Sir John Fogge (c. 1417–1490) was an English courtier, soldier and supporter of the Woodville family under Edward IV who became an opponent of Richard III.
Family There is some uncertainty over the parents of Fogge. The most well-known source, The Family Chronicle of Richard Fogge of Danes Court in Tilmanstone shows John as the son of Sir William Fogge and an un-named daughter of William Wadham, Sir William Fogge's second wife. The Antiquary states that he was the son of Sir William and his first wife, a daughter of Sir William Septvans (d. 1448). However, Rosemary Horrox argues that he was the son of another John Fogge, Sir William's younger brother, and Jane Cotton.
John Fogge was born about 1417 and it seems certain that he was the grandson of Sir Thomas Fogge—as he was eventually the recipient of his inheritance—(d. 13 July 1407) and Joan de Valence (d. 8 July 1420),According to Pearman she died in 1425. widow of William Costede of Costede, Kent, and daughter of Sir Stephen de Valence of Repton.
In a lawsuit in 1460 he calls himself son and heir of John.Sir John Fogge of Ashford, by Sarah Bolton, p. 202. The Ricardian Society.Reference: C 1/11/413. Catalogue Description: Fogge v. Boteller. Plaintiffs: John Fogge, esq. Defendants: John Boteller and Thomas Draper. Subject: Money left to petitioner by his mother Joan Catton. Date: 1432–1443, possibly 1467–1470. Held by: The National Archives, Kew". 1432–1443, possibly 1467–1470.
In The Family Chronicle of Richard Fogge of Danes Court in Tilmanstone published in 1868, it is strongly suggested that the William Fogge who married the daughters of Wadham and Septvans was the William Fogge (1396 – by February 1447) who was the grandson and heir of Sir Thomas Fogge (d. 13 July 1407) by his son Thomas Fogge (d. 1405). The Family Chronicle of Richard Fogge of Danes Court in Tilmanstone also mentions another son of Sir Thomas Fogge (d. 13 July 1407), John Fogge, who Sir Thomas appointed an executor of his will.
In the History of Parliament entry for Sir John Fogge, Josiah C. Wedgwood establishes in 1936 that 'in his suit for Tonford etc., Aug. 1460, he calls himself s. and h. of John, deceased, who was a younger son of Sir Thomas Fogge M.P. Sir John's mother was Jane Catton.'
The manor of Crixall appears to have passed from the Wadham to Sir John Fogge, however.
Tonsure Gillian Draper writes:John Fogge, the grandson of Sir Thomas, was probably born in 1417, and was ordained to the first tonsure in Canterbury Cathedral in 1425. This was a first step into the six or seven holy orders, but many boys took it and it did not mean they were firmly destined for the priesthood. Rather it represented a stage in their early education; for some boys it occurred about age seven to eight years. John Fogge was one of several boys or young men ordained to the first tonsure in 1425 including William Fogge, presumably John Fogge's cousin, and one John Cobbes. Career According to Horrox, Fogge had reached the age of majority by 1438, but only came to prominence when he inherited the lands of the senior line on the death of Sir Thomas's grandson and heir, William by February 1447.
Fogge was an esquire to Henry VI by 1450, and in that year was involved in the suppression of the rebellion of Jack Cade. He was appointed Sheriff of Kent in November 1453. He was made Comptroller of the Household in 1460 under Henry VI,The Maidstone Sector of Buckingham's Rebellion. Oct. 18, 1483. by Agnes Ethel Conway, p. 114. "SIR JOHN FOGGE OF ASHFORD.—He had been keeper of the wardrobe to Henry VI. in the last year of his reign, and treasurer and comptroller of the household to Edward IV." and knighted the following year on 27 June 1461.
Despite his earlier service under Henry VI, when the future Edward IV landed in England in June 1460, Fogge joined the Yorkists, and was granted Tonford in Thanington and Dane Court in Boughton under Blean, manors to which he claimed to be entitled by reversion.
After the Yorkist victory at the Battle of Towton on 29 March 1461, 'Fogge emerged as a leading royal associate in Kent, heading all commissions named in the county'. In 1461, he was granted the office of Keeper of the Writs of the Court of Common Pleas, and took part in the investigation of the possible treason of Sir Thomas Cooke, Lord Mayor of London. He was Treasurer of the Household to Edward IV from 1461 to 1468, as well as a member of the King's council, and in March 1462 he and others were granted custody of the lands of John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford, forfeited to the crown as a result of the Earl's attainder. In 1469, it was alleged that Fogge was among those whose 'covetous rule and gydynge' had brought Edward IV and the kingdom to 'great poverty and misery'.
In 1461 and 1463 he was elected to Parliament as Knight of the Shire for Kent, and in 1467 as MP for Canterbury. He was Sheriff of Kent in 1453–4 1472–3 and 1479–80.
According to Horrox, his name is not found in commissions during the Readeption of Henry VI, suggesting the possibility that he went into exile with Edward IV.
When Edward IV regained the throne, Fogge was rewarded for his loyalty with grants of land, as well as a grant for twelve years of gold and silver mines in Devon and Cornwall. During this period Fogge built close ties to the Prince of Wales, and from 1473 was a member of his council and administrator of his property. He was made Chamberlain jointly with Sir John Scott and Thomas Vaughan. He again represented Kent in parliament in 1478 and 1483.
In 1483, the future Richard III of England appointed himself Protector of Edward IV's young son and heir, Edward V, accusing the Woodvilles of plotting against him. Sir Thomas More says that Fogge took sanctuary at this time, and that Richard III was prepared to treat him with favour. Despite this apparent reconciliation, Fogge supported Richard Guildford in Kent against Richard III, a rising in support of Edward V, and became part of the unsuccessful Buckingham's rebellion.
The rising was blocked at Gravesend by John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, and the rebel force retreated. Fogge was attainted, and much of his property was granted to Sir Ralph Ashton, who had been loyal to the King, and who was already in conflict with Fogge over a portion of the Kyriell inheritance from Fogge's first marriage. In February 1485 Fogge bound himself to good behaviour and was pardoned, and four of his manors were returned to him.
Fogge was a supporter of Henry Tudor. After the latter's accession, however, perhaps due to advancing age, Fogge played little part in national affairs.
Fogge left a will dated 15 July 1490,According to Horrox, his will is dated 9 July 1490. and had died by 9 November of that year.
He built and endowed the church at Ashford, Kent as well as the College at Ashford. He was buried beneath a handsome altar-tomb in the church, where he is also commemorated in a memorial window.
The Fogge arms were Argent on a fess between three annulets sable three mullets pierced of the first. The crest was a unicorn's head, argent. At the Siege of Rouen in 1418, a Thomas Fogge who was likely his great-grand-uncle, carried the same arms differenced by having unpierced mullets.
Sir John Fogge Avenue, built on the former School of Service Intelligence site in Ashford, is named after him.
Literary references A character named 'Jon Fogge', who appears to be based on this knight, appears in Marjorie Bowen's 1929 novel Dickon about the life of Richard III. In the novel he serves as a sort of sinister shadow, portending the violent fate of the king.
Marriages and issue Fogge married firstly, by the early 1440s, Alice de Criol or Kyriell, daughter of the Yorkist soldier Sir Thomas de Criol of Westenhanger, beheaded after the Second Battle of St. Albans by order of Margaret of Anjou. The marriage brought him Westenhanger Castle. Alice de Criol or Kyriell died between February 1462 when she was amongst those endowing two chaplains to pray for her father and others slain at Northampton, St. Albans and Shirebum, and 9 May 1462. They had a son and heir, John Fogge (d.1501), who married Joanne Leigh, daughter of Sir Richard Leigh, Lord Mayor of London (1460, 1469). Their son, Sir John Fogge (d.1533), Marshal of Calais and Sheriff of Kent, married Margaret Goldwell, daughter of Jeffrey Goldwell (brother of James Goldwell, Bishop of Norwich), by whom he had three sons and three daughters: Sir John Fogge (d.1564) of Repton in Ashford, Kent, eldest son, Sheriff of Kent in 1545, who married firstly Margaret Brooke, the daughter of Thomas Brooke, 8th Baron Cobham (d. 19 July 1529) by his first wife, Dorothy Heydon, and secondly Catherine, the daughter of one Holand of Calais. William Fogge (d.1535) of Canterbury, buried in Canterbury Cathedral, and as by his will he expresses it, near his ancestors. He gave by it to the bell-ringers of Christ-church, for the pele, and for the making of his poole 3s. 4d. He left an infant son Francis by Katherine his wife. His only son, "Slayn at Guinse," as said in an old MS. George Fogge (died c.1591) of Brabourne and Repton, who married firstly Margaret Kempe (daughter of Sir William Kempe of Olantigh by his second wife, Eleanor Browne, widow of (see below) Thomas Fogge (d. 16 August 1612), and daughter and heir of Robert Browne, son of Sir Thomas Browne of Betchworth Castle), and secondly Honor Palmer, daughter of Sir Thomas Palmer. Margaret Fogge, who married Sir Humphrey Stafford. – but see below Abigail Fogge, who married Cranmer Brooke (died c.1547) of Ashford, son of Thomas Brooke (third son of Thomas Brooke, 8th Baron Cobham (d. 19 July 1529)), and Susan Cranmer, niece of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. Bridget Fogge (d.1557), a maid of honour to Queen Katherine of Aragon. She married Anthony Lowe (d.1555), Esquire, of Alderwasley, 'gentleman of the bed-chamber and standardbearer to King Henry VII, King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, and Queen Mary'. It has been suggested that Bridget was the "Mother Lowe" who was Mother of the Maids under Anne of Cleves. Daughter whose name is not given in the Fogge pedigree, Lettice.Reference: C 1/1501/34-37. Catalogue Description: Fogge v. Fogge. Plaintiffs: Lettice, a daughter of Sir John Fogge, deceased. Defendants: Jane Fogge, late his wife, and John Fogge, knight, her son. Subject: Legacy partly payable out of lands of John Kyrrell (Kyryell) and partly out of goods of Bishop Goldwell. Kent ?. SFP. Date: 1386–1558. Held by: The National Archives, Kew". 1386–1558.
John Fogge married secondly, between February 1462 (when his first wife was alive) and 9 May 1462, Alice Haute or Hawte (born c.1444), the daughter of William Haute, Esquire, MP (d.1462Abstract of will of William Haute, Esquire, proved October 1462, in N.H. Nicolas, Testamenta Vetusta: being illustrations from wills, of manners, customs, &c. (Nichols & Son, London 1826), I, p. 300. The will identifies him as the father.) of Bishopsbourne, Kent,L.S. Woodger, 'Haute, William (d.1462), of Bishopsbourne, Kent', in J.S. Roskell, L. Clark and C. Rawcliffe (eds), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386–1421 (Boydell & Brewer 1993), History of Parliament online. and Joan Woodville, daughter of Richard Woodville. Richard Woodville was also the father of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers, and the grandfather of Elizabeth Woodville, and Fogge's second wife, Alice Haute was thus Elizabeth Woodville's first cousin. After her marriage to Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville brought her favourite female relatives to court. Fogge's second wife, Alice Haute, was one of her five ladies-in-waiting during the 1460s.
By Alice Haute, Fogge had two sons and four daughters:
William Fogge, died as a child.