A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



lent and lawless man,** and died at Berwick in 1523, 

 during an expedition against the Scots.^ His son, 

 another Sir Thomas, was only eleven years of age at 

 his father's death ; but little is known of him. He 

 died between 1550 and 1560." 



His son Sir Thomas Gerard sold his interest in 

 the Kingsley estates of the family,^* and purchased 

 the other third part of the manor of Ashton from 

 John Atherton, thus becoming sole lord,^ His 

 wife was the heiress of Sir John Port of Etwall 

 in Derbyshire, and this manor-house became a 

 favourite residence of the family.*' After a 

 brief period of compliance he became conspicuous for 

 his resistance to the religion established by Elizabeth, 

 and suffered accordingly. He was sent to the Tower 

 in 1 571, perhaps being suspected of a share in the 

 rising of the previous year or for sympathy with 

 Mary Queen of Scots ; his release is said to have been 



purchased by the surrender of Bromley to Sir Gilbert 

 Gerard, Master of the Rolls.*® He was again com- 

 mitted to the Tower in 1586, but liberated about 

 three years later, having been induced to give evidence 

 against Philip Earl of Arundel, then in the Tower 

 also, to the effect that he had prayed for the success 

 of the Spaniards.*^ In 1590 he was reported as 

 having * made show of conformity ' while in Lanca- 

 shire, but was * in general note of evil affection ' in 

 religion." His younger son John became a Jesuit, 

 and laboured in England until the storm aroused by 

 the Gunpowder Plot, when he escaped to Belgium, 

 and became the chief agent in the foundation of the 

 English College at Li^ge." 



Sir Thomas Gerard is said to have died in Septem- 

 ber 1 60 1." His son Thomas, made a knight in 

 1603, and a baronet in 161 1, succeeded him.^^ Like 

 his father, he was in 1590 reported as ' of evil affec- 



»"> In Duchy Plead, (Rec. Soc. Lanes. 

 and Ches.), i, 61-7, is an account 

 (wrongly dated) of a cock fight at Win- 

 wick, in 14 Apr. 1515, attended by 

 Thomas Botcler of Bewscy, son of Sir 

 Thomas, and others of the neighbouring 

 gentry ; James Stanley, Bishop of Ely, 

 though he had arranged to come, does not 

 seem to have been present. The meeting 

 was disturbed by the appearance of Sir 

 Thomas Gerard and a number of re- 

 tainers, all fully armed, and determined 

 to wreak vengeance on some obnoxious 

 members of the party. His quarrel with 

 Thomas Gerard of Ince occurred a little 

 earlier ; ibid. 3-7. Roger Piatt of Ince 

 complained that Sir Thomas Gerard of 

 Ashton, * of his own rigorous and malici- 

 ous mind,' had seized his cattle and 

 carried them off to the Brynn, where he 

 detained them, and out of * further ran- 

 cour * set in the stocks one Lawrence 

 Chamock, who had taken fodder for the 

 cattle ; ibid. 75. 



A settlement of various manors was 

 made in 1511, Thomas Gerard and Mar- 

 gery his wife being in possession ; Pal. of 

 Lane. Feet of F. bdle, 11, m, 246. 



83 Duchy Plead, ii, 234. He died 

 7 Nov. 1523 seised of the manors of 

 Brynn, Windle, and Brindle, and wide 

 lands in the district. In his will, dated 

 a year before his death, he recited the 

 provision made for his wife Margery 

 daughter of Sir Edmund TrafFord ; his 

 son and heir Thomas and his wife Joan ; 

 Peter and other younger sons; Kathcrine, 

 Elizabeth, and Anne, his daughters. The 

 last appears to have been already mar- 

 ried to Richard Ashton of Middleton. 

 The remainders were to Robert Gerard, 

 his uncle, and to the issue of his grand- 

 father. Sir Thomas Gerard ; Duchy of 

 Lane. Inq. p.m. viii, no. 13. 



Margery, the widow, afterwards mar- 

 ried Sir John Port, and died 10 May 

 1540, when the son, Thomas Gerard, 

 was thirty-eight years of age ; ibid. 



84 In 1533 he 'would not be spoken 

 with' by the herald ; Fisit. (Chet. Soc), 

 182. He was made a knight in 1544 

 during the invasion of Scotland ; Met- 

 calfe, Bk. of KnightSy 78. In 1536 

 Thomas Gerard of Brynn was expected 

 to bring a contingent of 450 men to 

 serve against the Pilgrimage of Grace ; 

 L. and P, Hen, VIII, xi, 511. He was 

 sheriff of the county in 1548 and 1553 j 

 P.R.O, Listy 73. In 1552 he was claim- 

 ing exemptions for the suppressed chantry 

 of Windle ; Ducatui Lane. (Rcc. Com.), i, 



254. He appears to have had several 

 illegitimate children, of whom one, 

 Thomas, was employed as trustee. 

 Another Thomas Gerard, contemporary 

 with these, was the natural son of William 

 Gerard. 



Sir Thomas married Jane, a daughter 

 of Sir Peter Legh of Lyme, from whom 

 he was separated ; Raines MSS. (Chet. 

 Lib.), xxii, 170 ; Ormcrod, Ches, (ed. 

