His will is available from The National Archives at http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D966434

Reference:PROB 11/66/77 Description: Will of John Aldriche or Aldrich, Alderman of Norwich, Norfolk Date: 27 October 1583 Held by: The National Archives, Kew Legal status: Public Record

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Cozene, Hardy and Kent's, "The Mayors of Norwich, 1403-1835" gives the following account: "John Aldrich was sheriff in 1551, burgess in parliament in 1555, 1558, and 1572. Blomefield states that as such he received 4s. per diem. He was mayor in 1558 and 1570. He was the son of Thomas Aldrich, mayor in 1507. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas Sotherton, alderman, by whom he had no inter alios. A son, John, an alderman, who died in 1583, having married Faith, daughter of Augustine Steward. He was a grocer by trade. He died about 1582, giving 5s to the poor. His alter tomb is in St. Clement's church. He lived in the Flint house, now absorbed by the Labour Exchange (the "Exchange"), at the west side of St. Clement's church yard. It was formerly the "Sun and Anchor," a weaving factory belonging to the Custnaces and then to the Willetts, and later the warehouse of Messrs. C. and F. Bolingbroke. The ancient carved door, originally from Walsingham Prior, is now in the Castle Museum. The spandrels of other doors with "1570," the date of his second mayoralty, and the initials of John Aldrich and Elizabeth his wife, are said to be incorporated in the interior of the Exchange. There is a quarry of stained glass in St. Clement's church window consisting of a knot containing the initials J.A., which Mr. T.G. Bayfield thought to be those of John Aldrich. It was during his mayoralty that there was a Popish conspiracy in Norwich. His merchant's mark is recorded by Ewing"

"Connie Aldridge Service" records that the children were divided between two wives; however, LDSIGI (British Isles) lists all of the children as being the children of John Aldrich and Elizabeth Sotherton Aldrich (who is not mentioned on Connie's Norwich list; rather another John is listed), Timothy, Ann, Hester,....and gives dates of birth for them. Henry is not listed. The passage from the "Cozene, Hardy, and Kent" book can be interpreted to mean that Faith Steward married John and Elizabeth's son, John Aldrich (which would solve many of the logistical problems). For this reason Faith Steward can be deleted as a wife of this John Aldrich. This is a crucial piece of the puzzle that needs better documentation.

John Aldrich was married to Elizabeth Sotherton (daughter of Nicholas Sotherton) in St. Michael-at-Pleasant, Norwich, Norfolk, England. Elizabeth was born in March 1505 or 1506 in Farmingham, Suffolk, England.

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John was the Sheriff in 1551, Burgess in Parliament in 1555, 1558 and 1572. He was the Mayor of Norwich in 1558 and 1570.

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http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/al...

ALDRICH, John (by 1520-82), of Norwich, Norf. Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982, Available from Boydell and Brewer

Biography Detail Constituency Family & Education Offices Held Biography End Notes Related Resources 1509-1558 Members 1509-1558 Constituencies 1509-1558 Parliaments 1509-1558 Surveys PREVIOUS BIOGRAPHY NEXT BIOGRAPHY ConstituencyDates NORWICH 1555 NORWICH 1572

Family and Education

b. by 1520, 3rd surv. s. of Thomas Aldrich of Norwich by Elizabeth, da. of one Wood of Fulbourne, Cambs. m. by 1540, Elizabeth, da. of Nicholas Sotherton of Norwich, 3s. 2da.1

Offices Held

Common councilman, Norwich 1541-2, 1543-5, alderman 1545-d., sheriff 1551-2, auditor 1547, 1556, 1561, 1572-5, chamberlain’s council 1548, 1550, 1564, 1566, overseer, Holme Street poorhouse 1553, mayor 1557-8. 1570-1, commr. sewers 1564, 1566, subsidy 1581.2

