John Higford (c. 1551 – 1612) was an English landowner and MP.[1]
He was the son of John Higford of Dixton Manor, Gloucestershire and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Edmund Fettiplace of Besselsleigh, Berkshire.[2] The Higfords/Hugfords were descended from an old Shropshire family, who had acquired Dixton through marriage in the mid-fifteenth century.[3] He matriculated at Hart Hall, Oxford in 1568,[4] but subsequently was tutored by the puritan William Cole of Corpus Christi College, Oxford[5] He entered the Inner Temple in 1571.
Sometime before May 1591[6] he married Dorothy, daughter of William Rogers (d. 1593) of [Dowdeswell], Gloucestershire with whom he had 2 sons, including his heir William Higford and 3 daughters. In 1591 Dorothy was described as her father's sole heir and the couple were executors of his will,[7] the Dowdeswell manor court being held in their names in 1594. However, Dowdeswell subsequently passed to her half-brother William.[8]
Higford represented Cricklade in the parliaments of 1572 and 1586 through the patronage of the Brydges family, whose seat at Sudeley castle was close to Dixton.[9]