Some historians say John's ancestry is unknown,[1] but others say he was the son of a canon, or priest.
Although Greenford is a location in Middlesex, no contemporary record gives him that name, and it not known when the surname was first attached to John.
[2] He was elected to the see of Chichester in late April 1173, and consecrated on 6 October 1174.
[4] As he is said to have been the son of a priest, he obtained a papal dispensation in the summer of 1174.
[4] Besides his profession of obedience to the Archbishop of Canterbury, another 13 documents of John's survive.