John Guildford

Sir John Guildford, JP (by 1508 – 1565), of Hemsted in Benenden, also written Guilford, was an English landowner, administrator and politician. Origins Born by 1508, he was the only son of George Guildford (died by 1537), of Hemsted, who was the second son of Sir Richard Guildford and his first wife Anne, daughter of John Pympe, of Nettlestead. His mother was Elizabeth, only daughter and heiress of Robert Mortimer (died 1485 at Bosworth), of Thorpe-le-Soken, and his wife Isabel, daughter of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk. He had two sisters: Mary, who married Sir Owen West (died 1551), and Anne, who married first Walter Woodland and secondly Richard Lynne. Life In 1529, in his early 20s, was elected MP for Gatton, a seat controlled by Sir Roger Copley, who was not only his stepmother's brother but also his wife's uncle. His own uncles, Sir Edward Guildford and Sir Henry Guildford, were the knights of the shire for Kent. He may have sat for Gatton in later Parliaments, but the records are lost. Once the parliamentary sessions were over, in 1530 he enrolled at Gray's Inn to study law. When his uncle Edward died in 1534 without leaving a written will, John claimed that by last wishes spoken at the deathbed he was heir to the manor of Halden and other lands in Kent and Sussex. As this was disputed by Edward's only surviving child Jane and her husband, then known as Sir John Dudley, in the end he was unable to secure the estates, though the episode had an aftermath many years later.