POYNTZ, Sir John (c.1560-1633), of Iron Acton, Glos.

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

b. c.1560, 1st s. of Sir Nicholas Poyntz of Iron Acton by his 1st w. Anne, da. of Sir Ralph Verney of Penley, Herts. m. (1) 1578, Ursula, da. of Sir John Sydenham of Brimpton, Som., s.p.; (2) 1582, Elizabeth (d.1595), da. of Alexander Sydenham of Luxborough, Som., 4s. 3da; (3) Frances (d.1599), da. of John Newton, s.p.; (4) June 1600, Grissell (d.1648), da. of Walter Roberts of Glassenbury, Kent, wid. of Gregory Price of Hereford, Herefs., 2s. 3da. suc. fa. 1585. Kntd. by Nov. 1588.

Offices Held

J.p. Glos. from c.1582, sheriff 1591-2, custos rot. from 1602; j.p. Som. from c.1584; surveyor, south parts, duchy of Lancaster 1591; member, council in marches of Wales 1603; chamberlain of the Exchequer 1613.

Biography

From his father, a man ‘greatly friended and allied’ in Gloucestershire, Poyntz inherited considerable estates and in 1588 he obtained a grant of the forest of Exmoor, at an annual rent of £46 13s.4d. In 1593 he was elected knight of the shire, as his father had been before him. He was appointed to the subsidy committee (26 Feb.) and to take the Commons’ answer to the Lords on this matter (3 Mar.). His other committees were on a legal matter (9 Mar.), the poor law (12 Mar.) and cloth (15 Mar.). In 1597 he bought Beverstone from the Berkeleys, but his financial affairs were deteriorating, and he was forced to sell the estate almost at once. On three separate occasions, in 1601, 1609 and 1619, he was outlawed or imprisoned for debt. In 1609 he sold the manor of Tockington, part of his patrimony, for £2,700, but only three years later he was said to owe more than £10,000, an immense sum at the time, and too large, one would think, to have been caused by his father’s suspect religious views or the Chancery case resulting from his father’s will. Whatever the cause, Poyntz died insolvent and intestate in 1633, and was buried at Iron Acton on 29 Nov.

Vis. Glos. (Harl. Soc. xxi), 135; J. Maclean, Hist. Fam. Poyntz, 81 seq.; Bristol and Glos. Arch Soc. Trans. xi. 206; xii. 136-56; CSP Dom. 1591-4, pp. 124, 203, 397; Somerville, Duchy, i. 448; PRO Index 4208; HMC Hatfield, iv. 295; xv. 392; D’Ewes, 474, 486, 496, 499, 501; APC, xix. 350; xxxii. 367.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: J.J.C.

Notes