John Claypole
Encyclopedia
John Claypole was an officer in the Parliamentary army in 1645 during the English Civil War
. He was created Lord Cleypole by Oliver Cromwell
, but this title naturally came to an end with the Restoration
of 1660.
Claypole married Elizabeth
, Oliver Cromwell's second daughter, before October 1646, and raised a troop of horse for Parliament to oppose Charles II
in 1651. He was master of the horse to his father-in-law the Lord Protector. A Member of Parliament
in 1654 and 1656, he was one of Cromwell's peers in 1657. After the restoration of the monarchy
he lived quietly, but may have been briefly imprisoned as a suspect in a plot in 1678, only to be released when no evidence of his involvement was presented.
),By 1784 the manor of Northborough belonged to the Earl Fitzwilliam
(Noble, p. 349). upon the borders of Lincolnshire, possessing considerable estates in both those counties.
Claypole was the son of John Claypole the Elder
and his wife Elizabeth and the grandson of Adam Claypole. In 1637 John Claypole, senior was summoned before the Star Chamber
, and the attorney-general was ordered to commence a prosecution against him for refusing to pay ship money
; it cannot therefore be wondered at, that he declared for the Parliament at the start of the English Civil War
in 1643, and 1644, he was appointed one "of their assessors for the county of Northampton ; but at this time he was so little known,' that his name is spelt a great variety of ways,Mr. Claypole is called Chappole, Clappoole, Claipol, and Claypole; it is singular, that the Cromwells, who so well must know how the name should be spelt, write it variously. He is called only gentleman in the summons from the Star Chamber. (Noble, p. 350) he was, probably, sheriff for his own county, as major-general William Boteler
recommends him to John Thurloe
, in a letter to him, dated 16 November; he was a member of Parliament in 1654, for the county of Northamptonshire
, and for Carmarthenshire
in 1656; he was alive so late as 1657, when he was made a commissioner with his son, for levying the taxes upon the county of Northampton ; and to distinguish them, he is called "John Claypole, esq. senior", and his son "lord Claypole".
Mark Noble speculates that the sentiments the father entertained respecting the state of the nation was probably the same as that which Oliver Cromwell
possessed, when he first gained a seat the Long Parliament
; and as John Claypole had suffered hardships during King Charles I's
Eleven Years Tyranny, it might occasion an intimacy that ended in an alliance between the families. John Claypole (junior) married Elizabeth, the second, and favorite, daughter of Oliver Cromwell, some time before October 1646.
at the siege of Newark in the winter of 1645/6. On 11 August 1651, during the Third Civil War
, he received a commission from the Council of State to raise a troop of horse in the counties of Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire to oppose the march of Charles II
into England.
When his father-in-law, Oliver Cromwell, was invested with the title of Protector, he received from him the office of master of the horse; and, as such, led the horse of state at the inauguration, going bare-headed on one side of the protector's body coach, with Walter Strickland
, captain of the guard to the Lord Protector, he acted in the same capacity at the second, or more magnificent investment, when he stood immediately behind the protector during that ceremony.
He was a member of First Protectorate Parliament
, in 1654, for Carmarthenshire
. On 15 January 1656 he was appointed a member of the committee of trade. He was elected MP for Northamptonshire
and for Carmarthenshire in the Second Protectorate Parliament
in 1656 and chose to sit for Northamptonshire. in parliament, he opposed the power of the major-generals. Ludlow said:
Claypole was appointed by his father-in-law one of the lords of his bed-chamber
, clerk of the hanaper
, and ranger of Whittlewood Forest
) in Northamptonshire, where he built Wakefield Lodge, a magnificent house near Potterspury
, (it came into the possession the Dukes of Grafton
, the first duke having had a grant of the forest in 1685, with the title of hereditary ranger). To raise him still further above the rank of a private gentleman, Cromwell granted Claypole a baronet on 16 July 1657, and arranged to have him knighted at Whitehall the same day. Later that year Clayople was made one of the Protectors lords, and given a seat in the Protector's Upper House.
Oliver Cromwell directed Claypole to receive the Dutch ambassadors upon their return to London, in March, 1654; and he used Claypole as his to go-between when asking for advise from William Lilly
the astrologer. During the short reign of his brother-in-law Richard Cromwell
, Claypol
e retained all his places at court, and carried the sword of state when Ricard opened his Parliament.
