William Gerard MP (abt. 1525 - 1584)

Born about 1525 in Darney, Worcestershire, Buckinghamshire, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 15 Apr 1584 at about age 59 in Harrow Upon the Hill, Middlesex, England

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Biography

This profile is part of the Gerard Name Study.

William Gerard MP was born in England.

William Gerard II was the second son of James Gerrard of Astley and Ince, Lancashire and Margaret, daughter of John Holcroft. ^[1]He was a brother of Sir Gilbert Gerard and son of James Gerard of Astley and Ince and Margaret Holcroft. ^[2] William Gerard II and Dorothy Page married in England. She was a daughter of Thomas Page of Sudbury Court, Harrow, Middlesex, England. ^[2] William Gerard II and Dorothy Page had 12 children: four daughters and eight sons, including William Gerard III. ^[3]

Children

1. Dorothy Waller
2. Kate / Catherine de Ratclyffe
3. William Gerard, III, MP, of Flambards
4. Richard Gerard
5. Felix Gerard

Siblings

1. Thomas Gerard (Married 1490)
2. Sir James Gerard
3. Gilbert Gerard of Ince, [Lancashire]

Marriage

William Gerard II and Dorothy [Page] Gerrard had 12 children: four daughters and eight sons, including William Gerard III

Offices Held

• by 1552 -- Receiver of Mdx. lands of Edward North†, 1st Lord North ;

• 1565 -- feodary, Mdx. ;

• 1572 -- gov. Harrow sch. ;

• March - December 1578 -- escheator, Kent, Mdx. ;

• from circa 1583 -- j.p. Mdx. .

Timeline

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.

• March 1552 -- William Gerard was living in London ,

• March 1552 -- Lord North sold to William Gerard about 160 acres of land in Harrow-on-the-Hill. William Gerard was probably already North’s receiver for Middlesex: the first account bearing his name is dated 1552-3.

• 1569 William Gerard was still holding the office in 1569, but no later evidence has been found.

• By 1564 -- William Gerard 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.

• March 1564 -- William Gerard bought an estate in Harrow, Greenford and Northall, Middlesex, with a house called Frere Place, from Thomas Partridge, but found difficulty in proving title. William Gerard 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

• 1571 -- William Gerard II was appointed the first of six founding school governors for the Harrow School, Harrow-on-the-Hill, Middlesex, England.^[1]

• January 1582 -- date of William Gerard's will

• April 15, 1584 -- William Gerard II died at ?? England. William Gerard and his wife Dorothy Page of Sudbury were buried in St. Mary's Church, Harrow-on-the-Hill [Middlesex, England]. A wall tablet with the Gerard (Ince) arms and text: "William Gerard, died 15 Apr 1584, married Dorothy Page of Sudbury Court." ^[4]

• September 11, 1584 -- date of codicil to William Gerard's will

• William Gerard 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. He was buried at Harrow Church, Middlesex, England where's monument was erected. ^[2]

• October 1584 -- date on which William Gerard's will was probated/proved.

Notes

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603 Author: N. M. Fuidge Notes 1. Mdx. Peds. (Harl. Soc. lxv), 19-20; DNB (Gerard, Gilbert). 2. Mdx. RO, accession 76, H221, 222 A; accession 497, 2; CPR, 1553 and App. Edw. VI, 418; 1563-6, pp. 3, 332; 1569-72, p. 481; C3/70/50; M. Robbins, Mdx. 130; PCC 26 Darcy; CSP Ire. 1574-85, p. 104; VCH Mdx. iv. 209. 3. PCC 30 Watson. Above sources need to be added to the actual events.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Colonial Chesapeake Families. Volume 2. Page 367.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} History of the English Parliament. William Gerard II.
3. ↑ Wikipedia
4. ↑ Colonial Chesapeake Families British Origins and Descendants. Volume 2. Page ??

• Hist. Parl.

• Alan Davidson. S. T. Bindof, Editor. The History of [the English Parliament. British Political, Social & Local History. Volumes 1509 - 1558. William Gerard I (by 1530 - 1584) of London and Flambards, Harrow, Middlesex, England. Accessed by Michael Boynton on April 14, 2017 at 12:50,AM]

• W. J. J. P. W. Hasler, Editor. The History of [the English Parliament. Sir British Political, Social & Local History. Volumes 1558 - 1603. Gilbert Gerard (died 1593) of Ince, Lancashire and Gerard's Bromley, Staffordshire, England. 1981. ]

• Harrison Dwight Cavanaugh. Colonial Chesapeake Families British Origins and Descendants. Volume 2. 2014. Chapter 17: Gerrard. Pages 367 - 372.

• S494. Symons Genealogy

• Wikipedia

• UK and Ireland, Find a Grave Index, 1300s-Current

Name William Gerrard Gender Male Death Date19 Sep 1584 CemeterySt Mary Churchyard Burial or Cremation Place Harrow-on-the-Hill, London Borough of Harrow, Greater London, England Spouse Dorothie Gerrard Children Mary Gerrard; James Gerrard; Anne Gerrard; Dorothy Waller; William Gerard