Sir Thomas Gerard Knight

  General Notes:

Weis' Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700, 8th Edition, 233B:34 ¹⁶⁰, he was knight of the shire 1384, 1388, 1394.

Ormerod's History of Cheshire, Gerard Pedigree, Vol. II, p. 131 ⁷¹³, knight and son & heir to father, Sir Peter, per Inquisition born, cir 34 Edward III, granted his brother, John's, land for life, Ledesham.

The Visitation of Lancashire and a Part of Cheshire, A.D. 1533, part II, p. 183 "ob: 27 Mar 1416" ⁷⁶³

  Noted events in his life were:

• Titles: High Sheriff of Lancanshire, 1399-1401. ¹⁶⁸

• Background Information: ⁷²⁷
Thomas Gerard, of Bryn, the eldest son and heir of Sir Peter Gerard, was also a knight. He served in parliament for Lancashire in 17 Richard II.

~Kimber & Johnson's The Baronetage of England, Vol. I, p. 32

• Background Information: ⁸²⁶
Joan married William Gerard, son of William Gerard, lord of a moiety of the manor of Kingsley, near Frodsham; [Ormerod, Ches. (ed. Helsby), ii, 96, and 131, 132] and Agnes married David Egerton of Egerton, near Malpas, but probably died without issue, as nothing is known of any claim to the Burnhull manors by her descendants. [Ibid. ii, 628] The heiresses and their husbands were children at the time of their marriage, William Gerard being but thirty years of age in 1352, when his father died. [Ormerod, op. cit. ii, 96] Two years later he made a settlement of the manor of Ashton, the remainders being to his son Peter, and then to the heirs of Joan daughter of Alan de Burnhull. [Ibid. ii, 143, 144]

Little is known of the son, except that he became a knight. [The Bishop of Lichfield granted to Sir Peter Gerard a licence for his oratory at Brynn for two years from 7 Oct. 1379; Lich. Epis. Reg. Scrope, v, fol. 33. The writ of Diem cl. extr. after his death was issued 20 Feb. 1380-1; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. 353.] Sir Peter Gerard died in 1380, and was succeeded by his son Sir Thomas Gerard, who like others of the family is traditionally said to have been engaged in the wars of the time. [Ormerod, ii, 96; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvi, App. 195. In 1402 he made provision for the marriage of his son John with Alice daughter of Sir John Boteler; ibid. 196] At his death in 1416 he was found to have held the two-thirds of the manor of Ashton of Henry de Langton, baron of Newton, in socage by the service of 20s. a year, besides many other manors and lands in Lancashire. [Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 123] His son and heir John, aged thirty at his father's death, succeeded. He died 6 November 1431, leaving a son and heir Peter, then twenty-four years of age. [Ormerod, loc. cit. The writ of Diem cl. extr. was issued 10 Dec. 1431, and writ of livery 14 Mar. 1431-2; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvii, App. 301.] This son, afterwards Sir Peter Gerard, had a comparatively short life, dying on 26 March 1447, when the manors devolved on a minor, his son Thomas being but sixteen years of age. [Ormerod, loc. cit. The Lancashire inquisition taken after his death is preserved in Towneley MS. DD, no. 1465. ]

Sir Thomas Gerard, who came of age in 1452, [Proof of age was given at St. Mary's Church, Chester, on 2 Aug. 1452. John Leicester said that Thomas was of age on 15 July] was married in childhood to Douce daughter of Sir Thomas Ashton; afterwards he married Cecily, daughter of Sir Robert Foulshurst, by whom he had a son and heir Peter, and other children. [Ormerod, loc. cit.; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxix, App. 132] He died on 27 March 1490; [Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. iii, no. 21] his widow Cecily afterwards made a vow of chastity. [Lich. Epis. Reg. Hales, xiii, fol. 121b] The son Peter, aged thirty at his father's death, married Margery daughter of Sir Thomas Stanley of Hooton, and granddaughter and coheir of Sir John Bromley, by whom the estate of Gerard's Bromley came to this family. Peter Gerard died four years after his father.

~A History of the County of Lancashire, Volume IV, pp. 142-147