In his religious sentiments Claypole was a Presbyterian, and in that communion died, however he was not puritanical in his demeanour. Mrs. Hutchinson
terms him "a debauched ungodly cavalier," and in the Second Narrative of the late Parliament he is described as one "whose qualifications not answering to those honest principles formerly so pretended of putting none but godly men into places of trust, was for a long time kept out". Pepys mentions a famous running footman who had been in Claypoole's service, and Clapole also asked Colonel Verney for a dog of superior fighting capacity. Claypole had a taste for mathematics, and probably for architecture, and was the intimate friend of Christopher Wren
.Christopher Wren, when dining with John Claypole, was surprised by the protector Oliver Cromwell coming into the room, and (without the least notice being taken) sitting down and eating with them; during the repast, turning to Wren, he said, "you have a relation who has long been in the Tower, he may have his liberty if he chooses it". "Will your highness give me leave to acquaint him with what you say?"—"Yes." Wren went with joy to the old Bishop of Ely
, Matthew Wren
; but his answer was, "This is not the first intimation of the same kind, but I scorn to receive my liberty from a tyrant and usurper;" and so he remained a prisoner till the restoration let him free.(Noble, p. 357)
Mark Noble states that he was apprehended, in June, 1678, and sent to the Tower, obtaining an habeas corpus to the king's-bench, he thought to procure bail but though many persons, to whom no objection could be made, offered themselves for that purpose, chief-justice Sir William Scroggs
set the bail so high that Claypole's friends thought it prudent to decline it. Claypole was therefore remanded back to the Tower; but at the next term, as no evidence appeared against him, and what was, perhaps, much more fortunate to him, a counter plot began to work, he was discharged. When writing the Dictionary of National Biography
article on Claypole, Charles Harding Firth
concurs with Noble, but Ivan Roots in the more recent Oxford Dictionary of National Biography does not, and thinks it is a case of mistaken identity because although a man called John Claypole, whose profession is given as a printer, was held on suspension of being involved in a plot given his character, it was unlikely to be John Claypole who resided at the manor of Northborough.
History is silent what became of him after his imprisonment. Probably he returned to his estate in Northamptonshire (where he had resided when he was taken into custody).
Claypole had several other relations including a brother called Henry In Thurloe's state papers, notice is taken of captain Wingfield Claypole, an officer in Ireland, and Christopher Claypole, who Mark Noble believed was also, in the army, and was sent to the Hague in 1658. John Claypole expresses his obligations to Henry Cromwell, lord-deputy (in a letter dated 16 April 1658) for his regard to his brothers and sisters, and himself, upon all occasions; he tells him, "that indeed, they cannot plead any desert, though," says he, "my sister is very good, yet not enough so to entitle her to so much of your kindness." This sister seems to be the wife of major Staples, who certainly married one of his sisters, and as he earnestly requests a place for him of the lord-deputy, it is most reasonable to suppose he was the husband of this sister in whose praise he speaks. Wingfield, and another of his brothers, had done something wrong, for he says of the former, "I wish he had not presumed upon your goodness, in to long an absence", and requests his pardon on his behalf, yet desires he may be reprehended; and also requests that his other brother may likewise be reproved, as he fears he will stand in too much need of it. There was also a James Claypole, an admired friend of the William Penn
, the Quaker.
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
. He was created Lord Cleypole by Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
, but this title naturally came to an end with the Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
of 1660.
Claypole married Elizabeth
Elizabeth Claypole
Elizabeth Claypole ,also Cleypole and Claypoole second daughter of Oliver Cromwell and Elizabeth, she married John Claypole in 1646 and is said to have interceded for royalist prisoners. After Cromwell created a peerage for her husband, she was known as Lady Claypole...
, Oliver Cromwell's second daughter, before October 1646, and raised a troop of horse for Parliament to oppose Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
in 1651. He was master of the horse to his father-in-law the Lord Protector. A Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
in 1654 and 1656, he was one of Cromwell's peers in 1657. After the restoration of the monarchy
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
he lived quietly, but may have been briefly imprisoned as a suspect in a plot in 1678, only to be released when no evidence of his involvement was presented.
Early life
Claypole was descended of a gentle family.The family of Claypole is certainly ancient, taking their name from the manor so called in Lincolnshire. Two clergymen, Hugo, and John, are mentioned by Newcourt, as rectors of St Mary Mounthaw and St Nicholas Acon (in London dioceses) at the latter end of fourteenth century; and (in John Claypole, of North-Barrow, knt. was a benefactor of St Catherine's-Hall, in Cambridge, as we are informed by the history of that university. Mr Edmondson has given to the Claypoles these arms, viz. ermine an anulet in the centre, on a chief or two bends azure (Noble, p. 349). seated at Narborough, in the county of Northampton (now known as Northborough, CambridgeshireNorthborough, Cambridgeshire
Northborough is a small village near the city of Peterborough in the East of England.It has a pub, a shop, a school and a small castle.Northborough is around seven or eight miles practically due north of Peterborough....
