Sir John Golofre

Sir John Golofre was buried by order of King Richard II in the south ambulatory of Westminster Abbey. His rather cracked gravestone, not far from the king's tomb, still exists but without any trace of the brass which once adorned it. A few fragments of this brass were removed for preservation in the Abbey Library.

He was the natural son of Sir John Golofre by Johannet Pulham and through the influence of his father's second wife Isabella gained admittance to Richard II's household. He rose to be esquire of the king's chambers and keeper of the king's jewels and plate. He was the second husband of Philippa Mohun, Duchess of York (who is buried in St Nicholas's chapel in the Abbey) and was ambassador to the court of France, Constable of Wallingford and of Flint in north Wales, and captain of Cherbourg until 1394. He died in November 1396 and although he asked to be buried near his father in Grey Friars in Oxford the king ordered his burial at the Abbey.

Further reading

"Fragments of the Golofre brass in Westminster Abbey" by Nigel Saul, in Transactions of the Monumental Brass Society vol. XV, 1992