John Giffard (1534–1613) was aStaffordshirelandowner and Member of theEnglish Parliament, notable as a leader ofRoman CatholicRecusancy in the reigns ofElizabeth I andJames I.
John Giffard's father wasSir Thomas Giffard ofCaverswall Castle. The Giffards had their seat atChillington Hall, nearBrewood, from the late 12th century.[1] Sir Thomas, like his father,Sir John Giffard, had considerably expanded the family estates until they were the wealthiestlanded gentry family in Staffordshire. Sir John was still alive when his grandson John was born, so Thomas Giffard was living at Caverswall, which he had acquired through his first wife, the heiress Dorothy Montgomery. Both Sir John and Sir Thomas were MPs of religiously conservative disposition, although both had generally acquiesced in the legislation that carried through theEnglish Reformation.
John Giffard's mother was Ursula Throckmorton, daughter of Robert Throckmorton ofCoughton Court, Warwickshire, and Elizabeth Baynham. She was Thomas Giffard's second wife: Dorothy had died by 1529, leaving Thomas with a daughter, but no surviving sons. He married Ursula in 1529. She was part of a wealthy landowning family, generally of a similar religious conservative outlook to the Giffards. Her brother,George Throckmorton, was MP forWarwickshire in theEnglish Reformation Parliament, elected in 1529. His sympathies were strongly Catholic and he was arrested in 1537, in the aftermath of thePilgrimage of Grace, with which he was thought to sympathise. He made a rambling and confused confession of his part in the Catholic opposition, narrowly escaping with his life.[2]
In 1539, when John was still a child, Thomas Giffard bought the site ofBlack Ladies Priory, a dissolvedBenedictine nunnery near Brewood.[3] Shortly after, the family moved into the house,[4] which Thomas had rebuilt as fineTudor brick residence, set on amoated site, with fishponds. At about the age of 16, John Giffard married Joyce Leveson, and their first child, Walter, was born about a year into the marriage. By the age of 21, he was considered ready for parliament.[5]
John Giffard was first elected to as Member of Parliament forLichfield in the first parliament ofQueen Mary I's reign,[5] opened on 5 October 1553, four days after her coronation. Lichfield had been a parliamentary constituency in the Middle Ages, but had lost the right to elect MPs, only regaining it in 1547, after a gap of almost two hundred years.[6] The main influence on the selection of MPs wasWilliam Paget, 1st Baron Paget, who had been a close supporter of the regime of theProtector Somerset. Humiliated at Somerset's fall, he was one of thePrivy Councillors who escaped from custody to recognise Mary as Queen during the succession crisis of summer 1553. He ensured that Lichfield returned MPs he could rely on. Giffard's senior colleague was Sir Philip Draycott, a friend of Paget who had shared his political fortunes.[7] Giffard himself was an obvious supporter of the Catholic Queen, with excellent connections in Staffordshire and neighbouring counties.
Giffard was able to travel up to London with his father, Thomas, who was elected to the same parliament as member forStaffordshire. Mary's first parliament legislated for a return to Catholic practice in the churches, reversing the reforms of Edward VI's reign to return the situation to that at the end of Henry VIII's. It did not restore links with thePapacy, and it set landowners minds at rest by leaving the monasteries andchantries dissolved.[8] The Giffards accepted these measures, which were fully in line with their own beliefs. The parliament lasted just two months and the members were home for Christmas.
Giffard was also elected to the next parliament, which assembled in April 1554. This time he represented the borough ofStafford. This time he was returned first inorder of precedence,[5] withHumphrey Swynnerton, husband of his aunt Cassandra Giffard,[9] as his colleague. Swynnerton was an intensely pious Catholic, who spent much of his limited wealth on rebuilding the church atShareshill.[10] Elections at Stafford took place among a small circle ofburgesses, chaired by thebailiff.[11] Thereturning officer at Stafford was theHigh Sheriff of Staffordshire, at that time Thomas Giffard himself, completing the indenture in Latin for his own son and brother-in-law.
This parliament was even shorter, lasting just a month. Its main business was to pass theAct for the Marriage of Queen Mary to Philip of Spain and the constitutionally important Act concerning Regal Power. The latter gave parliamentary authority to aqueen regnant in England for the first time.[8] Once again, there was no prospect of a Giffard opposing the queen's wishes.
John Giffard's father,Sir Thomas Giffard, did not inherit the family estates until 1556. He died only four years later, leaving John with very large holdings across the southern half of Staffordshire and in Derbyshire, although the focus remainedBrewood parish, where the Giffards had their seat at Chillington. John's brother Humphrey was provided for by Sir Thomas, having Black Ladies for the rest of his life, with thereversion to John. In fact, Humphrey outlived John, and it was to Walter, his heir, that Black Ladies returned. With the family generally well-provided for, and the advantage still of youth, John's fortunes appeared assured, apart from the religious issue, which was to dog the Giffards for generations.
