♂John Fettiplace

John Fettiplace (died 1464) was a fifteenth-century Londoner. He made his will on 22 August 1464, when all five of his children were still under age, and it was proved on 3 September, so he died within those twelve days. He was the fourteenth great-grandfather of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006) by two separate lines of descent, both through his son Richard Fettiplace (died 1510 or 1511).

Family and early life

John was probably the youngest of the three sons of Sir Thomas Fettiplace of East Shefford, who left sons named William, James and John when he died about 1447. His mother, Lady Beatrice, is said to have been born in Portugal and to have been the widow of Gilbert Talbot, Lord Talbot^W, before she married Sir Thomas. She died on Christmas Day 1447 and was buried at East Shefford. Later heralds’ pedigrees turned her into a daughter of the King of Portugal, naming him once as John and once as Alphonso; the royal birth is a family legend.

Life in London

John is said to have been a citizen and draper of London, and a pedigree recorded at the Berkshire heraldic visitation^W of 1623 calls him “famulus Regis H 6”, a servant of King Henry VI. John Fettiplace is said to have married Joan Fabian, the daughter of Edward Fabian and the widow of Robert Horne, an alderman^W of London. John had four sons, Richard, Anthony, Thomas and William, and a daughter, Margaret, most likely all by Joan.

Death

John made his will on 22 August 1464, leaving bequests “to my children vndre writen”: to Richard, Anthony, Thomas and William, each “my son”, and to “Margaret my doughter”. All five were under age, and the will set out what should happen “if my Richard my son decesse afore he come to lawfull age”. It was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury^W on 3 September 1464. He is said to have been buried in the church of St Margaret Lothbury^W in London. Richard, the son and heir, grew up to make his home at East Shefford.

Lines of descent

Both lines run through his son Richard, Richard’s daughter Anne Fettiplace, Anne’s daughter Mary Purefoy, Mary’s daughter Susanna Thorne, Susanna’s son Thomas Dudley^W (1576–1653), later governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Thomas’s son Samuel Dudley (1608–1683). One comes down through Samuel’s son Stephen Dudley (1654–1735) to Nathaniel Dudley (1763–1844), and the other to Nathaniel’s wife, Anna Smith (1764–1825); the two lines meet again in their daughter Sarah Dudley (1795–1839).

Notes

His will

The will is entered in the registers of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PROB 11/5, quire “Godyn”) under the name “Johis Fetplace” of London. It is dated 22 August 1464 and was proved on 3 September 1464. The Victoria County History of Berkshire (vol. 4) gives the same date for the will. The will spells the second son’s name “Antony”.

His parents

The 1623 Berkshire visitation pedigree (The Four Visitations of Berkshire, Harleian Society, vol. I, p. 91) calls John “filius natu tertius”, the third son, of Thomas Fettiplace of Shefford and “Beatrix filia Johis Regis Portug:”. The Victoria County History of Berkshire (vol. 4, pp. 234-238) says that Sir Thomas, buried at East Shefford about 1447, “left three sons, William, James and John”, and that Lady Beatrice died on 25 December 1447. The Complete Peerage (1st ed., vol. 7, p. 360) says that Beatrix, the wife of Gilbert, Lord Talbot (died 1419), “was b. in Portugal” and was “probably a member of the Portuguese family of Pinto”; that as his widow she married Thomas Fettiplace of East Shefford before 1423; and that she died on Christmas Day 1447, leaving William Fettiplace her son and heir, then aged 24, and was buried at East Shefford. An interpolated leaf in the same Berkshire visitation (p. 28) calls her “the Ladye Beatryce. Countesse of Shrewsburye. and daughter to Alphoncius Kinge of Portingall”, and makes Richard her son rather than her grandson. This account follows Douglas Richardson and John’s will.

His trade, office and burial

Douglas Richardson’s Plantagenet Ancestry (2nd ed., p. 264) calls him “John Fettiplace, of East Shefford, Berkshire, Citizen and draper of London, member of the household of King Henry VI”. The 1623 visitation pedigree (p. 91) gives “famulus Regis H 6” and his burial: “Sepultus in Ecctia Ste Margaret. in Lothburie London”. No parish record of the burial is known.