John left home early, one of a number of the clan who did. The will2374 of his father, Sampson, provided, “in regard to my said Son John is gone abroad as is suppposed beyond Sea and hath not been heard of for a long time past,” his £100 share of the estate would be held for him for ten years, and then distributed among the other heirs if he did not return. He eventually did return. Humphrey Lloyd’s history reports —

“For twenty years we must suppose John Lloyd had been at sea, but he was evidently in touch with the family again. Arriving at Portsmouth in the Princessa in 1746 he was desirous of obtaining his release, for which the family, when they heard of it, were willing to advance the sum required. Though ‘fearful of being turned over to another ship suddenly,’ John Lloyd obtained his discharge, upon payment, about a month later. He himself had entered the navy in 1742, probably as a seaman pressed for the war… John Lloyd settled in the Birmingham district and was buried in 1751 at Bull Lane.”2371