Philipot, John (1587 -1645)

John Philipot was the son of Henry Philipot, Mayor of Folkestone, and his wife, daughter and coheir of David Leigh, servant to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He married Susan, daughter and heir of William Glover, one of the gentlemen ushers' daily waiters in the court of James I, and niece of Robert Glover, Somerset Herald. Through the latter’s influence he was appointed Blanch Lion Pursuivant Extraordinary in October 1618, and Rouge Dragon Pursuivant on 19 November. On 10 July 1623, Philipot was appointed by the king to the office of bailiff of Sandwich, and he also held the position of lieutenant or chief gunner in the Fort of Tilbury. On 8 July 1624 he was created Somerset Herald. In 1633 he was sent abroad to knight William Bosvile, and two years later was sent to take the Garter to Charles Ludovic, Count Palatine of the Rhine, and Duke of Bavaria, who was with the army in Brabant. A Royalist, he attended Charles I at the Siege of Gloucester, and was the bearer of the king's summons to the citizens to surrender on 10 August 1643. He was captured at his quarters at Chawton in the parish of Cumnor, and sent to London, but was soon set at liberty. He died in great obscurity in London, where he was buried 25 November 1645. The majority of his heraldic manuscripts, some 130 volumes, is now in the College of Heralds, having arrived there with the Earl of Anglesey's manuscripts. Some have also the signature Onslow Gardyner 1648.