John Giffard 's father was Sir Thomas Giffard of Caverswall Castle . The Giffard 's had their seat at Chillington Hall , near Brewood , from the late 12th century . Sir Thomas , like his father , Sir John Giffard , had considerably expanded the family estates until they were the wealthiest landed gentry family in Staffordshire . Sir John was still alive when his grandson John was born , so Thomas Giffard was living at Caverswall , which he had acquired through his first wife , the heiress Dorothy Montgomery . Both Sir John and Sir Thomas were MPs of religiously conservative disposition , although both had generally acquiesced in the legislation that carried through the English Reformation . John Giffard 's mother was Ursula Throckmorton , daughter of Robert Throckmorton of Coughton Court , Warwickshire , and Elizabeth Baynham . She was Thomas Giffard 's second wife : Dorothy had died by 1529 , leaving Thomas with a daughter , but no surviving sons . He married Ursula in 1529 . She was part of a wealthy landowning family , generally of a similar religious conservative outlook to the Giffards . Her brother , George Throckmorton , was MP for Warwickshire in the English Reformation Parliament , elected in 1529 . His sympathies were strongly Catholic and he was arrested in 1537 , in the aftermath of the Pilgrimage of Grace , with which he was thought to sympathise . He made a rambling and confused confession of his part in the Catholic opposition , narrowly escaping with his life
Pilgrimage of Grace
Pilgrimage of Grace
John Giffard (died 1613)