John Howard (died 1437)

Sir John Howard (c. 1366–1437), of Wiggenhall and East Winch, in Norfolk, England, was a landowner, soldier, courtier, administrator and politician.

By 1380 he was married to an heiress and had been knighted by March 1387, when he served at sea in the fleet commanded by Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel that fought the French and their allies at the Battle of Margate.

This Parliament was used by King Richard II to penalise his opponents and, on behalf of the Crown, Howard was empowered to seize the estates of rebel nobles and to collect large fines from the dissident counties of Essex and Hertfordshire.

Chosen again as Sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire in 1414, he was involved in preparations for the first expedition to France of the new King, Henry V. In 1420 he was in difficulty over a feud in Suffolk with the influential MP Sir Thomas Kerdiston, which Sir Thomas Erpingham reported to the Privy Council, but by 1422 was sufficiently in favour locally to be elected Suffolk's MP.

[1] After sitting in this third Parliament, and following the death of his second wife in 1426, he took less part in local administration, though continuing as a JP and on royal commissions.

Sir John Howard (died 1437) with his second wife Alice Tendring. 1637 drawing by Henry Lilly, Rouge Dragon Pursuivant , of stained glass depiction in Stoke-by-Nayland Church in Suffolk . Displaying arms of Howard impaling Tendring
Arms of Sir John Howard (died 1437): Gules, a bend between six cross-crosslets fitchy argent . After the Battle of Flodden in 1513 his descendant the 2nd Duke of Norfolk was granted an augmentation of honour to these arms by King Henry VIII
Arms of Tendring (de Tendring) of Tendring Hall in the parish of Stoke-by-Nayland in Suffolk : Azure, a fess between two chevrons argent [ 8 ]