Biography

John Aldrich was admitted to the freedom of Norwich on 21 Sept. 1541. The son of a leading citizen who at his death in 1529 had distributed his considerable wealth among his three sons, Aldrich received £500 and property in Norwich and, although not the eldest son, was to succeed to the father’s position in the city. He also followed the same trade, becoming a mercer (although occasionally called a grocer) and dealing chiefly in wool. Some of his goods were seized by subjects of the Emperor in September 1544, and in the following year he was one of several merchants who petitioned the King for redress.3

At the same time as Aldrich obtained his freedom he was sworn to the common council and to the guild of St. George, but something prevented him from serving as a common councilman and at the following Easter he was replaced by Thomas Bere: he was re-elected a year later and remained on the council until 1545, when he agreed to pay £20 to be exempted from the city’s shrievalty for the next six years. During these years he rose to prominence although it was not he but his brother Thomas who after the capture of Norwich by the rebels in 1549 negotiated with Robert Ket.4

On the expiry of his exemption Aldrich was made sheriff with a fellow-mercer, Thomas Grey, and it was these two who were to represent Norwich in the fourth Parliament of Mary’s reign. Both were doubtless interested in a bill for buying of Norfolk wools which failed after its first reading, but neither seems to have made any mark in the House or to have joined the opposition headed by Sir Anthony Kingston, whose Protestantism Aldrich was nevertheless to give later signs of sharing. As mayor at the time of the next parliamentary election he may have promoted the return of his brother-in-law Thomas Sotherton. He himself was to sit again in Elizabeth’s fourth Parliament, after having served again as mayor. He died in 1582.5

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558
Author: Roger Virgoe

Notes

1. Date of birth estimated from admission as freeman. Vis. Norf. (Harl. Soc. xxxii), 2-4. PCC 9 Jankyn, 21 Alenger, 27 Tirwhite.

2. Norwich ass. procs. 2, 3 passim; CPR, 1563-6, p. 40; 1569-72, pp. 218, 219.

3. Norwich ass. procs. 2, f. 176; PCC 9 Jankyn; Norwich Census of Poor 1570 (Norf. Rec. Soc. xl), app. viii; Merchants’ Marks (Harl. Soc. cviii), 15; LP Hen. VIII, xx; Bronnen tot de Geschiedenis van den Handel met Engeland, Schotland en Ierland, ed. Smit, i. 538, 605; CPR, 1558-60, p. 162; CSP Dom. 1547-80, p. 550.

4. Norwich ass. procs. 2, 3 passim; Recs. Norwich, ed. Hudson and Tingay, i. 313, 415; W. K. Jordan, Edw. VI, i. 483; F. W. Russell, Kett’s Rebellion, 40; Blomefield, Norf. iii. 234-8.

5. Strype, Annals, ii(1), 433; PCC 27 Tirwhite.

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The role of this family in supporting a Protestant reform is discussed extensively in Matthew Reynolds' Godly Reformers and Their Opponents in Early Modern England: Religion in Norwich c 1560-1643 (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2005), pp. 44ff. Available on Google books.

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From Pam Wilson's research files:

Cozene, Hardy and Kent's "The Mayors of Norwich, 1403-1835" gives the following account:

"John Aldrich was sheriff in 1551, burgess in parliament in 1555, 1558 and 1572. Blomefield states that as such he received 4s. per diem. He was mayor 1558 and 1570. He was the son of Thomas Aldrich, mayor in 1507, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas Sotherton, alderman, by whom he had inter alios a son, John, an alderman, who died in 1583, having married Faith, daughter of Augustine Steward. He was a grocer by trade. He died about 1582, giving f5 to the poor. His altar tomb is in St. Clement's Church. He lived in the Flint house, now absorded by the Labour Exchange, at the west side of St. Clement's churchyard. It was formerly the "sun and Anchor", a weaving factory belonging to the Custances and then to the Willetts, and later the warehouse of Messrs.

