GREEN, John III (d.1473), of Widdington and Gosfield, Essex.

Commr. of inquiry, Essex Feb. 1448 (concealments), Feb. 1451 (heretics and lollards), May 1455 (escapes of felons), Suff. Aug. 1455 (quarrel between Dominicans at Sudbury and Margaret Scrope), Essex Feb. 1457 (all felonies and murders), Essex, Norf., Suff. July 1466 (illegal shipment of merchandise), Essex Oct. 1470 (felonies and other offences); to assess subsidy Aug. 1450; of gaol delivery, Colchester castle Dec. 1450 (q.), Jan. 1451 (q.), Nov. 1454 (q.), Feb. 1456 (q.), Mar. 1457 (q.), June (q.), Aug. 1458 (q.), Feb. (q.), June 1463 (q.), Aug. 1465 (q.), Colchester Nov. 1453 (q.), Rayleigh, Hertford castle July 1465 (q.); C66/472, m. 18d; 478, m. 21d; 479, m. 20d; 481, m. 20d; 482, m. 7d; 485, mm. 2d, 8d; 500, m. 25d; 505, m. 6d; 513, mm. 22d, 27d. sewers, Essex Nov. 1451 (Tendring hundred), Essex, London, Mdx. Oct. 1455 (rivers Thames and Lea), Essex Feb. 1456 (Stratford atte Bowe to Horndon and then Hockley, Tollesbury and Wigborough), Nov. 1461 (coast and marshes from ‘Tempylmylle’ to chapel of St. Katherine on Bow bridge to Horndon and then to Hockley, Tollesbury and Wigborough), Feb. 1471, July 1471 (Thames shoreline from East Ham to Wigborough); array Sept. 1457, Sept. 1458, Feb., Dec. 1459, Mar. 1472; to assign archers Dec. 1457; of oyer and terminer, Essex, Kent, Suff. Sept. 1458, Essex Oct. 1470, Feb. 1472 (treasons and other offences of Sir Thomas de Vere and others); to urge the raising of a fleet against the King’s enemies of France and Scotland, Essex, Herts., Suff. June 1461. But it is possible that some of these commissions were held by a namesake of the MP, a son of Walter Green* of Hayes, Mdx. Both Walter and this other John Green also held lands in Essex, and Walter’s widow, Elizabeth, chose the MP as one of her feoffees. She was Walter’s second wife and bore him at least two sons, including the other John Green, who died in 1485: The Commons 1386–1421, iii. 231–2; Early Holborn ed. Williams, nos. 1172, 1212; CIPM Hen. VII, i. 86. R. Somerville, Duchy, i. 454, confuses John son of Walter with the MP.

J.p. Essex 8 Nov. 1448-May 1465 (q.), 30 May-Nov. 1465, 5 Nov. 1465 (q.)-d.

Apprentice-at-law for the duchy of Lancaster 1455–66. Somerville, 454.

Common huntsman of London 4 Apr. 1457–1459. Corp. London RO, jnl. 6, ff. 118v, 223, ex inf. C.M. Barron.

Speaker 1460.

Jt. steward (with his brother, William) of the confiscated estates of John de Vere, 12th earl of Oxford, in Essex, Suff. and Cambs. 1 Mar. 1462–d. Initially the Crown granted the stewardship to the two men by letters patent of 2 Feb. 1462 but these were superseded by new letters of 1 Mar. The earl’s son and successor John was allowed to take possession of all the de Vere estates in Jan. 1474: CPR, 1461–7, pp. 139, 142; C.D. Ross, Edw. IV, 65.

Recorder and j.p., Colchester Sept. 1463–d. Essex RO, Colchester bor. recs., ct. rolls, 1463–4, 1466–7, 1470–1, 1473–4, D/B 5 Cr72–75.

Dep. to Richard Neville, earl of Warwick, chief steward of duchy of Lancaster (perhaps south parts) Feb. 1469–? Apr. 1471. Somerville, 431. Somerville states that Green gave up this office ‘before Sept. 1474’. It is likely that he lost it after Warwick’s death in Apr. 1471.