When his father died in 1537 John Estday was entrusted, with his brother and sister, to the care of their mother, whom Robert Estday had enjoined to instruct them ‘with good and virtuous manners and learning’. Estday grew up to become a jurat at Hythe, as his father had been, and to serve both as bailiff and Member of Parliament: he also attended the brotherhood of the Cinque Ports on a number of occasions. In the Parliament of November 1554 he was not among the Members who withdrew before the dissolution and were prosecuted for this offence.3Canterbury prob. reg. C15, f. 382; Cinque Ports White and Black Bks. 199 seq.
Estday died in 1571, leaving his messuage and lands in Romney marsh and his tenement in Hythe to his wife for life, with remainder to his sons and daughters, each of whom was also separately endowed with land. He appointed his wife executrix and named as overseers Thomas Dobbes of Canterbury and William Carden who had been his fellow-Member in April 1554. His will, made on 3 Jan. 1571, was proved on the following 5 Apr.4Canterbury prob. reg. C31. f. 399.