GIFFORD, John (d.1576), of Bentley, Hants.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

2nd s. of Richard Gifford of Kings Somborne, and bro. of Henry. m. Elizabeth Brabazon, at least 3s.

Offices Held

Biography

Gifford owned the manor house of Bentley, a lease of Compton farm and the manor of Sherston Pinkney, Wiltshire. He was ‘a kind kinsman and a faithful, sufficient servant’ of Sir Henry Sidney, under whom he served in Ireland as a captain of horse, and who presumably asked Bedford or Cecil to have him returned at Camelford. Gifford died 12 Apr. 1576. In his will, made seven days previously, he bequeathed a grey nag to Sir Henry Wallop, and made him an overseer. In the final clause, addressed to Sidney, Gifford described him as his ‘dear lord and master’ while Sidney himself, in a letter to Burghley, felt it necessary to explain that the death of his ‘dear kinsman and best beloved servant, John Gifford, maketh me write I know not what’.

Vis. Hants (Harl. Soc. lxiv), 16-17; Req. 1/20/176; SP63/55/34, 41; PCC 6 Carew; CSP Ire. 1509-73, p. 289; 1574-85, pp. 89, 90; Wards 7/18/6.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: M.N.

Notes

  • 1. Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament.