John Stapley
English politician and Royalist plotter
Sir John Stapley, 1st Baronet of Patcham (1628–1701) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1654 and 1679. He was a Royalist who plotted with members of the Sealed Knot to overthrow the Protector Oliver Cromwell and restore Charles II of England to the throne, but when questioned by Cromwellians he disclosed the plot and betrayed the other members. After the Restoration, he was created a baronet on 28 July 1660.
Biography
Stapley was the second but eldest surviving son, of Anthony Stapley of Patcham and his wife Ann Goring, daughter of George Goring of Danny, and sister of George, Lord Goring. He was baptised at Patcham on 29 June 1628. His father was one of the Regicides of Charles I of England and member of the Council of State under the Commonwealth
In 1654, Stapley was elected Member of Parliament for Sussex in the First Protectorate Parliament. In January 1656 he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Sussex. He was re-elected MP for Sussex in 1656 for the Second Protectorate Parliament.
In 1657 Stapley, abandoned the political views of his father and became entangled in a plot for the return of Charles II. At the house of his grandmother, Lady Champion, he had come under the influence of Dr. John Hewett and Lord Mordaunt.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 24, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q6258888. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1628, 1701, 1654 and 1679.
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This entry incorporates text from “John Stapley” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.