William Gresley Bt (1661 - 1710)

Ancestors

Descendants

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The Gresleys of Drakelowe

Biography

William, 3rd Baronet, son of Thomas and Frances was born at Drakelow on November 8 1661 (between 9 and 10 in the morning according to the family bible quoted in Madan.)^[1] Although there are contradictory sources suggesting 1663; on the label attached to Sir William's picture at Drakelowe, and the Oxford Registers that when he matriculated at the University from Trinity College on June 10 1681, he was aged 17.^[2] But both these evidences must be wrong. The births of his two next younger sisters were on February 19 1662/3, and May 19 1664, which of themselves preclude the date 1663.

Of his early life we know nothing : and his portrait seems to suggest a quiet, if not a retiring character. He took no degree at Oxford, but his College still possesses two silver cups presented by him in 1682 (when he probably went down) and bearing a Latin inscription. After his father's death in 1699 he resided at Drakelowe, and in 1704 was High Sheriff of Derbyshire.^[3] (one of five of the Gresley Baronets to hold this postion)^[4] On October 17 1710 he died, and is described in the Administration granted to his widow as 'nuper de Oakeley in com. Salop.,' his actual residence for the last few years having been at Bishop's Castle near Oakeley, which came to him through his wife.

There is an amusing account of the 'wooing of Squire Bill of Drakelowe' among the Coke Papers from which it appears that he first proposed to a sister of his future wife, but was not accepted, and that finally Mistress Barbara Oakeley, nee Walcot, carried him off. Barbara was the daughter of John Walcot and Elizabeth his wife, and born on January 31, 1661, and seems to have died in 1724 as her Will was administered on April 28 of that year. By her first husband Mr Oakeley (of Bishop's Castle in Shropshire)^[5] she had had seven children, one of whom was William Oakeley grandfather of Sir Charles Oakeley, whose granddaughter Georgina Ann Reid in 1831 married the Rev. Sir William Nigel Gresley, 9th Baronet, and lives at Barton under Needwood. The marriage was on Sept. 2, 1696, at Bishop's Castle, and the issue as follows :—

1. Bridget, baptized at Bishop's Castle on October 10 1697 married on April 5 1716 Adam Ottley of Pitchford, and had three children by him, see pedigree. She died on June 23, 1737 and was buried two days later at Pitchford. Portraits of her (by Sir G. Kneller)^[6] and of her husband (by Jervas)^[7] are at Pitchford.
2. Thomas (born 1698 or '99) 4th Baronet
3. William, who died young.

Sources

1. ↑ All sources are Madan pages 100-102, Cokayne pages 40-41 and Debrett pages 246-247 unless otherwise stated
2. ↑ Alumni Oxonienses: The Members of the University of Oxford, 1500-1714. Oxford: Parker and Co., 1888-1892 via Ancestry
3. ↑ The High Sheriff of Derbyshire website directs to Wikipedia for a complete list.
4. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gresley_baronets
5. ↑ Madan has Barbara's first husband named as William, but Debrett refers to her as "widow of Richard Okely" and Cokayne "Barbara, widow of Richard Oakeley, of Oakeley, Salop."
6. ↑ http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/detail.php?ID=112652
7. ↑ http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/detail.php?ID=165079

• Madan, Falconer. The Gresleys of Drakelowe. Oxford, 1899. Accessed via Internet Archive

• Cokayne, G.E. The Complete Baronetage - Volume I (1611-1625). Exeter, 1900. Accessed via Internet Archive

• Debrett, John & Collen, George William. The Baronetage of England. London, 1840. Accessed via Google Books

Gresley Baronets on Wikipedia

Netherseal Village website

Netherseal Conservation Area Character Statement, South Derbyshire District Council, 2011

Netherseal Hall

Drakelow Hall

Baronet