Constituency Dates
Camelford [1572]1Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament.
Family and Education
2nd s. of Richard Gifford of Kings Somborne, and bro. of Henry. m. Elizabeth Brabazon, at least 3s.
Address
Main residence: Bentley, Hants.
biography text

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’.2Vis. 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.

Author
M.N.
Volume
Commons 1558-1603
Notes
  • 1. Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament.
  • 2. 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.