John Port

Sir John Port (before 1510 – 6 June 1557) was an English landowner and Knight of the Order of the Bath who served occasionally in the House of Commons. He was High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1554. By his will, he founded Repton School and almshouses at Etwall. He also owned Caverswall Castle from 1531 after acquiring it through marriage to Elizabeth. The John Port Spencer Academy at Etwall is named after him. Early life Port’s ancestors were from Chester. He was the only son of Sir John Port (died 1540), a judge, by Jane Fitzherbert (died about 1520), the widow of John Pole of Radbourne, and daughter and heiress of John Fitzherbert (died 1502) of Etwall, King’s Remembrancer of the Exchequer. His great-grandfather, Henry Port, was described as a merchant. A London mercer, also named Henry Port (died 1512), was his grandfather; a monument to the latter in St Helen's Church, Etwall records that he died in 1512, having had seventeen children by his wife Elizabeth, the daughter of Banowayte of Flowresbrook. Port had three sisters: Ellen, who married firstly Sir Edmund Pierrepont of Holme, Nottinghamshire, and secondly Sir John Babington; Barbara, who married Sir John Francys of Foremark; and Maria, who was the wife of Sir George Findern of Findern.