 Hclsby), iii, 6yy. Her will, in which 

 she is described as Dame Jane Gerard of 

 Bromley, is printed from the Lyme deeds 

 in ff^ills (Rec, Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), 78; 

 she makes bequests to her son. Sir 

 Thomas Gerard and his wife Elizabeth, 

 and to her brother Sir P. Legh. 



8S Ormerod, op. cit. ii, 96. 



88 See below. 



87 With this Sir Thomas and his wife 

 the pedigree recorded in 1665 begins ; 

 Dugdale, yjsie, (Chet. Soc), 116. His 

 sons on matriculating at Oxford in 

 1575 were said to be *of Derbyshire*; 

 and ten years later Sir Thomas was de- 

 scribed as 'lurking* in his house at 

 Etwall ; Morris, Life of John Gerard, 6 

 (quoting Clifford, ^.P. of Sir R. Sadler, ii, 

 525)- 



Sir Thomas Gerard was sheriff in 1557 

 (P.R.O. List, 73), and knight of the shire 

 in 1562 ; Pink and Bcaven, op. cit. 5. 



88 Morris, op. cit. 5, quoting Murdin, 

 Coll. ofS,P. 771, 35, Those committed 

 to the Tower with him were Sir Thomas 

 Stanley, probably of Winwick Rectory, 

 and Francis RoUeston ; 'they were recon- 

 ciled to the pope according to the late 

 bull.* The story as to Bromley is quoted 

 in Gregson, Fragments (ed. Harland), 237, 

 from Wotton, Baronetage, 55. John 

 Gerard says simply that his father 

 * obtained his release by the payment of a 

 large sum* ; Morris, loc. cit. 



89 The story that he abandoned his 

 religion and adopted a licentious course 

 of life is discredited by GiUow, Bibl, Diet, 

 of Engl. Catholics, ii, 426. 



^^ Lydiate Hall, 244 ; quoting S.P, 

 Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, 4. Another Thomas 

 Gerard, perhaps the bastard, was ' soundly 

 affected in religion * ; ibid. 246. 



^^ His adventurous life is told, mainly 

 from his autobiography, in the work of 

 Fr. Morris already cited ; see also Diet, 

 Nat. Biog. and Gillow, The confusion 

 created by the mistakes he made as to his 

 age at entering Oxford, Sec. is cleared by 

 the record in Foster, Alumni Oxon. show- 

 ing that he and his elder brother Thomas 

 entered Exeter College, Oxford, in Dec. 



144 



157;, at the ages of thirteen and fifteen. 

 When admitted to the English College at 

 Rome in 1587 as a scholar — he had 

 already lived there seven months — his 

 age was recorded as 'in his twenty-third 

 year'; Foley, Rec. S.J.wi, 173. He is 

 said to have been born 4 Oct. 1564. His 

 country upbringing stood him in good 

 stead in his later life, suspicion on one 

 occasion being averted * as he spoke of 

 hunting and falconry with all the details 

 that none but a practised person could 

 command * ; Morris, op. cit. 43. 



** A number of settlements were made 

 during the reign of Elizabeth, of which 

 the fines give evidence. In 1573 Sir 

 Thomas claimed from Thomas Gerard, 

 base son of Sir Thomas Gerard deceased, 

 the manors of Ashton in Makerfield, 

 Brindle, Windle, and Sfcelmersdale, with 

 messuages and wide lands, twelve water- 

 mills, twelve windmills, two fulling-mills, 

 two horse-mills, six dovecotes, &c. ; Pal. 

 of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 35, m. 3. This 

 would be just after Sir Thomas's release 

 from the Tower. A settlement apparently 

 on behalf of his wife Elizabeth was made 

 in the following spring ; ibid. bdle. 36, 

 m. 230. Shortly afterwards he purchased 

 Lord Mounteagle's lands in Ashton ; ibid, 

 bdle. 36, m. 102. 



In 1582 a settlement or mortgage was 

 made by Sir Thomas Gerard, Elizabeth his 

 wife, and Thomas his son and heir ap- 

 parent ; ibid. bdle. 44, m. 226. 



Four years later a large number of set- 

 tlements were made, separate properties 

 being dealt with. In some the remainders 

 after the death of Sir Thomas and Eliza- 

 beth were to Thomas the son and heir 

 and Cecily his wife, and then to John 

 Gerard, second son of Sir Thomas. In 

 many others the further remainder was to 

 Sir Gilbert Gerard, Master of the Rolls, 

 and then to the male issue of William 

 Gerard, late of Harrow, Henry Gerard of 

 Rainhill, and William Gerard, late of 

 Ince; ibid. bdle. 48, m. 118-198, 262, 

 305. A number of similar feoffments 

 were made in 1598; ibid. bdle. 60, m. 

 4-22, 43, 47. 



<* Feoffments were made by Thomas 

 Gerard in 1587, his father being then in 

 the Tower ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 49, m. 271-9. He had gone up to 

 Oxford in 1575, as above stated j but he 

 and his brother John soon left, finding 

 that ' at Easter the heretics sought to 

 force them to attend their worship, and 

 to partake of their counterfeit sacrament ' 

 — so John Gerard in Morris, op. cit. 14. 



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