the arrival of Brutus in England tothe death of King Henry VII...

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

The Parliament was almost identical in makeup to the previous parliament held under Richard II

Richard II of England

Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...

, where thanks to the political manoeuvring of Sir John Bussy

John Bussy

Sir John Bussy of Hougham in Lincolnshire was a Member of Parliament representing Lincolnshire or Rutland eleven times from 1383 to 1398 as a Knight of the Shire and was also Speaker of the House of Commons at the three Parliaments between 1393 and 1398...

 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

Henry IV of England

Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...

; in the words of Manning "[Henry] could not have hoped to assemble a body of legislators less favourable to the captive monarch"

The Commons

House of Commons of England

The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...

 voted a large subsidy to pay for the war against Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 and the defence of Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 and Calais

Calais

Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....

 in the hopes that their requests for additional powers would be granted. The commons also voted for the arrest of William Scrope

William le Scrope, 1st Earl of Wiltshire

Sir William le Scrope, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, King of Mann KG was a close supporter of King Richard II of England. He was a second son of Richard le Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton.-Life:...

 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

Henry V of England

Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....

, and he was appointed again apparently after his predecessor had resigned from ill-health. 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

Messing-cum-Inworth

Messing-cum-Inworth is a civil parish in north-east Essex, 8.5 miles west of Colchester, and 15 miles east of Chelmsford. The parish consists of two small villages; Messing , and Inworth .-Geography:...

.

In 1440, Doreward's son, another John Doreward, founded an almshouse

Almshouse

Almshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people to live in a particular community...

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.