John Heydon 1588-1653
From Book Owners Online
Sir John HEYDON 1588-1653
Biographical Note
Born at Saxlingham, Norfolk, son of Sir Christopher Heydon, astrologer. He may have served overseas as a soldier before becoming an estate steward at Sandown Castle, Kent; he inherited the family estates in 1627 and became Lieutenant of the ordnance. He was knighted in 1629. He was in charge of the royalist artillery during part of the Civil War, when his property was confiscated. He is noted as having shared his father's interests in astrology, and was a friend of Elias Ashmole.
Books
More than 63 books, valued at £5 12s 4d, were seized from him by the London Committee for Sequestration in 1643, and sold. An inventory survives in the Committee's records in The National Archives.
Sources
- Priced list of delinquents' books sold, The National Archives SP 20/7.
- Porter, Stephen. "Heydon, Sir John (bap. 1588, d. 1653), royalist army officer and mathematician." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
- Roy, I. The libraries of Edward, 2nd Viscount Conway, and others, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research 43 (1968), 35-46.