),By 1784 the manor of Northborough belonged to the Earl Fitzwilliam
William FitzWilliam, 4th Earl FitzWilliam
William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam PC , styled Viscount Milton until 1756, was a British Whig statesman of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1782 he inherited his uncle Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham's estates, making him one of the richest people in...
(Noble, p. 349). upon the borders of Lincolnshire, possessing considerable estates in both those counties.
Claypole was the son of John Claypole the Elder
John Claypole, senior
John Claypole was an English politician who sat in the House of Commonsin 1654. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War.Claypole was the son of Adam Claypole of Latham, Lincolnshire and his wife Dorothy Wingfield, daughter of Robert Wingfield, of Upton, Rutland, and his wife...
and his wife Elizabeth and the grandson of Adam Claypole. In 1637 John Claypole, senior was summoned before the Star Chamber
Star Chamber
The Star Chamber was an English court of law that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster until 1641. It was made up of Privy Counsellors, as well as common-law judges and supplemented the activities of the common-law and equity courts in both civil and criminal matters...
, and the attorney-general was ordered to commence a prosecution against him for refusing to pay ship money
Ship money
Ship money refers to a tax that Charles I of England tried to levy without the consent of Parliament. This tax, which was only applied to coastal towns during a time of war, was intended to offset the cost of defending that part of the coast, and could be paid in actual ships or the equivalent value...
; it cannot therefore be wondered at, that he declared for the Parliament at the start of the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
in 1643, and 1644, he was appointed one "of their assessors for the county of Northampton ; but at this time he was so little known,' that his name is spelt a great variety of ways,Mr. Claypole is called Chappole, Clappoole, Claipol, and Claypole; it is singular, that the Cromwells, who so well must know how the name should be spelt, write it variously. He is called only gentleman in the summons from the Star Chamber. (Noble, p. 350) he was, probably, sheriff for his own county, as major-general William Boteler
William Boteler
William Boteler was a Colonel of Horse in the New Model Army during the English Civil War. By the end of the war, Boteler had been appointed Major-General for Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland during the Rule of the Major-Generals....
recommends him to John Thurloe
John Thurloe
John Thurloe was a secretary to the council of state in Protectorate England and spymaster for Oliver Cromwell.-Life:...
, in a letter to him, dated 16 November; he was a member of Parliament in 1654, for the county of Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, and for Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. It is the 3rd largest in Wales. Its three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford...
in 1656; he was alive so late as 1657, when he was made a commissioner with his son, for levying the taxes upon the county of Northampton ; and to distinguish them, he is called "John Claypole, esq. senior", and his son "lord Claypole".
Mark Noble speculates that the sentiments the father entertained respecting the state of the nation was probably the same as that which Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
possessed, when he first gained a seat the Long Parliament
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...
; and as John Claypole had suffered hardships during King Charles I's
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
Eleven Years Tyranny, it might occasion an intimacy that ended in an alliance between the families. John Claypole (junior) married Elizabeth, the second, and favorite, daughter of Oliver Cromwell, some time before October 1646.
Civil War and Protectorate
Claypole first appeared in arms for parliamentary cause in the First English Civil WarFirst English Civil War
The First English Civil War began the series of three wars known as the English Civil War . "The English Civil War" was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651, and includes the Second English Civil War and...
at the siege of Newark in the winter of 1645/6. On 11 August 1651, during the Third Civil War
Third English Civil War
The Third English Civil War was the last of the English Civil Wars , a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists....
, he received a commission from the Council of State to raise a troop of horse in the counties of Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire to oppose the march of Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
into England.
When his father-in-law, Oliver Cromwell, was invested with the title of Protector, he received from him the office of master of the horse; and, as such, led the horse of state at the inauguration, going bare-headed on one side of the protector's body coach, with Walter Strickland
Walter Strickland
Walter Strickland was an English politician and diplomat who held high office during the Protectorate.-Life:Strickland was the younger son of Walter Strickland of Boynton. His elder brother, William, was knighted in 1630 and created a baronet in 1641, and was a Member of Parliament from 1640 to 1660...
, captain of the guard to the Lord Protector, he acted in the same capacity at the second, or more magnificent investment, when he stood immediately behind the protector during that ceremony.
He was a member of First Protectorate Parliament
First Protectorate Parliament
The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the House....
, in 1654, for Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Carmarthenshire was a parliamentary constituency in Wales which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until its representation was increased to two members for the 1832 general election....
