CLEYPOOLE, John (1595-aft. 1664), of Northborough, Northants

The family of John Cleypoole was of modest origins.27Sig.: SP28/238/1. During the reign of Elizabeth I, Cleypoole’s grandfather, a yeoman of Kings Cliffe in Northamptonshire, purchased land locally, including a manor in Northborough, on the Lincolnshire border, and fenlands in the parishes of East Deeping and Deeping St James. These estates were inherited by Cleypoole’s father, who married a niece of Lord Burghley.28Northants. Past and Present i. pt. 4, pp. 23-4; Bridges, Northants. ii. 529; VCH Northants. ii. 508, 520. At Cleypoole’s own marriage in 1622, to the daughter of a wealthy London merchant whose family also resided in the neighbouring parish of Peakirk, his father settled on him Northborough and other lands, in total worth £200 p.a., in return for the marriage portion of £1,500. Cleypoole succeeded his father to the remainder of the estate in 1634.29Noble, House of Cromwell ii. 370, 372-3.

In early 1638 Cleypoole was summoned to face charges of ‘slackness’ in paying Ship Money.30CSP Dom. 1637-8, pp. 201, 297. He supported Parliament in the first civil war, being made a deputy lieutenant in Northamptonshire in September 1642, joining the committee for the Midland Association in December, and serving on the Northamptonshire assessment commissions from October 1644. In February 1645 he was appointed to the committee for implementing the New Model ordinance in the county.31LJ v. 371a; A. and O. In January 1646 his son, John Claypoole*, married a daughter of Oliver Cromwell*, who may have been an old acquaintance of the family.32Abbott, Writings and Speeches i. 33, 398. Cleypoole continued on local commissions during the late 1640s and early 1650s, and his connection with the Cromwells may have encouraged his appointment to offices of more significance.33A. and O. He was probably the John Cleypoole named as keeper of the exchequer seal in July 1652, and he was certainly appointed to a sub-committee to receive complaints about proposals to drain fens in June 1653.34E404/238, unfol.; CSP Dom. 1652-3, p. 447. It was no doubt his own standing in Northamptonshire that ensured his election to the first protectorate Parliament in 1654. It is unclear whether three committee nominations of ‘Mr Cleypole’ early in the session – concerning scandalous ministers (25 Sept.), Chancery reform (5 Oct.) and the Lincolnshire fens (31 Oct.) – should be assigned to the father or son, and only the latter appointment would seem to have been of specific interest to Cleypoole.35CJ vii. 370a, 374a, 380a.

Cleypoole did not play much of a part in politics after the dissolution of this Parliament in January 1655. Although he was proposed as sheriff of Northamptonshire by the local major general, William Boteler*, in the following November, he was not subsequently appointed.36TSP iv. 207. He may also have been the ‘cousin Cleypoole’ recommended by Edward Whalley* as a candidate for Stamford in the elections of August 1656.37TSP v. 296, 299. Despite this reticence, two pieces of evidence from July 1657 indicate that Cleypoole remained in good standing with the regime. According to one report of 18 July, when John Lambert* resigned from the protectoral council he asked Cromwell for the post of clerk of the hanaper in the court of chancery, which had been vacant since the death of Sir William Allanson* the previous December. At this, Cromwell ‘went out and asked the Lord Claypole if his father would accept of it, who said he thought he would ... and then he [Cromwell] came in again and asked my Lord Lambert what that was that he spoke to him about, and he told him, and then he told him it was disposed of’.38Clarke Pprs. v. 260n, 262. Two days later, Cleypoole ‘was created baronet and afterwards received the honour of knighthood’ from the protector.39CB; Clarke Pprs. iii. 114. He retained his position in the exchequer after the fall of the protectorate, and he was continued in that office by the Rump Parliament in March 1660, holding it jointly with George Monck’s* brother-in-law, Thomas Clarges*.40CJ vii. 873a. Cleypoole survived the Restoration unharmed, and he probably died in London in or shortly after 1664, when his name disappears from the Northborough court rolls.41Noble ii. 374; CB. He was succeeded by his impecunious son, who sold Northborough and the other family lands before his death in 1688.42Northants. Past and Present i. pt. 4, pp. 30-1.