John Harington

John Harington (by 1517–1582), of Stepney, Middlesex; Kelston, Somerset; Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, and of London, was an English Member of Parliament. He had also been an official working for Henry VIII, then in the service of the then Princess Elizabeth.

Life Harington served Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, husband of Katherine Parr and uncle of King Edward VI.

Harington married Ethelreda Malte (Audrey), an illegitimate daughter of John Malte by Joan Dingley, who was the king's tailor. Contemporary reports also suggest that Etheldreda was an unrecognised illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII. In 1546, John Malte had purchased the manor of Kelston in Somerset on behalf of himself and Etheldreda (Audrey) alias Digneley, "bastard daughter of the said John Digneley alias Dobson", and in September 1546, he made Etheldreda (Audrey), "my bastard daughter begotten upon the body of Joan Digneley", his chief legatee and recipient of all his property in Berkshire, Hertfordshire and Somerset.

Identity Harington lived at Stepney, and is often confused with Sir John Harington of Exton in Rutland, who filled the post of treasurer to the king's camps and buildings. John Harington of Stepney held various offices, but was not 'treasurer', contrary to the National Dictionary of Biography. John Bradford was a servant of the above mentioned Sir John Harington of Exton in Rutland and not John Harington of Stepney.