. On 15 January 1656 he was appointed a member of the committee of trade. He was elected MP for Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire (UK Parliament constituency)
The county constituency of Northamptonshire, in the East Midlands of England was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832 and was represented in...
and for Carmarthenshire in the Second Protectorate Parliament
Second Protectorate Parliament
The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons...
in 1656 and chose to sit for Northamptonshire. in parliament, he opposed the power of the major-generals. Ludlow said:
Claypole was appointed by his father-in-law one of the lords of his bed-chamber
Lord of the Bedchamber
A Lord of the Bedchamber, previously known as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber was a courtier in the Royal Household of the King of the United Kingdom and the Prince of Wales. A Lord of the Bedchamber's duties consisted of assisting the King with his dressing, waiting on him when he ate in private,...
, clerk of the hanaper
Hanaper
Hanaper, properly a case or basket to contain a "hanap " , a drinking vessel, a goblet with a foot or stem; the term which is still used by antiquaries for medieval stemmed cups. The famous Royal Gold Cup in the British Museum is called a "hanap" in the inventory of Charles VI of France of...
, and ranger of Whittlewood Forest
Whittlewood Forest
Whittlewood Forest is a former medieval hunting forest in the south of the county of Northamptonshire in England. There are tracts of ancient woodland within the forest, and old ditch boundaries can be found at the edges of several of the individual woods...
) in Northamptonshire, where he built Wakefield Lodge, a magnificent house near Potterspury
Potterspury
Potterspury is a village and civil parish in the district of South Northamptonshire. The nearest main town is Milton Keynes, the centre of which is about 7 miles south-east...
, (it came into the possession the Dukes of Grafton
Duke of Grafton
Duke of Grafton is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1675 by Charles II of England for his 2nd illegitimate son by the Duchess of Cleveland, Henry FitzRoy...
, the first duke having had a grant of the forest in 1685, with the title of hereditary ranger). To raise him still further above the rank of a private gentleman, Cromwell granted Claypole a baronet on 16 July 1657, and arranged to have him knighted at Whitehall the same day. Later that year Clayople was made one of the Protectors lords, and given a seat in the Protector's Upper House.
Oliver Cromwell directed Claypole to receive the Dutch ambassadors upon their return to London, in March, 1654; and he used Claypole as his to go-between when asking for advise from William Lilly
William Lilly
William Lilly , was an English astrologer famed during his time. Lilly was particularly adept at interpreting the astrological charts drawn up for horary questions, as this was his speciality....
the astrologer. During the short reign of his brother-in-law Richard Cromwell
Richard Cromwell
At the same time, the officers of the New Model Army became increasingly wary about the government's commitment to the military cause. The fact that Richard Cromwell lacked military credentials grated with men who had fought on the battlefields of the English Civil War to secure their nation's...
, Claypol
e retained all his places at court, and carried the sword of state when Ricard opened his Parliament.
In his religious sentiments Claypole was a Presbyterian, and in that communion died, however he was not puritanical in his demeanour. Mrs. Hutchinson
Lucy Hutchinson
Mrs. Lucy Hutchinson was an English biographer as well as the first translator into English of the complete text of Lucretius's De Rerum Natura during the years of the interregnum .-Biography:...
terms him "a debauched ungodly cavalier," and in the Second Narrative of the late Parliament he is described as one "whose qualifications not answering to those honest principles formerly so pretended of putting none but godly men into places of trust, was for a long time kept out". Pepys mentions a famous running footman who had been in Claypoole's service, and Clapole also asked Colonel Verney for a dog of superior fighting capacity. Claypole had a taste for mathematics, and probably for architecture, and was the intimate friend of Christopher Wren
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...
.Christopher Wren, when dining with John Claypole, was surprised by the protector Oliver Cromwell coming into the room, and (without the least notice being taken) sitting down and eating with them; during the repast, turning to Wren, he said, "you have a relation who has long been in the Tower, he may have his liberty if he chooses it". "Will your highness give me leave to acquaint him with what you say?"—"Yes." Wren went with joy to the old Bishop of Ely
Bishop of Ely
The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire , together with a section of north-west Norfolk and has its see in the City of Ely, Cambridgeshire, where the seat is located at the...
, Matthew Wren
Matthew Wren
"Matthew Wren" is also a British actor who appeared in BBC children's show Trapped!.Matthew Wren was an influential English clergyman and scholar.-Life:...
