Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Maynard, John (1600-1665)
MAYNARD, JOHN (1600–1660), divine, son of a wealthy yeoman, was baptised at Mayfield, Sussex, on 8 March 1600. The Maynards had been numerous in Mayfield and Rotherfield parishes for many generations. William Maynard, a member of the family, was burned with two of his servants at Lewes in the Marian persecution, 1557. John entered as a commoner at Queen's College, Oxford, 21 June 1616, and graduated B.A. 3 Feb. 1620 as a ' grand compounder.' He removed to Magdalen Hall, and proceeded M.A. 26 June 1622. He was allowed to use 'communis et vulgaris habitus,' instead of his purple gown, 6 July 1622. He owned at the time land in the manor of Sharendon, Mayfield parish (Sussex Arch. Coll. xxv. 55).
On taking holy orders Maynard was presented 'by Thomas Maynard and William Peckham, yeomen,' to the living of Mayfield (instituted 31 July 1624). Upon the commencement of the civil wars Maynard avowed himself a puritan, took the covenant, and was chosen one of the Westminster Assembly, which he regularly attended. An entry in the Mayfield parish register, 1646, records his offer 'to give up all the tythes due from the parishioners for the mayntenance of a minister during his absence,' but he adds, 'through their negligence in not providing a fit man for the place, there was no constant minister for some time, and divers changes, so that the register was neglected for divers years.' He preached before the Long parliament on a fast-day (26 Feb. 1644), on 28 Oct. 1646, and again in September 1648 (Commons Journals, iv. 12, vi. 70). In 1654 Maynard was appointed one of the assistants to the commissioners of Sussex for the ejection of scandalous ministers and school-masters. Being thus engaged in public affairs, which necessitated absence from his parish, Maynard employed as his assistant Elias Paul D'Aranda, previously curate of Petworth and Patcham, allowing him the tithes of the parish, and reserving only the parsonage house and glebe for himself. On St. Bartholomew's day, 1662, rector and curate were both ejected. The latter became, in 1664, pastor of the French, or Walloon, Church, in the Undercroft of Canterbury Cathedral (Burns, Hist. of Prot. Refugees, 1846, p. 45).
Maynard was succeeded by Seyliard, who resigned a year later in favour of Peck (Calamy says with Maynard's approval). Maynard continued to reside at Mayfield until his death, three years after (7 June 1665), and was buried in the churchyard, where his tomb, now much dilapidated, records that 'for forty years he shone a light and glory to his Mayfield flock.' Wood says the library of another John Maynard, whom he confuses with the divine, was sold by auction on 13 June 1687.
He published 'A Sermon preached to the Honorable House of Commons, 26 Feb. 1644,' London, 1645, and 'A Shadow of the Victory of Christ,' preached at St. Margaret's, Westminster, 28 Oct. 1646, printed 1646. He also wrote 'The Young Man's Remembrancer and Old Man's Monitor,' 1669 (Wood). Some of his Mayfield sermons were published after his death by H. Hurst, chaplain to the Countess of Manchester, at the instance, he says, of Maynard's son-in-law, and dedicated to the inhabitants of the parish, London, 1674. Maynard was three times married. First to Margaret Luck, daughter of his predecessor at Mayfield, whom he married at Wadhurst, 9 Feb. 1625, and who died 2 Oct. 1635. She had two sons, John and Hichard, and five daughters, most of whom died young. Secondly, he married, 28 June 1636,' at St. Edmund, Lombard Street, Mary Withers, widow, buried at Mayfield, 6 May 1640. A tablet in St. Saviour's, Southwark, records the death of her daughter Margaret, 14 March 1653, aged 13. His third wife was Ann, daughter of Henry Engham. She died 7 Sept. 1670, and was buried in the same grave as her husband at Mayfield.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 891; Lower's Sussex Worthies, 1865, p. 234; Sussex Archæol. Coll. iv. 258, xxi. 19, xxv. 55; Calamy and Palmer's Nonconf. Mem. iii. 322; Add. MS. 15852, f. 61, for Maynard's autograph, dated 1 3 Feb. 1635; registers of Mayfield, per Rev. H. T. Murdoch Kirby.]