FOUNTEYNS, John, of Clapham, Surr.

Surprisingly, despite this MP’s unusual name, nothing has been discovered about his family background. By the time that he first appears in the records, at the beginning of Henry VI’s reign, he was already an ‘esquire’ engaged in royal service in Ireland. It is unclear to whose patronage he owed his appointment in the lordship as escheator and clerk of the markets, for there is no evidence of a connexion between him and the then lieutenant of Ireland, the earl of Ormond. Some of Founteyns’ official duties were performed by deputies, and he is known to have been in England on royal business in the spring of 1423. Although still holding his Irish offices in July 1424, he was replaced before September 1428, Ibid. 226, 229, 247. after having at least a year earlier taken up residence in Clapham in Surrey, where he had acquired property through marriage.

The manor of Clapham belonged to the Westons of Albury, and was held by Founteyns’ wife Agnes in jointure with her previous husband. VCH Surr. iv. 39. In Michaelmas term 1427, described as ‘of Clapham’, Founteyns was accused in the court of common pleas of unjustly detaining goods worth £40 which belonged to one Richard Tylly. Similarly described, seven years later he took the generally administered oath against maintenance of those who broke the peace. CP40/667, rot. 399d; Feudal Aids, v. 126; CPR, 1429-36, p. 380. Throughout his career Founteyns was almost invariably referred to as ‘esquire’, an appellation which may imply that he was retained in a noble or episcopal household. Perhaps, like his father-in-law John Clipsham, he belonged to the circle of Cardinal Henry Beaufort, the bishop of Winchester. This is also suggested by the identity of his most important associate, the wealthy and influential Thomas Haseley†, secondary clerk of the Chancery and clerk of the Commons in Parliament. In October 1433 Founteyns assisted Haseley in the acquisition of property in Chelsea, Middlesex, which had belonged to John Scarburgh†, Haseley’s predecessor as clerk of the Commons, CCR, 1429-35, p. 286. and it may be surmised that the clerk was instrumental in gaining for him his appointment as escheator of Surrey and Sussex shortly afterwards. Probably, Founteyns actively sought the post in order to deal with difficulties arising from his wife’s inheritance from her parents John and Alice Clipsham. The widowed Alice had recently died, and her possessions and estate had been seized by Hugh Ashbury*, MP for Reigate in the Parliament then in session. On 31 Dec. Ashbury was required to enter bonds in Chancery in £100 that the following month he would bring to the court all the charters, evidences and muniments he had in his keeping concerning lands in Guildford and elsewhere in Surrey once belonging to Clipsham, which ought now to fall to Founteyns’ wife Agnes; and also in £500 that he would keep safe certain goods, jewels and household utensils which Clipsham had bequeathed to his widow for her lifetime. He was enjoined not to sell or conceal these until it had been ascertained whether they rightly pertained to him or to Clipsham’s executors. CCR, 1429-35, pp. 299, 302. Agnes Founteyns herself died a few months later, but her father’s executors continued to pursue the matter, and in a petition to Chancery the nature of Ashbury’s alleged deception is revealed. It transpired that he had formerly been married to a daughter of Alice by a previous husband, and used his knowledge of the family’s affairs to pose as Clipsham in order to forge a will, by which he was able to take possession of the lands and goods. C1/9/67.

Founteyns’ wife died on 28 Aug. 1434, and it fell to him, as escheator, to conduct the inquisition post mortem, although by the time he did so, at Croydon on 11 Nov. following, he was no longer in office. C139/68/13. Agnes’s heir to the manor of Clapham, in accordance with the settlement made on her marriage to William Weston, was their son Robert Weston, with whom Founteyns promptly entered negotiations so that he might retain an interest in property there. Accordingly, three weeks later Weston confirmed Founteyns in possession of two messuages and some land in Clapham, and a few days later he formally quitclaimed to him certain rents from property which Founteyns had recently purchased, and of the heriot of a messuage and nine acres of land, which used to be rendered to Robert’s father and forefathers as lords of the manor. Thomas Haseley supported Founteyns by witnessing the transactions. CCR, 1429-35, pp. 344-5. With regard to Agnes’s inheritance from her father, Founteyns’s title was more straightforward. Clipsham and his wife had jointly held eight messuages and some 186 acres of land and rents of £10 9s. p.a. in Guildford and elsewhere, as well as a moiety of the manor of Imbhams. These had been settled on Agnes and Founteyns in jointure, so he was able to retain the estate for the rest of his life. His title was confirmed the following summer by Robert Weston and other potential claimants. Weston made further quitclaims in 1437, and when, a year later, he sold the manor of Clapham to a London grocer, Founteyns was present to witness the deed. CCR, 1435-41, pp. 37, 72, 165-6, 171. According to the assessments made for the income tax of 1436 Founteyns could expect an annual income of 20 marks from his Surrey holdings. Surr. Hist. Centre, Woking, Loseley mss, LM/1719.

Meanwhile, Founteyns had been named in 1435 among the recipients of the goods and chattels of Thomas Haseley. He found himself in exalted company: John Kemp, archbishop of York, the earls of Stafford and Suffolk, and a number of royal clerks, including Haseley’s kinsman William Godyng*, were associated with him. CCR, 1435-41, p. 40. Founteyns was to employ Godyng as a feoffee-to-uses of his own property. Thus, by the time of his election to the Parliament of 1437, he had established close connexions within the Chancery at Westminster. Most important, Haseley, as clerk of the House, would have been at hand to guide him in the workings of the Commons. Subsequently, although he was never returned again, he attested three Surrey elections conducted at the shire court at Guildford. Save for his feoffeeship of property in Lambeth and elsewhere, probably on behalf of John Wynter, and for his service as a commissioner of array, little else of note is recorded about him. CP25(1)/232/72/21.

Founteyns, who is last mentioned as present at the Surrey hustings of 1450, died before March 1455. He was survived by his second wife, Elizabeth, who at that date granted her moveable goods to a body of men headed by (Sir) John Fortescue*, c.j.KB, and including Thomas Gower I*. The latter acquired the manor of Clapham at about the same time. Before May 1460 Elizabeth married Robert Percy, a notary public of London, and she then made a quitclaim of her dower lands in Clapham to Nicholas Gaynesford* and others to whom Founteyns’ surviving feoffees, Godyng and John Philipp of Godalming, had conveyed his estate. CCR, 1454-61, pp. 52, 447. Founteyns does not appear to have left any issue.