; but his answer was, "This is not the first intimation of the same kind, but I scorn to receive my liberty from a tyrant and usurper;" and so he remained a prisoner till the restoration let him free.(Noble, p. 357)
During the restoration
Mark Noble suggests that Claypole had a mild and gentle disposition that rendered him unfit for any services for the Protectors, but such as were of a peaceable kind, and which they were lavish in giving to him, both as the husband of Oliver's favourite child, and as a most amiable person Oliver employed. Instead therefore, of appointing Claypole to be a major-general, where severity and rigour was necessary, Oliver gave him places of great honour and emolument, but of such a nature as that the most scrupulous might accept. As Claypole had never, during the whole time of his relations holding the helm, done any action that could even inconvenience an individual, at the restoration of the monarchy he was included in the general pardon, unlike those who had participated in acts such as the regicide of Charles I who were exempted from the general pardon and were tried for crimes committed during the Interregnum. Until her death in 1665 Claypole gave shelter to Elizabeth Cromwell, his mother-in-law and Oliver Cromwell's widow.Mark Nobel speculates that although the register says that Elizabeth Cromwell, the widow of Oliver, was buried in Northbrough, on 19 November 1665 this was only a political death, because she feared persecution and thought it prudent to be supposed dead. Nobel based this speculation on information provided by the Reverend James Clearke of Peterbrought. (Noble p. viii) Some years afterward, however, when court and country were filled with rumours of plots, Claypole was fixed upon to be the head and contriver of one against the royal family, supposedly in consort with the old Oliverian party.Mark Noble states that he was apprehended, in June, 1678, and sent to the Tower, obtaining an habeas corpus to the king's-bench, he thought to procure bail but though many persons, to whom no objection could be made, offered themselves for that purpose, chief-justice Sir William Scroggs
William Scroggs
Sir William Scroggs , Lord Chief Justice of England, was the son of an Oxford landowner; an account of him being the son of a butcher of sufficient means to give his son a university education is merely a rumour....
set the bail so high that Claypole's friends thought it prudent to decline it. Claypole was therefore remanded back to the Tower; but at the next term, as no evidence appeared against him, and what was, perhaps, much more fortunate to him, a counter plot began to work, he was discharged. When writing the Dictionary of National Biography
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
article on Claypole, Charles Harding Firth
Charles Harding Firth
Sir Charles Harding Firth was a British historian.Born in Sheffield, he was educated at Clifton College and at Balliol College, Oxford...
concurs with Noble, but Ivan Roots in the more recent Oxford Dictionary of National Biography does not, and thinks it is a case of mistaken identity because although a man called John Claypole, whose profession is given as a printer, was held on suspension of being involved in a plot given his character, it was unlikely to be John Claypole who resided at the manor of Northborough.
History is silent what became of him after his imprisonment. Probably he returned to his estate in Northamptonshire (where he had resided when he was taken into custody).
Family
Elizabeth and John Claypole had a daughter and two sons Henry and Oliver. Oliver died just before his mother, and Mark Noble speculates that the grief for the loss may well have hastened her death in 1658."A letter from Claypole to Henry Cromwell, expressing his feelings on the loss of his wife and his father-in-law, is printed in the 'Thurloe State Papers' (vii. 489)" (Firth DNB, xi.11) His children with Elizabeth all predeceased him. Claypole married a second time, in June 1670, Blanche, widow of Lancelot Stavely, by whom he had one daughter, Bridget. However Claypole fell under the influence of Anne Ottee, a laundress, and disinherited Bridget for Ottee's benefit. Bridget brought an action in chancery and recovered some portion of his property, but most of it, including the manor of Northborough, Claypole had sold off during his lifetime.Claypole had several other relations including a brother called Henry In Thurloe's state papers, notice is taken of captain Wingfield Claypole, an officer in Ireland, and Christopher Claypole, who Mark Noble believed was also, in the army, and was sent to the Hague in 1658. John Claypole expresses his obligations to Henry Cromwell, lord-deputy (in a letter dated 16 April 1658) for his regard to his brothers and sisters, and himself, upon all occasions; he tells him, "that indeed, they cannot plead any desert, though," says he, "my sister is very good, yet not enough so to entitle her to so much of your kindness." This sister seems to be the wife of major Staples, who certainly married one of his sisters, and as he earnestly requests a place for him of the lord-deputy, it is most reasonable to suppose he was the husband of this sister in whose praise he speaks. Wingfield, and another of his brothers, had done something wrong, for he says of the former, "I wish he had not presumed upon your goodness, in to long an absence", and requests his pardon on his behalf, yet desires he may be reprehended; and also requests that his other brother may likewise be reproved, as he fears he will stand in too much need of it. There was also a James Claypole, an admired friend of the William Penn
William Penn
William Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...
, the Quaker.