Sir John Horsey JP (died 30 January 1564) was a knight of Henry VIII (knighted 22 February 1546) and Lord of the Manors of Clifton Maubank and South Perrott. He was the son of Sir John Horsey (died 1546) and Joan Mawdley. He inherited most of his fathers lands, and the wording of the will suggests that the two were not close and the son was regarded as untrustworthy. He eventually became addicted to gambling, and this along with his extravagant construction projects was a large drain on the family coffers. Sir John married Edith Phelips, daughter of Sir Richard Phelips and widow of the merchant John Stocker of Poole, on 14 December 1539, and in 1546 the family estate,

Clifton Maybank Clifton Maybank is a hamlet and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It is located about a mile southwest of the village of Bradford Abbas. It is known for Clifton Maybank House, a country house with surviving Tudor fabric. Dorset Coun ...

on the south side of Yeovil (in which his father's friend, the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt, died on 11 October 1542), was largely rebuilt to create a mansion of grand proportions. An entrance to the newly built mansion had intricate stone carving around the doorway, celebrating their marriage; this entrance was removed and added to the west entrance of

Montacute House Montacute House is a late Elizabethan era, Elizabethan mansion with a garden in Montacute, South Somerset. An example of English architecture during a period that was moving from the medieval Gothic to the Renaissance Classical, and one of fe ...

when much of the original mansion of Clifton Maybank was dismantled in 1786. Today just one part of the original Tudor building remains, with a facade added in 1906; no plan of the original building has been discovered. He was elected

knight of the shire Knight of the shire ( la, milites comitatus) was the formal title for a member of parliament (MP) representing a county constituency in the British House of Commons, from its origins in the medieval Parliament of England until the Redistributio ...

for

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

in 1553 and appointed

Sheriff of Somerset The office of High Sheriff of Somerset is an ancient shrievalty which has been in existence since the 11th century. Originally known as the "Sheriff of Somerset", the role was retitled on 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government ...

and

for 1559. Sir John and Edith had one son, Sir John Horsey (1546–1588) and two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary. He is buried in

Sherborne Abbey Sherborne Abbey, otherwise the Abbey Church of St. Mary the Virgin, is a Church of England church in Sherborne in the English county of Dorset. It has been a Saxon cathedral (705–1075), a Benedictine abbey church (998–1539), and since 1539, ...

: an impressive tomb for both himself and his father, with life-size effigies of the two in medieval armour is to be found there in the Wykeham Chapel.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horsey, John Year of birth missing 1564 deaths People from Sherborne English knights High Sheriffs of Dorset High Sheriffs of Somerset English MPs 1553 (Mary I) Burials in Dorset