APSLEY, John (d.1587), of Thakeham, Suss.

Of two namesakes, one of Pulborough, the other of Thakeham, it was probably the latter who was returned for Sussex at the by-election following the death of Sir Richard Sackville. The Pulborough man was suspected of harbouring a ‘massing priest’ in 1579, whereas the other was classified in 1564 as a favourer of religion. The lord lieutenant, the Earl of Arundel, may have exercised some influence in the choice: Arundel certainly knew Apsley, who may have been a lawyer, as he was described as ‘learned in the law’ in 1564. He may therefore have been the John Apsley who was admitted to Gray’s Inn in 1562, perhaps from an inn of chancery. He is mentioned in a number of orders from the Privy Council requiring local action. He escaped paying £50 to the loan of 1570 when the collectors, Lord De La Warr and Henry Goring, informed the Council that he was not able to send that sum.

On 14 May 1587 Apsley was buried at Thakeham, where a monument was erected to him in the church. His will, made on the previous 1 May, was proved at Chichester on 27 Oct. in the same year.1Mousley thesis; CPR, 1563-6, pp. 37-8, 40; Cam. Misc. ix(3), p. 9; D. G. C. Elwes and C. J. Robinson, Castles and Mansions of W. Suss. 222; APC, vii. 19, 283, 404; viii. 131-2; xiii. 334-5; xiv. 63; Suss. Arch. Colls. lxxii. 225.