{{short description|Member of the Parliament of England}} {{other people}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}} {{Use British English|date=May 2017}}
'''Sir John Pointz''' or '''Poyntz''' ({{Circa|1560}} – 1633) of Iron Acton, Gloucestershire, was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1593.<ref name="J.J.C.">{{cite book |last1=J.J.C. |title=The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603 |via=History of Parliament Online |chapter-url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/poyntz-sir-john-1560-1633 |chapter=Poyntz, Sir John (c.1560-1633), of Iron Acton, Glos. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241225152311/https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/poyntz-sir-john-1560-1633 |archive-date=25 December 2024}}</ref> He is perhaps best remembered as the maternal grandfather of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond.
==Life== Pointz was the son of Sir Nicholas Poyntz of Iron Acton, Gloucestershire and his first wife Anne Verney.<ref name="MacLean" >{{cite book |last1=MacLean |first1=John |author1-link=John MacLean (historian) |title=Historical and Genealogical Memoir of the Family of Poyntz |volume=1 |url=https://archive.org/details/historicalgeneal01macl/page/96/mode/1up |date=1886 |publisher=William Pollard |oclc=1045973222 |location=Exeter |page=96}}</ref> His grandfather Sir Nicholas Poynz was a courtier in the time of Henry VIII. His father was widely suspected of being a Roman Catholic.
He was knighted in 1588 and was appointed High Sheriff of Gloucestershire for 1591–92.<ref name="J.J.C." /><ref name="McClory">{{cite journal |last1=McClory |first1=Sean |title=The Poyntz Family of Acton |journal=“Before I Forget...”: Journal of the Poyntzpass and District Local History Society |date=2017 |issue=14 |pages=31-43 at 35 |jstor=48571904}}</ref> He was J.P. in 1592 and was elected Member of Parliament for the seat of Gloucestershire in 1593. From 1602 he was Custos Rotulorum of the county.<ref name="J.J.C." /> He was Lord of the Manor of Iron Acton.<ref name=Williams>{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=W. R. |title=The Parliamentary History of the County of Gloucester : Including the Cities of Bristol and Gloucester, and the Boroughs of Cheltenham, Cirencester, Stroud, and Tewkesbury, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, 1213-1898, with Biographical and Genealogical Notices of the Members |date=1898 |publisher=Privately printed for the author by Jakeman and Carver |location=Hereford |page=48 |lccn=13014658 |oclc=1578211970 |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924030494953/page/n58/mode/2up}}</ref>
Pointz, who was notoriously improvident, and was imprisoned for debt several times, died insolvent and intestate in 1633. In fairness to him, he had been embroiled for many years in a lawsuit about his father's will. He was buried on 29 November 1633 at Iron Acton.<ref name="J.J.C." /><ref name=Williams/>
thumb|150px|Church of St James the Less, Iron Acton
==Family== He married four times.<ref name="MacLean" />
1. Ursula, daughter of Sir John Sydenham of Brympton, Somerset around 1578.
2. Elizabeth (d. 1595), daughter of Alexander Sydenham of Luxborough, Somerset around 1582 *Robert *Dorothy married John Peny of East Coker Somerset *Elizabeth
3. Frances (d. 1599), daughter of John Newton of Barrs Court, Gloucestershire
4. Grissell (d. 1647/8), the daughter of Walter Roberts of Glassenbury, Kent and widow of Gregory Price of Hereford, and of Gervase Gibbons of Kent in 1600.<ref name="J.J.C." /><ref name="Edwards">{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=P. S. |editor1-last=Bindoff |editor1-first=S.T. |title=The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558 |date=1982 |via=History of Parliament Online |chapter-url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/price-gregory-1535-1600 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250123161223/https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/price-gregory-1535-1600 |archive-date=23 January 2025 |chapter=Price, Gregory (1535-1600), of Hereford}}</ref> *Nicholas (d. 1651) married Eleanor, only daughter and heir of Rice Davis of Tickenham, Somerset and Mary Pitt *Ann married Isaac Bromwich of Gloucester *Mary married 1) John Walter and 2) Walter Bethell
==References== {{Reflist}} {{one source|date=July 2014}} {{s-start}} {{s-par|en}} {{succession box | title=Member of Parliament for Gloucestershire | before= Sir Thomas Throckmorton | before2= Edward Wynter | with= Sir Henry Poole | years=1593 | after= Sir John Tracy | after2= Sir John Hungerford }} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pointz, John}} Category:1560s births Category:1633 deaths Category:English MPs 1593 Category:High sheriffs of Gloucestershire Category:Place of birth missing Category:Politicians from Gloucestershire John Category:16th-century English landowners