John Felton

John Felton may refer to:

Politicians

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John Felton (assassin)

John Felton (c. 1595 – 29 November 1628) was a lieutenant in the English army who stabbed George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham to death in the Greyhound Pub of Portsmouth on 23 August 1628.

Early life

John Felton was born around 1595, possibly in Suffolk, to a family related to the Feltons of Playford in Suffolk and distantly related to Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel. His father, Thomas Felton, prospered as a pursuivant, one appointed to the task of hunting down those who refused to attend Anglican church services (see recusancy). His mother, Elanor, was the daughter of the William Wight, the one-time mayor of Durham.

The family's fortunes declined when Thomas' lucrative position was given to Henry Spiller in 1602. Thomas died around 1611, while he was imprisoned in the Fleet Prison for debt although his widow was later able to secure a £100 per annum pension from the crown.

Army career

Nothing is known of John Felton's life until the mid-1620s, when he was an army officer. He served in the Cádiz Expedition of 1625, an attempt to capture the Spanish city of Cadiz that was backed by Buckingham. This resulted in a decisive Spanish victory, with 7,000 English troops and 62 out of 105 ships lost. Felton then served as a lieutenant in Ireland in 1626, during which time his commanding officer died and Felton tried, but failed, to be appointed as his replacement.

John Felton (divine)

John Felton (fl. 1430) was an English academic and churchman.

Felton was fellow of St. Mary Magdalen College, Oxford, and professor of theology, and 'vicarius Magdalensis Oxonii extra muros.’ His zeal as a preacher gained him the name of ‘homiliarius’ or ‘concionator;’ for though, as Leland tells us, he was ‘an eager student of philosophy and theology,’ yet ‘the mark towards which he earnestly pressed with eye and mind was none other than that by his continual exhortations he might lead the dwellers on the Isis from the filth of their vices to the purity of virtue.’ He published several volumes of sermons, compiled from various sources, which are prefaced by the statement that the ‘penuria studentium’ had moved him to make this compilation ‘de micis quas collegi quæ cadebant de mensis dominorum meorum, Januensis, Parisiensis, Lugdunensis, Odonis, et cæterorum.’

He left behind him: 1. ‘Alphabetum theologicum ex opusculis Rob. Grost. collectum.’ 2. ‘Sermones Dominicales’ (fifty-eight in number; there are three copies among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, one of which contains a note stating that the sermons were finished in 1431). 3. Two other volumes of ‘Sermones.’ 4. ‘Lecturæ sacræ Scripturæ.’ 5. ‘Pera Peregrini.’ A note on the margin of one of his works declares that in 1420 he made a present of books to Balliol College.