Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mutford, John de
MUTFORD, JOHN de (d. 1329), judge, a member of a knightly family that took its name from Mutford in Suffolk, was engaged for Edward I in 1294 (Foss), and, a petition having been presented in parliament by one Isabella de Beverley in 1306, was called upon to inform the treasurer and barons of the exchequer as to the king's right to interfere in the matter (Rolls of Parliament, i. 197). In that year he was appointed oneof four justices in trailbaston for ten counties (ib. p. 218). In common with other justices and members of the council he was summoned to attend parliament in 1307. He received a summons in January 1308 to attend the coronation of Edward II (Fœdera, n. i. 27), and acted as an itinerant justice at various times during the reign. In 1310 he was ordered to be ready to go to Gascony on the king's business. Having receded from parliament in 1311 he was ordered to return to it, and in October was appointed a commissioner for the settlement of discontent in Ireland (ib. II. i. 143, 144). On 30 April 1316 he was appointed a justice of common pleas, and held that office until 1329, when he died, and was buried in Norwich Cathedral.
[Foss's Judges, iii. 467; Suckling's Hist. of Suffolk, p. 274; Blomefield's Norfolk, iv. 39; Rolls of Parl. i. 197, 218; Parl. Writs, i. ii. passim ; Rymer's Fœdera, ii. i. 27, 143, 144 (Record ed.)]