A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



GERARD E arlofMac 

 clesfidd . j rgaa . a sMr 



Sir Charles Gerard married Penelope, daughter 

 of Sir Edward Fitton of Gawsworth, and one of the 

 heirs of her brother Sir Edward. Sir Charles, who 

 died at York about 1640, was buried at Halsall. 1 

 He built a windmill there ; 

 and there was also a water- 

 mill.' His eldest son, Charles, 

 was born about l6l8,and took 

 the royal side in the Civil War, 

 as did his two brothers. He 

 greatly distinguished himself, 

 and was in 1645 created 

 Baron Gerard of Brandon in 

 Suffolk. He was obliged to 

 quit England during the rule 

 of Cromwell, and was reported 

 to be scheming the assassination 

 of the Protector. Returning 

 at the Restoration he had various promotions, and in 

 1678-9 he was created Viscount Brandon and earl of 

 Macclesfield. Afterwards he intrigued with the duke 

 of Monmouth, and in the time of James II was 

 obliged again to seek a refuge abroad, returning with 

 William prince of Orange, by whom he was rewarded 

 with offices of honour. He died in January, 1693-4, 

 and was buried at Westminster. 3 So far as the Halsall 

 estate was concerned, Lord Gerard went on with 

 the disputes with Robert Blundell of Ince as to the 

 boundaries of the adjacent manors of Birkdale and 

 Ainsdale and Renacres. These disputes lasted till 



I/I9/ 



His son Charles, born in Paris about 1659, was 

 knight of the shire (Lord Brandon) 1679-85 and 

 1689-94, and made lord lieutenant on the Revolu- 

 tion. He had been convicted of high treason in 

 connexion with the Rye House Plot, but pardoned. 5 

 He died without legitimate issue in November, 1701, 

 and was succeeded in the titles by his brother Fitton, 

 who died unmarried in December, 1 702, when the 

 earldom, &c., became extinct. 6 



Two sisters were co-heirs of the properties : Eliza- 



beth, who married a distant cousin, Digby, fifth Lord 

 Gerard of Bromley, and died in 1700, leaving a 

 daughter and heiress Elizabeth, 

 who married James duke of 

 Hamilton ; and Charlotte, wife 

 of Thomas Mainwaring, who 

 left a daughter and heiress 

 Charlotte, who married Lord 

 Mohun, and died in or before 

 1 709. Lord Mohun, by the 

 will of the second Lord Mac- 

 clesfield, became owner of his 

 wife's share of the Gerard 

 estates, and the duel between 

 him and the duke of Hamil- 

 ton, in which both were killed (15 November, 

 1712), originated in a dispute about the division.' 

 His widow was made the heir to his part of the 

 estates, which included Halsall, and carried them 

 to her third husband, Colonel 

 Charles Mordaunt. 8 Though 

 Colonel Mordaunt had no 

 issue by her, he remained in 

 possession of the Gerard and 

 Fitton properties, and Halsall 

 descended to his son by a 

 second wife, 9 Charles Lewis 

 Mordaunt, who at one time 

 resided in the hall at Halsall. 10 

 Eventually he sold the manor 

 to Thomas Eccleston, lord of 

 the adjoining manor of Scaris- 

 brick, and the advowson of 



the rectory to Jonathan Blundell of Liverpool. He 

 died at Ormskirk on 1 5 January, 1 808, aged seventy- 

 eight." 



The manor has since descended with Scarisbrick. 



Courts used to be held in July and October ; " 

 there is still one kept in November. 



The grant of RENJCRES 13 to the Hospitallers 

 has been related, and the Halsall family held it 



196 



