From his writings, he was familiar with the area around Wheatley, near Winchester, which might mean that he could be identified with John Whetely, who is known to have been the vicar at Tynemouth during the 1350s and 1360s.
Or possibly, the Wheatley was the one in Yorkshire, which would explain the alternate name he is occasionally given in manuscripts, John York.
John may have been a monk of St Albans Abbey, for his work was early associated with that monastery, and the vicar at Tynemouth was appointed by the prior of the monastic priory at Tynemouth that was a dependent priory of St Albans.
The St Albans copies, however, are only dated to the 15th century, which undercuts the idea that John might have been a monk at that abbey.
[1] The Sanctilogium was subsequently rearranged into alphabetical order by the medieval historian John Capgrave, and published by him under the title Nova Legenda Angliae (also spelled Anglie).