William Gerrard, MP

William Gerard (died 1584)

William Gerard (aft. 1520–1584) was an English Member of Parliament for the constituencies of Preston and Wigan during the reigns of Mary I and Elizabeth I of England.

Gerard was born after 1520. He was the son of James Gerard of Astley and Ince, Lancashire and Margaret, daughter of John Holcroft; and brother of Sir Gilbert Gerard of Ince.[1]

By 1552 Gerard had been appointed Receiver of the Middlesex lands of the Edward, Lord North by 1552. He was return as a member of four parliaments: Preston October 1553 (1st Parliament of Mary I); Wigan 1559 (1st Elizabeth); Wigan 1563 (2nd Elizabeth); and Wigan, 1571 (3rd Elizabeth). He was Feodary for Middlesex in 1565. He was appointed a governor of Harrow School in 1572. From March until December 1578 he was escheator in Kent and Middlesex, and from around 1583 he was a Justice of the Peace in Middlesex. He died on 19 September 1584. [1]

Gerard married Dorothy, daughter of Thomas Page of Sudbury Court, Middlesex
. They had eight sons including William Gerard (c. 1551–1609) and four daughters.[1]

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gerard_(died_1584)

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• GERARD, William I (by 1530-84), of London and Flambards, Harrow, Mdx.
• b. by 1530, yr. s. of James Gerard of Astley and Ince, and bro. of Gilbert. m. Dorothy, da. of Thomas Page of Sudbury Court, Harrow, Mdx., 8s. inc. William† 4da.1
• Offices Held
  • Receiver of Mdx. lands of (Sir) Edward North, later 1st Lord North, by 1553; feodary, Mdx. 1565; gov. Harrow sch. 1572; escheator, Kent and Mdx. Mar.-Dec. 1578; j.p.q. Mdx. at d.2
• A younger son in a cadet branch of the great Lancashire family, William Gerard settled in Middlesex. On 1 June 1551 Thomas Page, then or later his father-in-law, had licence to alienate the manor of Wembley in Harrow to Gerard and Edmund Daye to his own and his heirs’ use, and in the following March Gerard, described as of London, purchased some 160 acres in Harrow from Sir Edward North, the lord of the manor. By then Gerard may already have been in North’s service, although the first account bearing his name as receiver relates to 1552-3. In October 1552 he acted with North in the purchase of a rectory and advowson, and in the same year he and Page acquired the manor of Southall and a number of Essex properties from William Bellamy. It was not until 1573, however, that John Spilman conveyed Flambards or Flamberts in fee-farm to Gerard, although he had probably leased the property earlier.3
• His domicile in the south was not to prevent Gerard from sitting for Wigan in three Elizabethan Parliaments. Whether he had already entered the Commons for Preston in October 1553 is less certain, as this may have marked the first appearance there of his cousin and namesake, the future Member for Chester. (Another kinsman, William Gerard of Ince, can be left out of consideration as being only 18 years old at the time.) Either could have benefited from the same influence. They were brother and cousin respectively of Gilbert Gerard, Member for Wigan in this Parliament, who was named with his brother as overseer of the will of William Gerard of Chester, as was (Sir) William Cordell, himself an executor of the will of Lord North. Both could also claim kinship with Sir Thomas Gerard of Bryn, sheriff of Lancashire during the election, and with Sir Thomas Holcroft, duchy receiver for Lancashire and Cheshire. North was no longer a Privy Councillor but he was to be created a baron in 1554 and his influence may have helped procure the return of his servant who seems more likely to have been the Member. Gerard was not marked as standing for the true religion in this Parliament.4
• Gerard received grants of wardships in 1558 and 1566 and continued to build up his estate in Essex and Middlesex. He died on 19 Sept. 1584 and was buried, as he had desired, in Harrow church, where a monument was erected.5
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/ge... _____________
• GERARD, William II (aft.1520-84), of Harrow, Mdx.
• b. aft. 1520, yr. s. of James Gerard of Astley and Ince, Lancs. by Margaret, da. of John Holcroft; bro. of Sir Gilbert. m. Dorothy, da. of Thomas Page of Sudbury Court, Mdx., 8s. inc. William Gerard III 4da.1
• Offices Held
  • Receiver of Mdx. lands of Edward North†, 1st Lord North by 1552; feodary, Mdx. 1565; gov. Harrow sch. 1572; escheator, Kent, Mdx. Mar.-Dec. 1578; j.p. Mdx. from c.1583.
• Gerard presumably owed his Wigan seat to his brother Gilbert, who had represented this duchy of Lancaster borough three times in the Early Tudor period, and was closely associated with Sir Ambrose Cave and Sir Ralph Sadler, successive chancellors of the duchy of Lancaster. The Gerards were in any case landowners in the Wigan district, and no doubt his candidature was locally popular. Nothing has been ascertained of his early life. He was living in London by March 1552, when Lord North sold him about 160 acres of land in Harrow-on-the-Hill. He was probably already North’s receiver for Middlesex: the first account bearing his name is dated 1552-3. He was still holding the office in 1569, but no later evidence has been found. By 1564 he had acquired extensive property in Middlesex, including the manor of Southall, which he and his father-in-law bought from William Bellamy in April 1552; the purchase also included land in Essex, at Upminster, Aveley and elsewhere. In March 1564 he bought an estate in Harrow, Greenford and Northall, Middlesex, with a house called Frere Place, from Thomas Partridge, but found difficulty in proving title. He was on friendly terms with his ‘cousin’ and namesake the lord chancellor of Ireland, who appointed him an overseer of his will, and in February 1577 asked Walsingham to arrange for him to have a licence to transport yarn, presumably as a temporary arrangement during the absence of the chancellor, who seems himself to have been receiving the profits of the licence at his death in 1581.2
• Gerard died 19 Sept. 1584. His will, made in January 1582, with a codicil dated 11 Sept. 1584, was proved in October 1584. He asked to be buried at Harrow, and left a bequest, at the discretion of the executor, his son William, to repair the parish church there. His widow was to have a £20 annuity, and his two surviving daughters £200 each. Five younger sons received legacies of £100, but the second son, Richard, who had already been ‘remembered ... with more living’ than all the rest of the children, was to have only a piece of plate. The overseers were Sir Gilbert Gerard, Anthony Ratcliffe, a London alderman, and Hugh Hindley, merchant taylor of London.3
• From: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/ge... _________________________
• William Gerrard
• Birth: unknown
• Death: Sep. 19, 1584
• Family links:
• Spouse:
• Dorothie Gerrard (____ - 1583)*
• Children:
  • James Gerrard*
  • Anne Gerrard*
  • Mary Gerrard*
• Inscription:
• Here doe lye buried the bodies of Willm Gerrard late of Flamberds in this parish esquire deceased the nynetenth day of september 1584, and of Dorothe his wife departed the fiftenth day of Aprill, 1583, and of Mary, James, and Anne their children. They had also issue Willm Richard, Gilbert, Thomas, Felix, Dorothe, Phillip, Johm and Francis. Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord for they rest from their labors, 14 Revelation 13. I believe that my Redemer liveth, and that at the last day with these myne eyes I shall see god my saviour. 19 Job 25
• Burial: St Mary Churchyard, Harrow-on-the-Hill, London Borough of Harrow, Greater London, England
• Find A Grave Memorial# 84663770
• From: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=84663770 ________________