MANATON

Richard Manaton was granted the right to issued a token at Bodmin in 1664. Then in 1668, Richard was elected Mayor of Bodmin. According to the custom of the borough he would have served as mayor for a one year term from 1668-9, followed by a second year as justice for the borough from 1669-1670. 

The letters “R P M” inscribed on the token may have signified the first initial of his name as well as the first initial of his wife Penelopy. Penelopy’s burial is recorded at Bodmin 23 Sep 1670. She would have passed near the end of Richard’s term as justice.

 

According to the records of the borough, Richard’s mayoralty started with some excitement. On 24 Sep, 1668, one Richard Manaton, just elected mayor, rescued a churchwarden and a constable from the town clerk and preceding mayor, John Dagg, then justice, for refusing to execute a warrant to levy twenty shillings each on several persons that sold ale without licence. The town clerk and ex-mayor thereupon petitioned the lord chief justice to redress their grievances, alleging that not only had the defendants broken the law but had also so slandered their neighbours that they could not live quietly, and had admitted strangers into the guild hall, who had made “such vociferous noise” that the town clerk and alderman were obliged to leave in order to avoid a breach of the peace. The parties ultimately reached a settlement.