Family and Education

b. by 1522. m. (1) 2s, 2da.; (2) Susan, da. of Robert Walpole of Stamford and Pinchbeck, Lincs. wid. of John Allen (d.1554) of Stamford, at least 1da.1

Offices Held

In royal service from temp. Hen. VIII, woodward, Northants. and Rutland by Nov. 1553, jt. 23 July 1571; member of first Twelve, Stamford July 1557-d., alderman 1558-9, 1566-7, 1575-6, 1581-2.2

Biography

John Houghton probably came from Northamptonshire; on the pardon roll of 1553 he is described as of Ashton in Oundle, in that county, gentleman aliasyeoman, and in 1570 the manor of Ashton was said to be then or late in his tenure. The date and circumstances of his settlement at Stamford are obscured by the presence there of several namesakes, mostly men of lowly status, but he appears to have been the John Houghton assessed on goods worth 40s. in the parish of All Hallows in 1543 and appointed an assessor for a tax in St. John’s parish four years later.3

Whether Houghton was paid for his first Parliament is not known. He had a dispute with Francis Thorneff, his fellow-Member in 1558, which lasted from 1563 to 1566 and ended with Thorneff’s being deprived of the freedom of the borough. From 1563 Houghton lived on his newly acquired manor of Kelthorpe. He died on 24 Dec. 1583 and was buried in St. Mary’s, Stamford. By his will, made on 16 Dec. 1582 and proved on 12 Feb. 1584, he left Kelthorpe to his wife Susan, the goods there to his son and heir Tobias, and legacies to another son and three married daughters.4

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: M. K. Dale

Notes

• 1. Date of birth estimated from first reference. P. Houghton, ‘Houghton fam.’, T/S unpaginated; PCC 11 More, 30 Butts; Lincs. Peds. (Harl. Soc. lii), 1040.
• 2. CPR, 1553-4, p. 451; 1555-7, p. 194; 1569-72, p. 294; W. Harrod, Stamford, i. 210.
• 3. CPR, 1553-4, p. 451; 1569-72, p. 149; Houghton, op. cit.
• 4. Harrod, i. 150; CPR, 1560-3, p. 601; VCH Rutland, ii. 259-60; PCC 30 Butts.