HARPER, John

Constituency Dates
Stafford [], [], [], 1422, [1423], 1425, 1427, 1429
Staffordshire 1431
Family and Education
educ. I. or M. Temple. m. c.1427, Eleanor, da. and h. of William Grobbere alias Rushall (d.1429) of Rushall by his 3rd w. Elizabeth Rolstow (d.1430), at least 2s. inc. Richard†.
Offices Held

Attestor, parlty. elections, Staffs. 1423, 1432, 1437, 1442, 1455.

Steward and receiver of Anne, countess of Stafford’s ldship. of Stafford 15 July 1428-prob. Oct. 1438; steward for feoffees of Thomas, earl of Stafford (d.1392) in Staffs., Glos., Northants. 15 Mar. 1437-prob. Oct. 1438; Humphrey, earl of Stafford (later duke of Buckingham), at Tyseo, Warws. 15 Nov. 1438-c. July 1460; John, Lord Dudley, at Dudley, Staffs. aft. 1440–?;1 I. Rowney, ‘Staffs. Political Community’ (Keele Univ. Ph.D. thesis, 1981), i. 62. the abbot of St. Werbergh, Chester, at Weston-upon-Trent, Staffs. by 1444 – ?; William Booth, bp. of Coventry and Lichfield, at East Cannock and Rugeley, Staffs. by 25 Nov. 1449–?;2 CP40/758, rot. 118. liberty of bp. of Coventry and Lichfield in Staffs. and Salop 25 Mar. 1459–d.3 Rowney, ii. 437.

Escheator, Staffs. 4 Nov. 1428 – 12 Feb. 1430, 5 Nov. 1432–3, 5 Nov. 1439 – 4 Nov. 1440.

J.p.q. Staffs. 24 Mar. 1430 – d.

Commr. Herefs., London, Mdx., Salop, Staffs., Warws., Worcs. Mar. 1431 – Dec. 1461; of gaol delivery, Stafford castle May 1435, Aug. 1438, Oct., Nov. 1439 (q.), Oct. 1447 (q.), Oct. 1450, Oct. 1452 (q.), Oct. 1453, Mar., Oct. 1454 (q.), Oct. 1456 (q.), Oct. 1457 (q.), Oct. 1460 (q.), Oct. 1461 (q.), Mar. 1464 (q.), Lichfield Dec. 1440, Stafford Oct. 1441 (q.), Nov. 1443, Oct. 1458 (q.);4 C66/437, m. 14d; 442, m. 15d; 445, m.19d; 448, m. 33d; 451, m. 35d; 457, m. 22d; 465, m. 26d; 472, m. 18d; 476, m. 2d; 478, m. 21d; 479, m. 20d; 482, m. 16d; 484, m. 13d; 486, m. 20d; 490, m. 23d; 494, m. 25d; 508, m. 20d. to treat for loans, Staffs. Nov. 1440, June 1446.

Justice itinerant (appointed by Humphrey, earl of Stafford) to hear great sessions at Newport Feb. 1432, Brecon Jan. 1440, Jan. 1443, Jan. 1445, Mar. 1446.

Custodian, estates of abbey of Burton-upon-Trent, Staffs. 20 July 1433–40.

Auditor, estates of John Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, by 1442-prob. July 1453; auditor-gen. for Humphrey, earl of Stafford and duke of Buckingham c.1439-c. July 1460; auditor, forfeited estates of Richard Neville, earl of Warwick 9 Dec. 1459-prob. July 1460; jt. auditor, estates of the duchy of Lancaster in S. Wales and Glos. 10 Dec. 1461–d.;5 He was reappointed in error in Mar. 1465, for he was then dead: CPR, 1461–7, p. 429. auditor, estates in Wales, Salop, Herefs. and Glos. held by the Crown during the minorities of the dukes of Buckingham and Norfolk and the earl of Shrewsbury, and of all ministers of the Crown in Wales, Chester, Flint and the Forest of Dean 1 Jan. 1462 – d.

Address
Main residence: Rushall, Staffs.
biography text

More may be added to the earlier biography.6 The Commons 1386-1421, iii. 294-6.

The pattern of Harper’s career leaves no doubt that he was a lawyer, and one reference shows that he was a member of either Middle or Inner Temple. In 1423 ‘Harpour of the Temple’ delivered a Staffordshire inquisition post mortem into Chancery. As a lawyer, he was occasionally active as an arbiter. On 25 May 1440, for example, he was one of a high-ranking group who returned an award in the dispute between Sir Thomas Erdington* and Robert Arderne*.7 CIPM, xxii. 11; CP40/742, rot. 314.

As part of his efforts to establish his wife’s manor of Rushall as a fitting caput honoris for the leading gentry family he hoped to establish, Harper rebuilt the church or chapel there in the late 1430s, and it is probable that this, rather than, as cited in the earlier biography, the church of Grey Friars in Lichfield, was the place of his burial.8 CPL, xii. 493-9; P. Morgan, ‘A Prose Narrative’, in Much Heaving and Shoving ed. Aston and Horrox, 26-27, 30.

Author
S.J.P.
Volume
Commons 1422-1461
Notes
  • 1. I. Rowney, ‘Staffs. Political Community’ (Keele Univ. Ph.D. thesis, 1981), i. 62.
  • 2. CP40/758, rot. 118.
  • 3. Rowney, ii. 437.
  • 4. C66/437, m. 14d; 442, m. 15d; 445, m.19d; 448, m. 33d; 451, m. 35d; 457, m. 22d; 465, m. 26d; 472, m. 18d; 476, m. 2d; 478, m. 21d; 479, m. 20d; 482, m. 16d; 484, m. 13d; 486, m. 20d; 490, m. 23d; 494, m. 25d; 508, m. 20d.
  • 5. He was reappointed in error in Mar. 1465, for he was then dead: CPR, 1461–7, p. 429.
  • 6. The Commons 1386-1421, iii. 294-6.
  • 7. CIPM, xxii. 11; CP40/742, rot. 314.
  • 8. CPL, xii. 493-9; P. Morgan, ‘A Prose Narrative’, in Much Heaving and Shoving ed. Aston and Horrox, 26-27, 30.