John Gunthorpe (died 1498) was an English administrator, Clerk of the Parliament, Keeper of the Privy Seal and Dean of Wells.
Gunthorpe returned to England in 1465 and became intimately integrated into the religious, diplomatic, financial, and political life of the court and government of Edward IV.
[3] On 10 November 1481 a group of nine men, among whom Gunthorpe was named first, obtained a royal licence to found and endow a guild in the parish church of St Mary in North Somercotes, Lincolnshire.
On 9 April 1483, Gunthorpe's patron and benefactor King Edward IV died at Westminster Palace.
He was not seen as a very wise choice of keeper since he was the former secretary of Queen Elizabeth, and Richard was fearful of a Woodville faction in 1483.
In 1485, Richard gave Gunthorpe a present - the swans in the waters of Somerset, the birds having a long association with royalty and chivalry.
As the Dean of Wells, Gunthorpe's interests extended into the judicial sphere through the court Christian within his authority.
Gunthorpe was a man of learning, a rhetorician and linguist, a priest and theologian, and an experienced diplomat and secretary, but left no substantial literary remains.