Initially, the accession ofElizabeth I in 1558 did not affect the Giffards greatly. The queen rapidly moved to reassert aProtestant monarchy andChurch of England. However, there was no inquisition into Catholic's beliefs, only practice, and the authorities were long tolerant of offences of omission. Many who began asrecusants gradually drifted into conformity. John did not succeed his father asjustice of the peace until 1573, the same year he wasprickedHigh Sheriff of Staffordshire. Both these offices required taking theOath of Supremacy, swearing to accept the monarch as "the only supreme governor of this realm, and of all other her Highness's dominions and countries, as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things or causes, as temporal." Imposed by theAct of Supremacy 1558, failure to meet this requirement more than once had been turned into atreasonable offence by theSupremacy of the Crown Act 1562. In trusting him with public office, the regime was clearly signalling its wish to co-opt John Giffard into the county's ruling elite. His behaviour on that occasion probably gave rise to suspicion, but it was only two years later that matters took a serious turn for the worse.[5]
In 1575, the Queen visited Staffordshire and, on her progress through the county, stayed at Chillington early in August. Giffard promised to attend worship at the parish church, but Elizabeth herself noticed that he was not present,[citation needed] as he should have been according to theAct of Uniformity 1558, the other main pillar of theElizabethan Religious Settlement. Just three days later he was summoned by thePrivy Council to explain himself. He was interviewed by four bishops and then placed in the custody ofEdmund Freke, theBishop of Rochester, a particularly zealous heresy-hunter. However, Chillington needed work after the royal stay, so Giffard was soon granted leave to return there to reorder his home. Soon after, he was formally released from custody on condition that he attend church and use thePrayer Book even in his private chapel.
However, Giffard continued to avoid parish worship. As a result, his estates weresequestered by the Crown and he was placed underhouse arrest, confined to his own homes in London or at Chillington. The only exception to this regime was for licensed visits to the spa atKing's Newnham, nearRugby, Warwickshire. Despite this treatment at the hands of the State, Giffard remained, in his own way, entirely loyal. In 1588, when the country was threatened bySpanish invasion, he took the oath of allegiance and sent men to serve in the army.
However, the main factor in mitigating Giffard's later treatment by the authorities was his sonGilbert's role in betraying theBabington Plot. Gilbert had gone to France in 1577, hoping to train for theCatholic priesthood. He became involved in a plot to assassinate Elizabeth I and install her Catholic cousinMary, Queen of Scots on the throne. He thus linked up withCharles Paget, the son of Baron Paget, who was already adouble agent working for SirFrancis Walsingham, head of the queen's intelligence operation. On his return to England, late in 1585, Giffard was arrested atRye, East Sussex, and agreed to act as a double agent for Walsingham, taking the alias No. 4. His information and activities proved vital, allowing Walsingham to penetrate Mary's correspondence with the French ambassador. He subsequently wentabsent without leave and was arrested by the forces of theCatholic League in a Paris brothel, together with an English prostitute and a man who claimed to be a retainer of theEarl of Essex.[12] Imprisoned for 20 years, he died during thesiege of Paris in 1590. It is not certain what Gilbert's motives were. The authorities considered him "the most notable double, treble villain that ever lived."[13] Nevertheless, attitudes to his family softened and the restrictions on John Giffard were relaxed in his later years.
However, the Giffard fortunes were damaged severely by therecusancy of John and his successors. He did what he could to dispose of his estates before his death, and made his will on 27 August 1613, paying off debts and leaving small bequests to servants. He died the following day and was buried inthe Church of St Mary and St Chad in Brewood.
John Giffard married Joyce Leveson on 10 April 1550. she was the daughter of James Leveson ofLilleshall, a wealthyWolverhampton businessman, one of theMerchants of the Staple who had the monopoly of wool exports from England. Leveson had made a fortune not only from trade but also from leasing the property ofSt Peter's Collegiate Church in Wolverhampton:[14] in 1550, James's cousin John and Robert Brooke took on most of the college property at fixed low rents on perpetual leases – a ruse by theprebendaries to profit doubly from the dissolution of the institution. James Leveson had boughtLilleshall Abbey, a dissolvedAugustinian house inShropshire in 1539,[15] and thereafter it became the seat of his branch of the Leveson family.
John Giffard and Joyce had at least 14[5] surviving children.
These included eight sons:[4]
There were also six daughters: