Portrait of Sir John Aylmer (b.1568), three-quarter-length, in a black and white doublet with lace collar and cuffs, carrying a sword

Sir John Aylmer of Revesby, Lincolnshire, who was baptised at St. Margaret's, Lincoln, on 11 July 1568, was the third son of John Aylmer the English Constitutionalist and Greek Scholar, and his second wife, Judith, daughter of William King, of the village of Audley End, Essex. The sitter's father was Chaplain to Henry Grey, 3rd Marquess of Dorset, later 1st Duke of Suffolk, and tutor of Greek to his daughter, Lady Jane Grey. He was also Bishop of London (1576), Lord Almoner (1557) and Archdeacon of Lincoln (1565), purchasing the manor of Revesby in 1590. The sitter married Susan, daughter and co-heiress of George Sampson, of Horkston, Suffolk, and had three children by her: John (d. 1632) who married Elizabeth Gostwick; Edward; and Mary who married William Booth of Goxhill.