ZOUCHE, John (c.1564-1610), of Codnor, Derbys.

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. 1564, s. and h. of Sir John Zouche of Codnor by Eleanor, da. of Richard Whalley. educ.G. Inn 1582. m. Maria, da. of ?Sir Henry Berkeley of Bruton, Som., 1s. at least 2da. suc. fa. 1586. Kntd. 23 Apr. 1603.

Offices Held

J.p. Derbys. by 1594-5.

Biography

Zouche was elected knight of the shire to the first Parliament called after he succeeded his father. He left no mark on the surviving records of the House of Commons, and within a year or two he had been outlawed on two counts of debt and was involved in litigation over a third. He was forced to assign his profitable iron works, Laskoe Mill Forge, to Sir Francis Willoughby, subject to £200 a year for his and his wife’s maintenance. In 1597, two of his debts, totalling £380, were still outstanding. Probably as a last resort, he entered into an agreement with a Captain Weymouth on the latter’s return from a voyage to Virginia in 1605, to found a settlement there, but nothing came of this in his own lifetime. Zouche managed to retain Codnor and estates at Alfreton, Buttefly, Heanor and Ripley until his death in April 1610. He was buried in the chancel of Heanor church on 3 Apr. His heir sold up and emigrated to Virginia.

Glover, Derbys. (1836, ii(1), pp. 309, 312; PCC 31 Windsor; C2. Eliz. Z1/1, 12; Lansd. 85, f. 76; C. M. Andrews, Col. Period of American Hist. i. 80; CSP Col. 1574-1660, pp. 130, 201, 217; C142/332/164; Derbys. Arch. and Nat. Hist. Soc. Jnl. xxxi. 37.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: B.D.

Notes