Sir John Harrington (died 30 December 1460) of

Hornby, Lancashire Hornby is a village and former civil parish from Lancaster, now in the parish of Hornby-with-Farleton, in the Lancaster district, in the county of Lancashire, England. The village is on the A683 and at the confluence of the River Wenning and ...

was a member of the English northern

gentry Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies ''Gentry'', in its widest c ...

. He was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Harrington, a

retainer Retainer may refer to: * Retainer (orthodontics), devices for teeth * RFA ''Retainer'' (A329), a ship * Retainers in early China, a social group in early China Employment * Retainer agreement, a contract in which an employer pays in advance for w ...

of the Yorkist earl of Salisbury. His father played an active role in the northern politics of the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...

. On 30 December 1460 both Thomas and his father were in the army of Richard, Duke of York at the battle of Wakefield. The Yorkist army went down to a crushing defeat, and John Harrington was killed in battle alongside his father. He had at some point married Maud Clifford, daughter of Thomas, Lord Clifford. He had a daughter, Elizabeth, ''c.'' 1456, who later married an illegitimate son of Sir William Stanley.Wedgwood, J.C., & Holt, A., ''History of Parliament: 1439-1509'' (London, 1936), p. 799

References

{{reflist Medieval English knights 1460 deaths People from Lancashire (before 1974)