John was born in or before 1387. Little is known of his upbringing or youth, but he was clearly expected to inherit his father's powerful position in
northern England. John acquired a castle at
Kirkbymoorside, about 13 miles north of his father's
caput of
Sheriff Hutton. Ralph had been
Warden of the West March since 1403, and John took his place in 1414. He played a significant part in helping his father achieve the return of the young
Henry Percy from Scotland (where his father, the Earl of Northumberland, had exiled them both), so that Percy marry John's half-sister,
Eleanor. However, sometime before 1396, his father had married
Joan Beaufort, a legitimated daughter of
John of Gaunt, and soon after, and possibly as a direct consequence, the earl commenced a long string of
enfeoffments in favour of the children he was now having with Joan, particularly the eldest son,
Richard, later
Earl of Salisbury. This effectively disinherited John who, curiously, seems to have "acquiesced" in the process as, on one occasion at least, he acted as a witness to one of the transfers. It is possible that Ralph did not intend to deprive John of as much as he eventually did: Ralph made a will in 1404, which, many years later, John's son (also
Ralph) appears to have believed very much favoured his side of the family. This will was superseded by a much later one, written after John had predeceased his father, ==Marriage and issue==