John Paston (died 1504)

Sir John Paston (1444 – 28 August 1504), was the second son of John Paston and Margaret Mautby. He succeeded his elder brother, Sir John Paston, in 1479. He fought at Barnet and Stoke with John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, served as his deputy when Oxford was appointed Lord High Admiral of England, and was a member of the Earl's council. A number of his letters survive among the Paston Letters, a rich source of historical information for the lives of the English gentry of the period.

John Paston, born in 1444, probably at Geldeston, Norfolk, was the second son of John Paston and Margaret Mautby, daughter and heir of John Mautby of Mautby, Norfolk. He had an elder brother, also named John, as well as three younger brothers, Edmund, Walter and William, and two sisters, Margery and Anne.

Nothing is known of his education. In his youth he actively assisted his mother with the management of the Paston estates. He served under John Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk, from 1462 to 1464, at both Holt Castle in Denbighshire, and Newcastle upon Tyne, and in October 1465 was invited, as 'one of our servants of household', to attend the celebration of Norfolk's coming of age. In July 1468 he and his elder brother John were in the retinue which attended Edward IV's sister, Margaret of York, to Bruges for her marriage to Charles the Bold.