Sir Richard Guildford (alias Guilford, Guldeford, etc.), KG (c. 1450 – 1506) was an explorer, naval commander, and English courtier who held important positions at the court of Henry VII, including the office of Master of the Ordnance. Life He was the son of Sir John Guildford (1430–1493), Comptroller of the Household to Edward IV, by his first wife, Alice Waller. He was relied on as a councillor by Reginald Bray, who chose him as one of the four persons to whom he first communicated the plot behind Buckingham's rebellion against Richard III in 1483. Both father and son raised forces that year for the Earl of Richmond (the future Henry VII) in Kent, and were attainted in consequence. The son, who thereby forfeited some lands in Cranbrook, fled to Richmond in Brittany, and returned with him two years later, landing along with him at Milford Haven, where he is said to have been knighted. It is presumed he was with Henry at the Battle of Bosworth. Little more than a month later, on 29 September 1485, the new king appointed him one of the chamberlains of the receipt of exchequer, Master of the Ordnance and of the Armouries, with houses on Tower Wharf, and keeper of the royal manor of Kennington, where the king took up his abode before his coronation. When Henry's first parliament met, his attainder was reversed. As master of the armoury he had to prepare the ‘justes’ for the king's coronation. The king also made him a privy councillor and granted him various lands and some wardships which fell vacant. Among the former was the manor of Higham in Sussex. His forte lay in the control of artillery and fortifications, engineering and shipbuilding, for which various payments to him are recorded. The lands he won from the sea were called Guilford Level. In 1486 he received payment for the making of a ship in county of Kent; on 8 March 1487 he was paid as master of a vessel called the Mary Gylford, named probably after a daughter, who, in Henry VIII's time, was married to one Christopher Kempe. There were more payments for shipbuilding. In 1487 the treasurer and barons of the exchequer had seized the office of chamberlain of the receipt, which had been granted to him by the king for life; but he obtained a warrant under the privy seal to prevent