the 14th century, and, in spite of their name, and although one of them is described as a wheelwright, it is probable that, like most other wealthy burgesses of the period, they made their money out of wool, which was for so many generations "the flower and strength and revenue and blood" of the midland counties. Indeed, William o' the Waynhouse was charged in 1335 with forestalling seven woolfellers, and was ordered to be distrained by the Grand Distress. Richard of the Waynhouse was living in the East Suburb late in the 13th century, and had a son, William, born about 1272, who was Mayor in 1318-19. He had land in the North Suburb, and was, as we have seen, one of the richest burgesses of his day, but a son of his, named John, who took his seat in the Guild Hall in 1330, and was Mayor in 1346-7, was nearly as wealthy. Roger, perhaps another son, entered the Guild in 1335, and was living in the Swinesmarket Quarter of the town in 1354. After that date the family disappears from the Record.
The Beebys were a family of mercers and drapers, who lived at Leicester in affluent circumstances for some generations. Robert of Beeby entered the Guild in 1199, and in the next century Peter, Walter and William were all, at different times, charged with selling cloth by measure "against the liberties of the Guild." William, who subsequently became a well-to-do mercer, was also fined, on another occasion, for using false yard-measures. Afterwards, however, he paid his entrance-money, and was admitted as a merchant of the Guild; and from that time, 1323, the fortunes of the family began to rise. Richard was member for the Borough in 1341 and 1348, and Roger, also a draper, was member in 1372. Henry was Mayor three times, and represented the town in three Parliaments. But the most considerable of the Beeby family seems to have been Thomas, a mercer, who was born about 1314, and died about 1383. He was chosen Mayor in 1362, and again in 1368, and was member for the Borough four times. He lived in the Southgate, and in 1354 was taxed more heavily than any man in Leicester, except William of Dunstable. While he was Mayor in 1363, one Lambert, a "fleshewer," or flesher, was charged
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