POTTS, John (d.1597), of Lincoln's Inn, London and Mannington, Norf.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

s. of Roger Potts of L. Inn. educ. L. Inn 1578. m. (?1587) Anne, da. of John Dodge of Mannington, at least 3s. 1da.

Offices Held

Biography

The suggested identification for the 1589 St. Mawes MP rests upon the Lincoln’s Inn lawyer being known to have been the cousin of William Buggin, who sat for Helston in the same Parliament. Buggin had a good reason to be returned for Helston, for his father was the mayor; probably it was he who arranged that Potts should be returned at St. Mawes. No other explanation for Potts’s return offers itself, and Cornish boroughs frequently elected London lawyers. Potts and Buggin were at Lincoln’s Inn together, and it was as of Lincoln’s Inn that Potts received his grant of arms in 1583. Some four years or so later he made a fortunate marriage into the Dodge family of Norfolk. Neither Potts nor Buggin is known to have contributed to the business of the Commons. Potts made his will on 4 Nov. 1593, and added a codicil when sick, 7 Dec. 1597, describing himself as ‘John Pott of Mannington, Norfolk, esq’. He died at his mother’s house at Eltham, Kent on 20th of that month, leaving a bequest to his cousin William Buggin. Potts’s i.p.m. mentions property at Holborn, St. Pancras, Bishopsgate, Hampton Court, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, and estates at Mannington and Wolterton, Norfolk, including some held of Sir Christopher Heydon as lord of Woodhall manor. Potts’s widow married Heydon, and his son John Potts, aged 7, became Heydon’s ward. Potts’s widow died in 1642, aged 75.

Blomefield, Norf. vi. 464-5; Vis. Norf.(Harl. Soc. lxxvi) 169-70; Norf. Arch. ii. 58; Grantees of Arms (Harl. Soc. lxvi), 203; PCC 48 Lewyn; C142/40/256.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: P. W. Hasler

Notes