John Philipot was no doubt a native of Kent, but the statement of Heath[1] that he was born at Upton Court in the parish of Sibertswold or Shebbertswell, near Dover, cannot be correct, though the estate was held by his descendants.

[5] Edward III gave him the wardship of the heir of Sir Robert de Ogle in 1362, appointed him in the following year a receiver of forfeitures on merchandise at Calais, and in 1364 licensed him to export thither wheat and other victuals.

[8][9] He sat for London in the parliament of February 1371, in which the clerical ministers were removed, and in the great council summoned in June to remedy the miscalculations of their successors.

[10] In the crisis after the Good Parliament, Philipot, with Nicholas Brembre, a fellow-grocer, and also connected with Kent, and William Walworth, headed the opposition of the ruling party in London to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who found support among the lesser traders then engaged, under the leadership of John de Northampton, in attacking the monopoly of municipal power enjoyed by the great companies.

Lancaster failed to prevent the deputation of the citizens, headed by Philipot, from obtaining an interview with the old King, who heard their explanations and gave them a gracious answer.

Philipot rapidly fitted out a small squadron and a thousand armed men, at his own expense, pursued Mercer, and wrested from him his prizes, and fifteen Spanish vessels as well.

[19] His patriotism and success roused those who resented the national humiliation to great enthusiasm, and were boldly contrasted with the inactivity, if not treachery, of the Duke and the magnates.

He had the city ditch cleaned out, levying a rate of fivepence per household for the purpose, and enforced order and justice so admirably that his measures were taken as a precedent nearly forty years later.

In the summer he provided ships for the Earl of Buckingham's expedition to Brittany; and when the delay in starting forced many to pledge their armour, Philipot, as the St. Albans chronicler heard from his own lips, redeemed no fewer than a thousand jacks.

[32] Filling the same position in the May parliament of the next year, Philipot was put on a committee of merchants to consider the proposed loan for the King's expedition to France, and was appointed a 'receiver and guardian' of the tonnage and poundage appropriated to the keeping of the sea.