STAPYLTON, John (c.1632-97), of Warter, Yorks.

Stapylton was the scion of a well-established East Riding family, and his return – together with his brother-in-law, Wilfrid Lawson – for Cockermouth to Richard Cromwell’s* Parliament of 1659 was due entirely to his father-in-law, the leading Cumberland politician and landowner Sir Wilfrid Lawson*.1515 Supra, ‘Sir Wilfrid Lawson’. Stapylton appears to have been entirely inactive in this Parliament, receiving no committee appointments and making no recorded contribution to debate. Sir Wilfrid attempted to have his son and son-in-law returned for Cockermouth again in the elections to the 1660 Convention. However, by the spring of 1660, the earl of Northumberland had begun to re-assert his interest in the borough, and Sir Wilfrid was obliged to accept an electoral compromise that excluded Stapylton.1616 Alnwick, X.II.6, box 12, l: P. Wilson to Hugh Potter*, 12 Mar. 1660; HP Commons 1660-90, ‘Cockermouth’. There is no evidence that Stapylton either stood or was proposed for election thereafter.

Having been appointed to the East Riding bench by the restored Long Parliament in March 1660, Stapylton seems to have remained a magistrate until his death in 1697. This, and his appointment to successive assessment and sewers commissions for the East Riding, constitutes the only evidence that he remained active in public affairs. He was buried at Warter on 3 May 1697.1717 Dugdale’s Vis. Yorks. i. 175. In his will, which contains no mention of his landed estate, he made only a few minor bequests. His personal estate was valued at a mere £57 10s.1818 Borthwick, Wills in York registry, Harthill Deanery, May 1697. None of his immediate family sat in Parliament.