Researching John Sutton

John V is a descendant of the first Lord Dudley, Sir John de Sutton II (c. 1310–1359) the first to be summoned to the Parliament of England as Baron Sutton in 1342. From 1397 to 1406, John V held lands derived from the Earls of Powis, upon the death of his great grandmother Isabel de Cherleton. In 1401, during the second year of King Henry IV of England's reign, John V did homage for the lands, including Castle Dudley. After John V's death, the Blounts had a stake in Dudley lands when his mother-in-law, Sancha de Ayala (d.1418), took custody of his first child John VI, who was age six, as well as being granted John V's valuable estates. Widowed, Constance was eventually sued by Robert Erghom for her dower in the King's chancery by which she defaulted several times on the King's grant of Dudley manor.

John V was succeeded by John Sutton VI, 1st Baron Dudley. By Constance, his other children included Thomas Sutton of Dudley, and Elizabeth Sutton of Dudley. He is also said to have had a child, Humphrey Dudley.

At the age of 14, Sutton took up employment at Bradford Colliery, Manchester. He became a check-weighman and secretary of the Bradford branch of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation. In 1894 he was elected to Manchester City Council as an Independent Labour Party councillor for the Bradford ward, an area previously represented by Conservatives.

At the general election of January 1910 Sutton was elected as Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Manchester East, the constituency that included the Bradford area. He held the seat until its abolition in 1918.

At the 1918 general election Sutton stood in the new seat of Manchester Clayton, losing to the Conservative, Edward Hopkinson. Hopkinson died in 1922, forcing a by-election, and Sutton was selected as Labour candidate. The Coalition Government was very unpopular due to high unemployment and severe cutbacks recommended by the Geddes Report, and Sutton easily won the seat. He lost the seat at the 1922 general election but regained it in 1923, and held it until 1931 when a large swing to the Conservatives was reflected in Clayton. William Flanagan, Sutton's opponent in the 1922 by-election took the seat. Sutton did not contest another parliamentary election.

By Katherine, Sir John de Sutton IV became successor.

Born in London into the family that established Suttons Seeds, John's father was an engineer credited with inventing the motor lawn-mower, among other things, and his mother was a teacher of classics. In 1937 he began a general science degree at Imperial College, graduating in geology in 1941 with an Abbreviated Honours degree (not an Honours degree) for war service in the army.

From 1946-1949 he undertook research on the Lewisian gneiss of N.W.Scotland with fellow student Janet Watson.

He was Dean of the Royal School of Mines (1965–68 and 1974–77); member of the BAS Scientific Advisory Committee (1970–85); member of NERC (1977–79); Chairman, British National Committee on Antarctic Research, from 1979.

He was elected President of the Geologists' Association for 1966–68. He was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1966, serving as their Vice-President in 1975.

He died in 1992 and was buried in Martinstown, Dorset. He is commemorated by the Sutton Heights in Antarctica.