C. and F. Bolingbroke. The ancient carved door, originally from Walsingham priory, is now in the Castle Museum. The spandrels of other doors with "1570", the date of his second mayoralty, and the initials of John Aldrich and Elizabeth his wife, are said to be incorporated in the interior of the Exchange. There is a quarry of stained glass in St. Clement's church window consisting of a knot containing the initials I.A., which Mr. T.G. Bayfield thought to be those of John Aldrich. It was during his mayoralty that there was a popish conspiracy in Norwich. His merchant's mark is recorded by Ewing."

Connie Aldridge Service's notes (from Allen D. Aldridge of Durham NC) from the Norwich, Norfolk library records say John Aldrich was born c 1518 and died 1583, was Mayor of Norwich in 1558 and 1570, and was married to Elizabeth Scherton (possibly mis-transcribed from "Sotherton") and Faith Steward.

LDS Ancestral File gives earlier birthdate of John (1509) and says he was married c 1537 to Elizabeth Sotherton. Marriage to Faith is not mentioned [see my note below]. The LDS IGI gives two birthdates for John--one version as 1502, and one as 1509.

Connie Service's records divide the children between the two wives; however, the LDS IGI (British Isles) lists all of them as being the children of John and Elizabeth--Thomas, John, Elizabeth [who is not mentioned on Connie's Norwish list; rather another John is listed], Timothy, Anne, Hester--and gives dates of birth for them. Henry is not listed. Bennett also lists Faith as this John's second wife after Elizabeth Sotherton, and the mother of his final four children.

I interpret the passage from the Cozene, Hardy and Kent book to mean that Faith Steward married John's *son* John Aldrich [which would solve many of the logistical problems]. For this reason, I have deleted Faith as a wife of this John and put her as wife of John and Elizabeth's son John.

Archibald Bennett says: "These names appear in the list of wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury:

1582 JOHN ALDRICHE, alderman, citie of Norwich, 27 Terwhite 1583 JOHN ALDRICHE, citizen and alderman of Norwich, 2 Butts"

(The meaning of "27 Terwhite" and "2 Butts" is not clear to me, but it is apparently related to the court session.)

Bennett seems to believe these are both records of John (Sr)'s death, but it appears from the Cozene, Hardy and Kent book that the first is the will of the father and the second of his oldest son.

The other problem that Bennett's records present is a list of children who are the product of the marriage of John Aldrich and Faith Steward. Bennett believes them to be the children of the elder John Aldrich, but it seems more likely that they were the children of the *son* John Aldrich and Faith Steward, and that the second son John Aldrich that Bennett presents was in fact his grandson, *son of his son John*. It seems that the identities of this father and son have been collapsed in many accounts. I this case, I trust the Cozene, Hardy and Kent history more than Bennett.

Finally, Bennett does not MENTION Henry as a son of John Aldrich.

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City of Norwich Records Documents relating to Charity Estates Hethel and Carleton etc. CatalogueRef NCR Case 25d/1301-1308 Title Conveyance to John Aldrych and others of property in Hethel by Nicholas Crosseman Date 1568 Level Sub-series Repository Norfolk Record Office

Norwich Public Library Manuscript Collection CatalogueRef MS 4588, 38C2 Title The Charge given to the overseers in the mayoralty of John Aldrich Date 1570 Level Piece Repository Norfolk Record Office Extent 11 pages

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http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C3334724

1569-1571

• E Records of the Exchequer, and its related bodies, with those of the Office of First...
• Records of the King's Remembrancer
• E 136 Exchequer: King's Remembrancer: Escheators' Particulars of Account
• NORWICH
• E 136/145/18 John Aldryche (2mm)
• Reference:E 136/145/18 Description:
• John Aldryche (2mm)

Date: 12-13 Eliz I Held by: The National Archives, Kew Legal status: Public Record

also: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C3334715

John Aldriche (4mm) Exchequer: King's Remembrancer: Escheators' Particulars of Account. NORWICH. John Aldriche (4mm). Collection:Records of the Exchequer, and its related bodies, with those of the Office of First Fruits and Tenths, and the Court of AugmentationsDate range: 25 July 1557 - 16 November 1559 Reference:E 136/145/9