COPPLESTONE, John (d.1458), of Copplestone in Colebrooke, Devon.

Attestor, parlty. elections, Devon 1417, ?1420, 1421 (May), ?1422, ?1423, ?1425, 1426, ?1427, ?1429, ?1430, ?1432, 1433, 1437, 1442, 1447, 1449 (Feb.), 1449 (Nov.), 1450, 1453, 1455. The MP’s early activities are difficult to distinguish from those of his synonymous father. In particular, it is impossible to be certain which of them set his seal to the parliamentary election indenture, except for those occasions when the attestor was explicitly styled ‘junior’. In view of the son’s position as custodian of the estates of the earldom of Devon it is nevertheless probable that it was he who attended the county court, even in his father’s lifetime, a hypothesis borne out by the absence of both men’s names on the occasion of Copplestone’s own first return in 1421 (Dec.).

Steward of the estates of Bp. Stafford of Exeter, Devon 24 Sept. 1417-c.1419; jt. keeper of the temporalities of the bpric. Sept. 1419-Mich. 1420; steward of Bp. Lacy’s estates, Devon c.1420-aft. 1448. KB9/1046, no. 120; KB27/849, rex rot. 12.

Escheator, Devon and Cornw. 4 Nov. 1418 – 23 Nov. 1419, 20 May 1422 – 13 Nov. 1423, 24 Jan. – 17 Dec. 1426.

J.p.q. Devon 12 Feb. 1422 – Nov. 1451, 15 Dec. 1453 – d.

Commr. Devon, Som. Dorset, Wilts, Hants, Cornw. May 1422 – Dec. 1457; of gaol delivery, Exeter castle May 1422, Feb. 1426, June 1436, Feb. 1437, Feb. 1442, May 1444, Mar. 1446, Feb. 1452 (q.), Feb. 1453 (q.), May 1454 (q.). C66/406, m. 16; 419, m. 19d; 439, m. 19d; 440, m. 31d; 451, m. 15d; 458, m. 29d; 461, m. 8d; 474, m. 24d; 476, m. 10d; 478, m. 12d. It was presumably the elder John Copplestone who had been commissioned to deliver the gaol of Exeter in Nov. 1413: C66/392, mm. 15d, 25d.

Jt. receiver-general of the duchy of Cornw., jt. steward of duchy estates and jt. warden of the stannaries, Devon 28 May 1422 – 10 Feb. 1423.

Jt. receiver of the estates of the earldom of Devon 16 June 1422-Mich. 1423; SC6/1118/7. steward 3 July 1422 – Feb. 1423; jt. steward Feb. 1423-c.1435; receiver-general for Thomas Courtenay, earl of Devon, by Mich. 1439. Add. Roll 64324.

Steward of Ralph Neville, earl of Westmorland, in the liberty of Lyfton, Devon, by May 1429; KB27/676, rex rot. 4d; KB9/1057, no. 23. bailiff of hundred of Lyfton for John, Lord Neville, by Oct. 1453. KB27/780, rex rot. 7d; KB9/277, no. 6.

Steward of (Sir) Richard Hankford* by Mich. 1429, CP40/679, rot. 136. Sir William Bourgchier (afterwards Lord Fitzwaryn) by 13 June 1441, CP40/760, rot. 188. Plympton priory at Dene Prior, Devon, by Oct. 1447, KB9/260/73. Buckland abbey in Roborough hundred by Oct. 1448. KB9/311/112.

Tax collector, Devon Aug. 1450.