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Cbetjjam Society: 

ESTABLISHED H.DCCC.XLUI., FOB THE PDBUCATION OF 

HISTORICAL AfiD LITEaABI REMAINS 

CONBECTBD WITH THE PALATINE CODHTIBS OF 

Hantasttv and €^tsttx. 



COUNCIL FOR THE YEAR 1883-4. 



JAMES CROSSLEY, Esq., F.S.A. 

Vitt't^TttiUtat. 

The Wonhipful RICHARD COPLEV CHRISTIE. M.A., 

Chancellor of the DioccM ot Monchesler. 

Coitllta. 



. EAKWAKER. EsiJ., M.A.. F.S.A 
LiEUT.-COLONEL FISHWICK, F.S.A. 
1. S. FLETCHER, Eso. 
HENRY H. HOWORTH. Esq., F.S.A. 

The Rev. JOHN HOWARD MARSUEN, ED., F.R.G.S., Uu DUnev I'tolcsMx. 
The Kev. JAMES KAINE, M. A., Canon of York, Fellow of Duiham UmvcrHly. 
FRANK RENAUD, Esq., M.D., F.S.A. 
J. P. RYLANDS, Esq.. F.S.A. 

Crtafnm. 
J. JOSEPH JORDAN, Esq., the Bank, Si. Ann'i Street, Manchester. 

Kanarxrii ^tattttxn. 
JOHN E. BAILEY, Esq., F.S.A, Stretford, Mancheiter. 



RULES. 

1. Thai the Sociel; iholl be hmited lo (hre« handled and fifty memben. 

3. That the Society shall conxiM of mcrobcT* bdog nbscriberi of one ponnd annuftlty, nich nibteription 
III lie paid in advance, on or before the daj of general meeting in each jtu. The Tint ceneial meeting lo 
be held on the 33td day of March, 1843, and the general meeting In each year aftenrardi on the tint day 
of March, onlcu it fall on a Sunday, when •ome other day u to be riamed 1^ Ihe Council. 

3. Thai [he affain of the Sodcly be conducted by a Council, coniiMing of a pennaoem ricudeot and 
Vicc-Prctident, and twelve other membo*, including a Treasurer and Sectetary, all of whom iball be 
elected, the first two at the genosl meeling next after a raauicy shall occui, and the twelve other 
■nernbcts at the general meeting annually. 

4. That the accounli of the recelpU and eapendilnre of the Sodely be andited annually, by tbiec 
auditor*, to be elected at the geneisl meeting | and that any memba who iball be one fear in arrear of 
hit subscription, shall no longer be considerel at bcJonging to the Society. 

c That every member not in aitrsu of bis annual suhoCTiption, be entitled to a copy of each of the 

o the editor of the tam^ la addilioo lo the one 



ApplUatieHt far Mmiertkif atid otktr tomimmuatwHS lo be ad^aud to tlU MoMoraty 
Seatlary. 



LIST OF PUBLICATIONS. 



OLD SERIES. 

THIRTY-EIGHTH YEAR (1880-81). 

VOL. 

CXI. Collectanea Anglo- Poctica. Part XI. (Concluson.) pp, tox, l^yi^^\ Gerural Tablt of ConUnn, 
19 ; General IfuSx, 37 ; Portrait, 

CXII. Two "Compoti" of the Lancashire and Cheshire Manors of Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, 
A.D. 1294-6, 1304-5. Edited by the Rct. P. A. Lyoms. With an Introduction by Mr. J. E. Bailky. 
ff. xxviii. loa 

CXIII. The Inventories of Goods in the Churches and Chapels of Lancashire, a.d. 1552. Part II. 
The West Derby and remaining Hundreds. Edited by Mr. J. £. Bailey. (Nearly ready,) 

THIRTY-NINTH YEAR (i88i-8a). 

CXIV. The Diary and Correspondence of Dr. John Worthingtoa Edited by The Worsbipfol R. C. 
Christie, Esq., M.A. Vol II. Part 11. (In the Press.) 

CXV. General Index to Vols. XXXL-CXIV. (excluding Corser's Collectanea Anglo-Poetica.) Edited 
by Mr. W. E. A. Axon. (In the Press,) 



NEW SERIES. 

FIRST YEAR (1882-3). 

Vol. I. The Vicars of Rochdale. By the late Rer. Canon Raines, M.A., F.S.A. Edited by Henry H. 
HowoRTH, F.S.A. Part I. //. xiiL 20a 

Vol. 2. The Vicars of Rochdale. Part 2. pp, 201-391. 

VoL 3. Lancashire and Cheshire Wills and Inventories at Chester, with an Appendix of Abstracts of Wills 
now Lost or Destroyed. Transcribed by the late Rct. G. J. Piccope, M.A. Edited by J. P. 
Earwaker, M.A., F.S.A. //. x. 262. 

SECOND YEAR (1883-4). 

VoL 4. The Catechisme, or a Christian Doctrine necessary for Children and IgnorasU people^ of Lawrence 
Vaux, 1574, sometime Warden of the Collegiate Chuxch, Manchester. Hy T. G. Law, Esq., Signet 
Library, Edinburf^h. //. ex. ill. 

VoL 5. The Rectors of Manchcf ter, an<l the Wanlens of the Collegiate Church of tjiat Town. By the 
late Rev. F. R. Raines, M. A. Editeil by Mr. J. E. Bailey. Part L The Rectors ; Warden 
Huntingdon to Wanlen Chaderton. pp, xx. loa 

VoL 6. The Rectors of Manchester, and the Wardens of the Collegiate Church of that Town. Part II. 
Warden Dee to Warden Herbert //. ioi-ao6. 

THIRD YEAR (1884-5). 

VoL 7. The Old Church and School Dbraries of Lancashire. With Bibliographical and other Illustra- 
tions. By Richard Copley Christie, M.A. pp, xiii 215. 

Vol. & The History of the Parish of Poulton-le-Fylde. By Henrt Fuhwick, F.S.A pp, 232. 

VoL 9. The Coudier Book of Fumess Abbej. Part I. The Fomcss Domains. Edited by the Rev. J. 
C. Atkinson, M.A. (In preparation,) 



REMAINS 
I^tetortcal and ILiterarp - 

NKCTKI) WITH THE I'ALATINE COUNTIES OF 

lantaster anb Cfjester. 




VOLUME 6— NEW SERIES. 



MASCIIESTER: 

iprinttli foe tt)t C!)tt|)ain ftorietp. 
1885. 




Ct)e Cl)tt})ani i)Octetp. 



C()UiNt:ii, FOR 188 

JAMtS CKIISSI.KV. tL*;.. y^yV. Pkb-iIIiv 
rH»: WORSHIPKUL KICIIAKU UIPI-KV 

Chanlklui. ut LIE t>i'>.ti» ur Mam 
THE VERY RKV IIENJAMIN MI)Hi;aN 

t>ii«N or MAn..Hrjit>i. 
JAMES l.RI>STl>N, l.iui, K S A 
J 1- KARWAKkR, K-j, MA, > SA 
I.IKi'r.C<(l.'>NKI. KISIIWICK. KS \ 
J S KLt-JlHKR. H,>v 
IU;SRV H. HOWORTH, K-^ . KSA 
RKV JOHN HOWARD MARSIIKS. Hl>, 

RtV JAMKS KAtNK, MA. Ta^i^i u> V.j 
KRANK RKNAt'll. K<<; . M 1> . KS.A 

I Ji>st:r(l JilRliAN, t^, . 1...... I. 



r 
I 



THE 



3Rectorj0; of iflflam!)e«ter. 



AND THB 



1Haarlienj0( of tfje Collegiate Cjjurcfj 



OF THAT TOWN. 



BY THB LATB 

Rev. F. R. RAINES, M.A., 

Vice-President of the Chetkam Society. 



PART I. 



PRINTKD FOR THK CHKTHAM SOCIETY. 

1885. 




P.1HTBD »v Ch«rl»s E. Six 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE contents of the present volume are derived 
from the MSS. of the late Canon Raines, the 
notes on the early Rectors being from vol. xH. of the 
Raines' Bequest, and the Lives of the Wardens being 
from vol. xl. 

It is evident that an accurate account of the Wardens 
was a project that had occupied a large share of the 
attention of this indefatigable compiler, who justly viewed 
the College as the spot around which the ecclesiastical 
history of the district was gathered, — "that noble and 
useful foundation for learning and propagation of religion 
in those northern parts " (Strype Annals, vol. 1 1. 1. p. 5 1 5). 

Sir William Dugdale might perhaps properly be re- 
garded as the antiquary who supplied the first incitement 
to the compilation of a continuous history of the College, 
for he printed a copy of the charter of Henry V. for the 
collegiation of the parish church. (Monasticon, vol. iii. 
pt ii. pp. 174-5, 1st ed.) 

An investigator of considerable diligence, animated by 
sentiments arising out of local attachments, arose in the 
Rev. Richard Hollin worth, Fellow of the College before 
the civil troubles, and afterwards minister of the town. 



iv Introduction. 

His MS. called Mancuniensis^ which has not yet been 
worthily edited, mainly centres round the Wardens of the 
College; and it has been the compilation to which sub- 
sequent writers have been largely indebted. 

An older MS, list of the Wardens, comprising also 
particulars of the founders of the chantry chapels, was 
also in existence in the town, and more copies than one 
have been referred to. The original compiler of this list 
must have had access to authentic papers, and conversed 
with persons who had preserved some memories of the 
past. Canon Raines was inclined to attribute one copy 
of the MS.y dated c, 1730, to the Rev. Robert Asheton 
{Lane. Chantries y p. 1 9 ; and see p. 1 4 of this work and 
other subsequent references). Another small copy, known 
as Aynscough's MS,, was in the hand- writing either of 
the Rev. Radley Aynscough, M.A., Fellow of Manchester 
College, 1727, who married a daughter of Dr. Wroe, and 
who died in 1728, aged 47; or of his son, the Rev. 
Thomas Aynscough, M.A., Fellow in 1761, who died 
1 793, aged 74 ; and one of these clergymen made some 
additions to it. Another copy of the MS,y fuller in de- 
tail, was in possession of the Rev. Joshua Brookes, of 
witty memory, brought down to the date of 1 684 or 1 686. 
This may perhaps be identified with a copy which was 
printed m Local GleaningSy 4to., vol. ii. p. 291. Another 
was in possession of a Mr. Reynolds. Two or three of 
these MSS. were in existence in the time of the Rev. 
John Greswell, M.A., Master of the Chetham College 
School about the year 1807, who has quoted them in his 



Introdtution. v 

collections for the history of Manchester, and he was 
perhaps the last person to use them. Canon Raines, who 
quotes Aynscough's MS. occasionally, had never seen the 
original, but derived the passages from Greswell's MS. 
What appears to be a copy of the original MS. occurs in 
No. 5836 of the additional MSS. in the British Museum; 
and another very indifferent copy was published in the 
Mancluster City News, 3 October, 1885. 

A very good list of the Wardens, based partly on one 
of these old MSS., was published in 1773 (8vo, pp. 16) 
entitled, An Account of the Wardens of Chrises College 
Church, Manchester, since the Foundation in 1422, to the 
present time. Illustrated with an elegant view of Christ 
Church. (London: Printed by W. E. And sold by 
A. and J. Clarke, Booksellers, at the Bible and Crown, 
Market place, Manchester, mdcclxxiii.) The similarity 
of phrases, &c., indicate that the compiler of this list had 
one of the old MSS. before him. The printed list of 
1773 was used by the author of the very excellent 
Description of Manchester published in the town 1 783, 
8vo., said to be drawn up by **a native of the town," who 
refers to it as ** an account printed here of the original 
foundation of the College, and a succession of Wardens, 
which was brought down to Warden Wroe." (pp. 23-4.) 
He further says : ** The author had certainly seen good 
records, and has reported facts in a stile rather pedantic, 
and too diffuse for our narrative. There arc some stric- 
tures on his characters, a little heightened with the 
acrimony of party ; but as they throw light on the former 



vi Introduction. 

state of the town and its history, we shall endeavour to 
preserve the order and substance of this account, making 
such remarks in the course of it as may justify our obser- 
vations." 

Mr. Greswell, in the AIS. already alluded to, made the 
Wardens the central figures of his researches. His posi- 
tion at the College gave him facilities for investigation in 
a wide range of literature ; but he never lived to give 
perfection to his labour. His work, contained in a 
large and thick folio, brought down to the year 1782, 
is now at the Chetham Library, and its condition as 
well as its character are prett)' fairly set forth in the 
Latin motto which he has placed upon the title-page, 
Dtim lego colligo. A more finished work might have 
been looked for from one who was brother to the great 
scholar, the Rev. W. P. Greswell of Denton. In the 
year 1808 the compiler endeavoured, but in vain, to 
persuade Sir Richard Phillips to publish the MS. 

After Mr. Grcsweirs death the MS. (according to Dr. 
Hibbert-Ware, vol. 1. p. 415) became the property of Mr. 
Wm. Ford, the Manchester bookseller, who in 181 7 pro- 
posed to issue it. with notes, to form what was to be an 
illustrated history of the Church and College: the architec- 
tural portion to l)(* uiulrrtakcn by Mr. John Palmer, and the 
whole to be on thr saint* scale as Hritton's Architectural 
Antiquities, This proposal {v\\ through ; and the MS. 
next passed into tht* hands of Mr. James Midgeley of 
Rochdale for /"so. Dr. IlibluM-tAVare mentions another 
transcript of this collection (vol. i. p. 40), which had been 



j 



Introduction. vii 

submitted by Greswell to Dr. T. D. Whitaker, after 
whose death it was bought by Mr. Thos. Hey wood of 
Swinton Lodge. 

When Dr. Hibbert's ambitious History of the Man- 
chester Foundations was projected, a transcript of Gres- 
wells MS. was placed in his hands ; and a large part of 
the collection is embodied in that work. The materials, 
however, were far less complete or useful than Dr. 
Hibbert had been led to expect, though he speaks 
favourably of them in his preface as ** forming altogether 
a body of matter far more valuable and comprehensive 
than any which had been previously collected." He also 
said afterwards of the copy which he used that he could 
" scarcely depend upon the accuracy of a single line." 

Dr. Hibbert's great work appeared in 1830, in two 
volumes, much of it being edited by that industrious 
scholar while resident on the continent. It was dedicated 
to Dr. Calvert, "Warden or Dean." Its plan is to a 
large extent that of Greswell. This History has been 
the standard work on the Wardens and their surround- 
ings, and it has always been consulted with pleasure by 
reason of the pictorial embellishments, and its ample des- 
cription of the old church. Canon Raines's work largely 
supplements the notices of the Wardens, adds some 
names to the list, and corrects several of the inaccuracies. 

In the supplementary volume, dated 1848, entitled The 
Ancient Parish Church of Manchester and Why it was 
CollegicUed, Dr. Hibbert- Ware dealt with the history of 
the lords of the manor and the early Rectors. For this 




viii Introduction. 

volume he derived considerable matter from the records 
in the Chapter-house ; and he expresses his indebtedness 
to Canon Raines and Dr. Ormerod for numerous contri- 
butions. 

A work further supplementary to the last-named was 
announced in 1848 by Mr. Thomas Agnew, the publisher, 
as ready for publication, under the editorship of Dr. 
Hibbert-Ware, to contain additions to the history of the 
Wardens, supplying the deficiencies of the former volumes, 
and to end with the formation of the bishopric. In the 
preparation of this supplement, Dr. Hibbert-Ware was 
largely aided by the Rev. C. D. Wray, Vice-Dean and 
senior Canon of the new cathedral church, as well as by 
Canon Parkinson, who examined and copied the Chapter- 
house deeds. The work was to contain, amongst other 
documents, the will of John Huntyngdon, the first Warden, 
deeds relative to the foundation of the Chantries, and the 
dissolution of the College in the time of Edward VI.; the 
new charter of Philip and Mary, never before printed ; 
an account of the succeeding anarchy, and the charter of 
Elizabeth to which it gave rise ; together with information 
relative to the delinquencies of Dr. Murray, which led to 
the charter of Charles I., an authentic copy of which was 
promised. This work was never published. Soon after Dr. 
Hibbert- Ware's death in 1848 the MSS. were given to 
Mr. Thos. Agnew with the view of laying them before 
Mr. John Harland to arrange for publication ; but since 
the death of those two gentlemen the papers could never 
be recovered. 



Introduction. ix 

Canon Raines's notes upon the early Rectors, the Deans, 
and their clerical assistants, occupying pp. 1-15 of this 
work, were evidently intended as mere memoranda for 
further research. Amongst them are found some notable 
names. Of Walter de Langton, Rector before the year 
1 296, Canon Raine of York has furnished these additional 
details : 

He was Rector of Askham, and a nephew and executor of 
William de Langton, Dean of York (Reg. Archb. Gray, p. 123, 
Surtees See.) ; Canon of York ; 28 Edward I., Master of St. 
Leonard's Hospital, York (App. to Gale's Reg, Honoris de Rich- 
mond,^. 148); made Rector of Kirk Oswald, 1293 (Nicolson 
and Burn, vol. ii. p. 427) ; Dean of Bruges (Rymer Foed, vol. i. 
p. 766) ; Clerk and then Keeper of the Wardrobe ; Lord Treas- 
urer, and much employed in State affairs. Cf Fad.; Foss' Judges^ 
vol. iii. p. 113; Shaw's Staffordshire, vol. i. pp. 268-9, &c 

The same friendly hand has supplied the following 

particulars of Otho de Grandison : 

6 Non Jul., 1 301. Letter from Boniface to the Chapter of 
York directing them to admit Otho de Grandison "ncpos nobilis 
viri Othonis de G., etc." to the next vacant Canonry at York 
( York Reg.). Gerard de Grandison, his brother, held the stall of 
Apesthorpe at York. Bishop Grandison, who was a son of 
William Grandison, was also a nephew of Sir Otho de Grandison, 
and Prebendary of Masham at York. Thomas de Grandison, 
Prebendary of Lincoln, was the Bishop's brother, also William, 
Archdeacon of Exeter. 

John de Everden or Everdon (perhaps to be properly 
written D'Everden) was a member of a prominent family 
in the service of the State, one of whom, Silvester de Ever- 
don, was Keeper of the Great Seal in 1242. The Rectors 

earliest promotions in the church were to the living of 

b 



X Introduction, 

Stoke Bassett, diocese of Lincoln (which he resigned in 
1307), and to the prebend of Newington, London. He 
became a Baron of the Exchequer, 28 November, 1307, 
and continued so up to the year of his appointment to 
Manchester, 13 13. In 1308-9 he was Chancellor of 
Exeter ; in 1 3 1 1 Dean of Wolverhampton and Prebend- 
ary of Givendale in the church of Ripon. Amongst the 
Prebendaries of Lichfield is John Eversden, said to have 
had the stall of Bubbenhall from 3 March, 13 17-18 to 1322. 
The Rectors chief promotion was in 1323 to the Deanery 
of St. Paul's, which he held up to his death. William de 
Everden, also a Baron of the Exchequer, is said by Foss 
to have been a brother or nephew of Rector John. (New- 
court's Repertorium, vol. i. pp. 41 seq.\ Le Neve, vol. i. 
pp. 418, 586, vol. ii. pp. 311, 417; Foss' Judges), 

The roll likewise of the Wardens comprises some 
eminent ecclesiastics. The salient features of their 
lives, as well as their relation to the times, have been 
duly set forth in their memoirs. Huntingdon, the first 
Warden, memorable as a builder, is an attractive charac- 
ter. The old Account of the Wardens says that he filled 
his place "to the great Honour of the Town and Good of 
the College." The document printed as his will at pp. 20- 
21 is not, Mr. J. P. Earwaker states, the real will, but 
rather a deed of feoffment of a testamentary nature. It 
is referred to in the original will, which Mr. Earwaker 
has examined, dated 7 November, 1458, and was proved 
before the Dean of Manchester on the 22 November of 
the same year. 



Introduction, xi 

Roger Radclyffe is the second prelate on our lists who 
had been Dean of St. Pauls. There is a brief notice of 
him in Newcourt's Repertorinm, vol. i. p. 44. Canon Raine 
has contributed the followin;^ notes about him : 

8 Sept., 1454, Mr. Roger Radcliff, LL.D., made official of the 
Bishop of Ely {MSS. Baker ^H Cambr., xxx. 29). On 13th Aug., 
1457, he was instituted to the living of Eltisley, in the county of 
Cambridge {Ibid., 27); and on 30th March, 1467, he was collated 
to the rectory of Doddington {Ibid., 41). Cf, Stevenson's App. to 
Bentham's Ely, p. 25. On June i. 1457, he was collated to the 
prebend at St. Stephen's altar at Beverley, which he resigned in 
1459 {Re§. Ebor). On 26 August, 1464, he was collated to the 
prebend at St. James's altar at Beverley. {Ibid) In 1 460-1 he 
was a Canon residentiary of St. Paul's, and living in Ivy Lane. 
{York Reg) Will, 23 July, 1471, of Roger Radclyff, Dean of 
St. Paul's. Sep. in le Crowdes ; Brother Robert R., 82^.; Brothers 
Hugh and George R., 20^. each ; William R., son of Ralph R., my 
brother, 10 marks. Proved 29 July. (Reg. Watts at London, 1 34^.) 

Of IJooTH, who became a Bishop, and who was con- 
nected with other prelates of the name, Canon Raine has 
sent the following notes : 

From 1454 to 1459 he held the living of Barnach, Northants 
(Bridge's Northants, vol. ii. p. 493). On 25 Oct., 1454, he was ad- 
mitted to the living of Gretton, diocese of Ely {MSS. Baker xxx. 
25). On Jan. 13, 1457-8, he was made provost of Beverley, 
holding it until 1465 ( York Registers). On 15 July, 1459, he was 
collated to the rectory of Adbolton. Notts. {Ibid). On February 
4, 1465-6, he had a general pardon as Bishop of Kxeter, and 
Warden Keel. Coll. Maincestre. {turd., vol. xi. p. 559.) His brass at 
Fast Horsley is engraved by the Cambridge Camden Society in 
their ** Illustrations of Sepulchral Brasses." Cf. Weever s Se/>nl' 
chral Monuments, p. 444 ; Ncwcourt, Rep., vol. i. p. 175 ; Olivers 
Bishops of Exeter, pp. 106-8. 



xii Introduction. 

A pleasing feature in the character of Ralph Langley 
IS his love of music. He gave to Manchester and Oldham 
their first peals of bells at a time when, according to 
Major, his contemporary, there was no village in England 
of forty houses but that had five sweetly sounding bells. 
Canon Raine finds that the name of this Warden is always 
written Longley at York. He adds : 

On 5 th Dec, 1456, he was appointed Warden of Sibthorpe 
Hospital, Notts., which he resigned next month. He was then 
domestic chaplain to the Archbishop of York. On 9 March, 
1458-9, he was collated to the rectory of St. Edward's, York, 
which he resigned in December, 1459. On 27 December, 1459, 
he was collated to the prebend of South Newbald at York. ( York 
Registers^ 

The two Stanleys illustrate the local influence of a 
great family which acquired territorial possessions in and 
near Manchester, and which benefitted the church and 
town in many ways. James Stanley, the Bishop of Ely, 
the decorator of the choir, was an aquaintance of Erasmus, 
and was considered the secondary founder of St. John's 
College, Cambridge. Canon Raine supplies these further 
notes on his preferments in the Northern Archbishopric : 

On November i, 1479, ^s Jas. Stanley, junr., he was collated 
to the Stall of Dunham at Southwell, which he resigned in 1485 
( York Registers). He was one of the great chaplains of the king 
present at the burial of Elizabeth of York (Grose's A^tiq. Rep., 
vol. iv. p. 659.) On April 15, 1493, he was collated to the stall of 
Shelton or Givendale, at Ripon, which he resigned in 1498 ( York 
Reg). In September, 1498, he became rector of Rosthorne, 
Cheshire, presented by Sir Thomas Lovell and Edmund Dudley, 
Esq.; he held the place until he became Bishop of Ely in 1506 
(Ormerod, old ed., vol. i. p. 343 ; new ed., vol. i. pp. 438-9). 



Introdtution. xiii 

There is a reference to him as Warden of Manchester, 
in connection with his father the Earl, then Constable of 
England, and his brother Sir Edward Stanley, under date 
of 1 1 May, 1496, in Whitaker s Richmond, vol. ii. p. 245. 

Cliffe falls into the period occupied by the matter of 
the divorce of Queen Catherine ; with his master, Bishop 
West of Ely, he zealously advocated her cause. The 
three letters of his printed at pages 47-50 are of consider- 
able interest. The Moor to which they refer is Theile 
Moor, near Chaderton. 

West, the builder of the chapel at the end of the choir, 
is the representative of another territorial family. His 
singular conduct in forsaking the priesthood and becom- 
ing the head of a household stands out as a portent of the 
coming changes. 

The breaking up of the College establishment was a 
startling event in the history of the Wardens, who never 
recovered their ancient home. The buildings fortunately 
fell into the hands of the Derby family, and they were 
thus reserved for their present excellent use. The ejected 
Warden Collier resided in a house in the town, long 
afterwards remembered as his. Dee rented the college- 
house from the Earl of Derby, or resided there by his 
favour ; the next two Wardens were often non-resident ; 
and Heyrick and his successors lived in a house in 
Deansgate belonging to the College. 

Birch and Vaux were the Wardens of the transition. 
This period has received ample illustration in the works 
upon the Lancashire Chantries and Church Goods. It 



xiv Introduction, 

has been deemed appropriate to add in the Appendix the 
licence granted to Birch to act as an itinerant preacher, 
dated 1552, alluded to at pages 70-1. Of this form of 
licence twenty-six only were issued by king Edward ; and 
among them occurs the name of Thomas Lever, a Lanca- 
shire man. Master of Sherburn Hospital. 

A more complete memoir of Vaux than that given on 
pp. 62-70 has recently been written by Mr. T. G. Law, 
in the fourth volume of the present New Series. It is 
unfortunate that it was due to the conscientious Vaux that 
the parish was deprived of its sacred plate. It is also to 
be lamented that the library of this Warden, the first of 
the literary Wardens, has been lost, although it was in 
existence two centuries after his time. The Account 
of 1773 says that some of Vauxs books were then to be 
seen at Standish, as well as " the Altar plate of this 
Church, which it seems he carried along with him when 
turned out ; some of which I have there seen, and more 
particularly took notice of a curious silver gilt Patin, inlaid 
with Pearl, whereon the Host was consecrated, and a very 
fine wrought Pixis of plate answerable to it, wherein it 
was laid up and preserved. It is to be wished that where- 
soever it is it were again restored to the church to which 
it did formerly belong ; and to do so would be a very 
generous Act of that ancient Family " (p. 7). 

Herle, who came from Cornwall, shares with Murray, 
who came into England with James I., the reputation of 
being a person of unscrupulous character. Herle's pro- 
ceedings in regard to the College leases were felt for over 



Introduction. xv 

two hundred years later. When the Commissioners of 
Archbishop Grindal visited Manchester in June, 1571, 
some searching questions were put to Herle and his as- 
sociates The Warden confessed that he had been absent 
for two years and more, having a dispensation. Neither 
he nor the fellows, he said, were bound to preach. The 
only ornaments the church possessed since he had been 
Warden was one broken chalice. The church was in 
decay, and there were painted pictures there which the 
church-wardens had not defaced. Nicholas Danyell, one 
of the Fellows, averred that Edward Holt, another Fellow, 
kept an ale-house himself and frequented ale-houses, and 
was a drunkard. Richard Hall, Fellow, practised medicine 
with ill effects, **and when he should serve God he runneth 
after his phisicke and surgerye." Hall himself ac- 
knowledged that the Chapter had violated their statutes 
diversely ; but he could not particularise, for they had not 
had the statutes read in the Chapter-house these eight 
years, ** for our Maister tooke them awaye to be corrected." 
For the same period there had been no change of church- 
wardens ; and the register book was not kept as it should 
be. At the close of Herle's Wardenship the Justices of 
Salford were much interested in the reform of the college, 
and a favourable letter to them from Henry, Earl of Derby, 
is printed in the Appendix. 

The Elizabethan Wardens under the new foundation 
were men of repute, and lent dignity to their office. The 
historical works of Strypc, and the collection of documents 



xvi Introduction, 

brought together by Peck, of which ample and exact use 
has been made by Canon Raines, illustrate this period. 

The Wardenship of Dee and Murray was most baneful. 
The income of the college was impoverished, and the 
spiritual condition of the parish was pitiable. Several 
documents have been published in the Chetham series 
and elsewhere revealing a deplorable neglect. Dee's 
career abounded in points of absorbing interest. An evil 
repute came with him, and he never gained the favour of 
the townsmen. His installation as Warden seems to have 
been attended by a great auditory, and the ceremony was 
deemed deserving of special remembrance. He enter- 
tained learned visitors at the College-house, including 
Camden, who mentions him with honour in the Britannia. 
Upon this or a former visit Camden learned to appreciate 
** the good honest men " of Manchester, and " the hearty 
good Lancashire men," who are commended in the same 
work. Dee's Diary affords glimpses of the Manchester 
of his day, and it also brings into prominence the incon- 
gruity of his position as the spiritual overseer of an ex- 
tensive parish. Yet Dee is worthy of memory as being 
the first of the Wardens who compiled an account of his 
predecessors and a description of the church. This MS,^ 
reasonably supposed by Canon Raines to be in his hand- 
writing, is now at Heralds' College {Lane. CJiant.^ p. 29) ; 
and it is frequently quoted in the present work. 

A remarkable report is extant on the condition of the 
diocese of Chester, drawn up by Neyle, who was enthroned 
Archbishop of York in October, 1632, and who soon after- 



Introdtution, xvii 

wards visited his Province. The document, addressed to 
the King, is dated in January following, about a year before 
the granting of the new Charter. Neyle complains of the 
condition of the fabrics of the churches, which were miser- 
able and ruinous, and of the neglect of the prayers, ** as if 
all religion were but in a sermon." His remarks on the 
Collegiate Church are given in the Appendix. 

Heyrick was the Warden of the two Caroline charters. 
He was ordained (as the Rev. Dr. Jessopp has ascertained 
from the episcopal registers at Norwich) at the parish 
church of Ludham, Norfolk, 24 September, 1626, by 
Bbhop Harsnet, having received deacon's orders from 
Buckeridge, Bishop of Rochester. His institution to the 
rectory of North Repps, Norfolk, on the presentation of 
the king as Duke of Lancaster, took place on 9 August, 
1626, being vacant by the death of William Carr, the last 
incumbent. Heyrick encouraged the repair of the choir 
of Manchester Church. He retained his position during 
the troubles by placing himself at the head of the local 
Presbyterian Classis; and he managed to re-establish 
himself in the Wardenship at the Restoration. His char- 
acter has been admirably sketched by Mr. James Crossley 
in a note in the Diary of Worihingion, vol. i. pp. 236-7. 

The period of the interregnum is richly illustrated by 
the local autobiographies of Newcome and Martindale. 
The diary of Meeke, minister of Salford, has been lost. 

On the change of times more than one person coveted 
the Wardenship. One indeed had actually been Warden- 
designate for about fifteen years, viz. : Dr. Edwakd 

c 



xviii Introduction, 

WoLLEY. During the war, when Heyrick was deemed a 
delinquent, WoUey had received a patent for the place 
from Charles I. In July, 1660, he was seeking to con- 
firm his appointment by bringing his claims under the 
notice of Charles II.; and his action forced Heyrick to 
repair to London. Two years later, as Bartholomew's 
day approached, it was reported from London that WoUey 
was sure to come into the Wardenship ; and the news 
"saddened" Heyrick and hastened his decision to con- 
form. (Newcomers y^«/^^., pp. 123, 125 ; Diary ^ p. 109.) 
The Merry Monarch, after his manner, regarded Wolley 
as " a very silly fellow "; but because he found that he 
had brought to church all the Nonconformists in his parish 
of Toppesfield, Essex, he gave him the bishopric of Clon- 
fert (Burnet's Own Times y ed. 1766, vol. i. p. 362-3). 

Another prelate who wished to be Warden was Dr. 
Ralph Brideoak (Newcome's Diary ^ p. 74), who had 
been successively a scholar of Manchester School, the 
Head-master, and a Feoffee. After the execution of his 
patron, Lord Derby, he had retired to Witney, near 
Oxford, where Speaker Lenthall was his chief parishioner 
and friend. At some time before the troubles or after the 
Restoration, he had so far associated himself with Man- 
chester that the house in which he lived at Cheetham Hill 
was well known, being set down in Ogilby's road-map of 
1675 as "Dr. Pridcock's house"; and the building was 
pointed out to Thoresby in the year 1682 as the house in 
which the bishop was born. 

At a later time (August, 1677) Dr. John Worthington, 



Introduction, xix 

the learned theologian, sought the appointment; one of the 
charms of dwelling in the town, next to its having been his 
home, was "the good library." His letter on the subject 
is given in his Diary (vol. i. pp. 236-42), where some later 
suitors for the place are also introduced. 

Dr. Wroe was one of the Wardens who manifested a 
regard for the antiquities of the church over which he 
presided. His name is associated with a memorial of the 
church, which by reason of its accuracy would be of 
extreme value if it could be recovered, viz., a MS. drawn 
up by Dr. Worthington, just alluded to. Dr. Worthing- 
ton, when at Cambridge, paid many visits to Manchester, 
and he was concerned in some memorials of the church 
and town, and compiled an account of ** the painted glass 
windows in our church whilst intire, with the histories, in- 
scriptions, and coats of arms in them." This MS. Warden 
Wroe had often in vain sought after ; and he wrote in 1 7 1 2 
to Worthington's son, the Rev. John Worthington, to beg 
a copy of it if it were among the Doctor's papers. (Worth- 
ington's Diary, vol. i. p. 238.) 

The two Wardens Peploe were connected with the 
stirring politics of the eventful years 1 7 1 5 and 1 745 ; and 
very ample details of those periods are given by Hibbert- 
Ware. 

Passing over the later Wardens it remains to add that 
Canon Raines has throughout expressed his obligations to 
those who gave him information. When preparing the 
memoirs he was assisted by Canon Raine of York ; and 
the same gentleman, as already mentioned, has supplied 



XX hitrodtution, 

the Editor with other valuable references, shewing chiefly 
the positions which the Rectors and Wardens occupied in 
the Archbishopric of York. The MS. copy of Canon 
Raines has been pretty closely followed, and has been 
altered only in places when it was necessary. Many of 
the references have been verified and others added. The 
lists of the writings of the Wardens have been somewhat 
extended or revised. In the preparation of the Index 
Mr. H. p. Evans has rendered efficient help. 

JOHN E. BAILEY. 

Stretford, 

Manchester. 



C|)e iaector0 anh tlX^axhtm of 

i3&ant\)tsttx . 



THE RECTORS. Etc. 

AC A, Rector of S. Maries, Mamcester, sinedato, tenip. Hen. II. 
[Cf. Hibbert- Ware's Foundatiotts of Manchester^ vol. iv. 

p. 38] 

"Asco, Clerico," attests a grant of lands in Mamcester from 
Robert de Grella to Ralph de Ancotes. Orm. de Aschton attests, 
s, d. tpe. H. 

ROG. DE Pendulbury, Cler., attests in Mamcestr., s, d. tpe. 
Hen. III. (Trafford Evid.^ Lane. MSS., p. 194.) 

"J., Decanus de Mamcestre/' attests s. d. tpe. Hen. III. (Hol- 
linworth's Mancun., 1839, p. 3a [Whittaker*s Hist. Manch.y 4to. 
vol. ii. p. 391.] 

"JURDAN, Capeli. de Mamcestr.," attests x. ^. Jurd., Capell. 
ejusd. villae, s. d. tpe. Hen. III. {Jb. p. 30. He says Ao. 1235.) 
[Hibbert-Warc, vol. iv. pp. 25, 52 ; Gaucher Book of Whalley^ 
PP- 39-40.] 

Ric, cleric de Mamcestr., attests the grant of Hamo de Mascy 
to Henr. fil. Rob. de Trafford in Stretford, s. d. tpe. Hen. III. 
(Trafford Evid., vol. xxv. Lane. MSS.^ p. 177.) He attests again 
the grant of a bovate in Stretford to Rob. fil. Ric*i. (lb) And is 

B 



2 Rectors of Manchester, 

the last attestor of a grant of Gilbert son of Wiiri de Droylsdene 
to Thyeret his sister, s, d, {lb,, pp. 17, 198.) 

" Ranulph de Welhum, tunc Decanus Mamcestrie," is the 
first attestor in the grant of Hamo, son of Rich, de Oldum, to 
John, son of Rich, de Chaderton, of lands in Oldum to hold of 
God and Blessed Marie of Prestwich and the Rectors thereof. 
(Booker's Prestwich, p. 250, app.) Ralph de Willing, or Welham, 
Rector of Manchester, 6 Ric. I., Ao. 1194-5. (Dr. Hibb.-Ware's 
Hist, vol. iv. pp. 26, 188-90.) 

John de Leva, Cleric, attests the grant of Margaret, dau. of 
Hamo de Mascy, to Ric. de Trafford of the whole vill of Stret- 
ford, s. d. Hen. HI. {Lane. MSS., vol. xxv. p. 177.) And also 
the grant of Ric. de Trafford to Ric. fil. Rob. de Stretford of the 
8th part of the vill of Stretford. {lb., p. 179.) 

DOM. Galfrid. de Mamcest., Sacerdos, attests Gilbert de 
Barton's grant of lands to Dom. Tho. Gredle et hered. s, d. 
(Trafford Evid., vol. xxv. p. 186.) Galfr., Capell. de Mamcestr., 
attests after Sir Geffrey de Chetham the grant of Alice, dau. of 
William le Clerk, s. d, tpe. Hen. HI. (/5.) Dom. G., Decan. de 
Mamcestr., attests next after W., Vicar of Rachdale, s, d. {Coucher 
Book of Whalley, p. 601, ante 1238.) Dom. Galfr. de Mamcestr., 
Capell., and Ric. de Trafford, Rector Ecclesiae de Chedle, occur 
as attestors, s. d, {Lane, MSS,, vol. xxv. p. 84.) 

Peter de Grella, custos eccl'ie de Mamcestr., 52 Hen. HI. 
Ao. 1268. He was 2nd son of Thomas de Grelly, who died 26 
Hen. ni. (Dr. H.- Ware's Hist., vol. iv. pp. 26, 60, 188, 190.) 

" Dom. Ranulf, tunc Decanus,'* is the first attestor of the 
grant of H. de Ancotes to Alex. Tinctor de Mamcestr. of one 
acre in Ancotes with a mess, and curtilage. 22 Edw. I. Ao. 
1294. (Trafford Evid, vol. xxv.) 



c. A.D. 1 1 94 — 1299. 3 

Robert de Openshagh, Capell. de Mamecestr., Ao. 1294. 
(Trafford Evid.^ p. 3.) 

Hugh Ebond, Clerc, attests a quitclaim from E. de Mascy, 
vidua to Ric. de Trafford, in vill de Stretford, s, d, {Lane. MSS.^ 

vol. XXV.) 

Walter de Langton, Rector of Mamcest., Preb. of Sandi- 
acre, in Lichfield, elected Bishop of the See, 20 Feb. 1295-6. He 
covenanted with dom. Will, de Gringalee, Rector of Mamcestr. 
to receive xxxvj^* vj* viij<*, also vj^ due to him as "quondam 
Rectore ecc'e de Mammecestr," and which the Dean had received 
during the vacancy of the benefice. (Langton's Reg) He died 
ID Nov. 1321. [Hibbert-Ware, vol. iv. pp. 68, 84.] 

William, Clerc de Mamcest, at that time Bailiff of the 
Manor of Manchester, attests on Sunday next after the Feast of 
Ascension, Ao. 1291. (Traff. Evid,, p. 181.) Dom. William de 
Gringalee, Rector of the Church of Mam'cestr., 1299, covenants 
to pay out of the Rents of the Rectory certain sums to W., 
Bishop of Cov. and Lich., formerly Rector of the Church of 
Mamcestr. (Bp. W. Langton's Reg, Liehf) 

William Sygyn, " nunc Rector Eccl'ie, de Mammcestr.," is 
named in the composition of Bishop Langton last named, so that 
Gringelee had either resigned or there were two Rectors entitled 
to the tithes, obventions, and altarage. Will, de Hunte, Capell., 
was at that time Farmer of the Altarage of the Chapel of Ashton. 
(Langton's Reg, Liehf) Ao. 1299. Dr. H.-Ware says Langton 
held the living of Ashton. 

''M., Clerico de Maimcestr., qui comparavit hanc cartam," 
attests with Sir Geoffrey de Chetham, Ri. de Trafford, Ri. de 
Moston, Willo. de Noreys, Tho. de Barlow, and Will, de Dides- 
bury, the grant of Will, dc Drilsden to Alex., son of Ric de 



4 Rectors of Manchester, 

Waraanton, of lands in Drylesden and one rod for a building, in 
marriage with Elen, dau. of Will, de Drilsden, s. d. 

Rob., Clerk de Manxcetr., attests the grant of John de Hulme 
to Adam de Pendeulbury of all his lands in Quickleswick and 
six bovates in fee and heirship, s, d. circ. Hen. III. (Traff. Evid, 
p. 193.) Qu., Archd. of Northants, Ao. 1 217-21. (Le Neve, 
vol. ii. p. 55.) 

John, son of Griffin de Mamcestr., Rector. 

Albert de Neuille, Rector Eccrie de B. M. de Mamcest, 
grants to Jolin de Byron for his homage " a certain part of my 
Land in the vill of Newton " between the boundaries minutely 
described. Rent iij" iiij^ o<*, and two wax candles of one pound 
each in weight at the Feast of the Assumpt. of B. V; M. (Traff. 
Evid,, p. 29 ; see also p. 24, note.) No date. Before Edw. I. 
[Hibbert-Ware, vol. iv. pp. 25 seq., 84.] 

William de Marchia, Rector of Manchester, 31 Edw. I. 
(Ao. 1302), being at that time Canon of Wells and Bishop of 
Bath and Wells, having been consecrated by Rich. Bp. of London 
on Whitsunday, 17 May, 1292-3. He was also Lord High Trea- 
surer of England. (Le Neve, vol, i. p. 135.) He died June 11, 
1302, so that he had only held the Rectory of Manchester a 
short time. (Godwin's De PrcesuL, vol. i. p. 374.) [Hibb.-Ware, 
vol. iv. pp. 68, 83.] 

Otho, or Oto, de Grandison, by John Cusyn de Grandison, 
his Procurator in the Church of Mamcestr., was instituted to the 
Rectory on the xiv. Cal. October, 1299, on the presentation of 
King Edw. I., dated York. On the same day the Archd. of 
Chester granted a Licence for his maintenance at School, for 2 
years (sistend. in scholis p' bienn'u'), probably at the University. 
(Langton's Reg. Lkhf) He seems to have been nearly connected 



C. A.D. 1299 1306. 5 

with John de Grandison, Bishop of Exeter, 1 327-1 369 ; and with 
Thomas de Grandison, Preb. of Lincoln, who "obiit in Curia 
Romana," circa 13 17, and to whose stall the Bishop succeeded. 
(Le Neve, vol. ii. p. ISS ; Willis* Cathedr,^ vol i. pp. 105, 152; 
vol. ii. p. 189.) Sir Otho de Grandison was the resident minister 
of Edw. II., at the Court of Avignon. (Wardrobe Accts,y 10, 11, 
and 14, Edw. II., in Archceologia^ 1835, p. 314.) Sir Otto de 
Grandisone attests a grant of Sir Thomas Cobham, Knt, to Sir 
John de Cobham his brother, 18 Edw. III. (Nichols' Collect 
Topogr. et Gen,^ vol. vii. p. 346.) He was nominated to the Rec- 
tory of Manchester by the king during the minority of the patron, 
Sir Tho. de Gredley, Knt (Dr. Hib.-Ware, vol. iv. p. 70.) In a 
Collection of Foreign Charters relating to the Channel Islands, 
copied from the originals by John Melivier, Esq., of Guernsey, 
accompanied by 15 gutta percha impressions of the seals, and 
exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries, December 22, 1853, by 
Benj. Williams, Esq., occurs the device of Sire Otheo de Grandsson^ 
Ao. d'ni. 1 3 16. {Proceed, of the Soc, No. 38, vol. iii. p. 44.) [Hib.- 
Ware, vol. iv. pp. 69, 84.] 

Galfridus de Stoke, instituted to the Rectory of Mam- 
Chester — not in 1301 (HoUinworth and H.-Ware), but pridie 
kal. April 1306, on the presentation of Thomas de Grelly, the 
patron. Master Thomas, Vicar of the Bishop of Lichfield and 
Cov., committed the custody of the sequestration of the Church 
of Mamchester, by the voluntary resignation of the Bishop, to 
Dom. Geoffrey de Stokes, Clerk. The said Geoffrey was also 
presented, at the same time, to " Ecclesiae de Ashton," on the 
nomination of Nicholas de Arden, by permission of the same 
Tho. de Grelly, all episcopal rights and customs being reserved. 
Letters Pat dated London, 30 April. 1306. Stoke, or Stokes, 
was Chaplain to king Edw. I., being styled in the Litt Pat, 
" D'ni n'ri Regis Clericum." (Langton's Reg. Lich) Mr. Beamont 
(Annals of the Lords of Warrington^ vol. i. p. 158) is of opinion 
that he was the same man as Geoffrey de Mamcestre, who ulti- 



6 Rectors of Manchester, 

mately became the Dean : but see p. 2 ante. Stoke was not 
the Dean, and the two must not be rolled up into one. [Hibb.- 
Ware, vol. iv. p. jS^l 

Mag. John D'Evorden, Presbyter, was admitted to the 
vacant Church of Mamecestre in London, ix. kal. Febr., 13 13, on 
the presentation of Sir John le Ware, Knt, the true patron, and 
was canonically instituted. (Langton's Reg, Lichf) The name 
of this Rector has been a fertile source of conjecture, error, and 
blunder. Dr. Hibbert-Ware styles him John de Worden alias 
Vorden, and considers him to have been a native of Westphalia ; 
but on what ground is not stated. (Hist, vol. i. p. 29.) James 
Dearden, Esq., F.S.A., claimed him as a member of his family, 
and regarded Deuorden as the vernacular of Deurden or Dearden, 
and actually erected a fine mediaeval monument to his memory 
in Trinity Chapel, within the parish Church of Rochdale. I 
examined the original entry in Bishop Langton's Register at 
Lichfield with great care, and found the name clearly written 
" Deuorden," which is a clerical mistake, as in the same volume 
it is recorded that on the 4 kal. October, 1323, Master John de 
Guerdon resigned the Rectory of Manchester for the Deanery of 
St. Paul's, London. (Northburgh*s Reg, Lichf,, p. 99.) His name, 
after all these conjectures and variations of spelling, was John 
de Everdon, or Everd, Prebendary of Newington in St. Paul's, 
and admitted Dean of that Cathedral, 15 Sep., 1323, installed 
2Sth of the same month. He died 15 January, 1336-7, and was 
buried in the Church of St. Faith, under St. Paul's. His will 
was proved 3 February, 1336-7. (Le Neve, vol. ii. pp. 311, 417.) 
His brother William de Everdon, was Preb. of Lincoln, 1325, 
1344-5. {lb,, p. 185.) HoUinworth states that John Deeverden 
got a dispensation to absent himself from the Church of Man- 
chester, at the instance of Sir William Herle, Knt, and that the 
living at that time, as appeared by a survey then taken, was 
worth 200 marks per annum. The Parsonage house was situated 
near a street called the Deansgate. (Hollinworth's Mancun,, 



C. A.D. 1313— 1327. 7 

pp. 31-33.) From a survey of the manor of Manchester, made 
A.D. 1322, in pursuance of the statute, Extenta ManeHiy 4 Edw. I., 
Stat i., the Church of Mamcestre is said to be worth 200 marks, 
and that John de Cuerden had been presented to the same by 
Lord John de la Warr, and having been instituted possessed the 
endowment, consisting of 8 burgages in Mamcestre, and the vills 
of Newton and Kirmonshulme, with the meadows, woods, pas- 
tures, and other appurtenances. (HarL MSS,, cod. 2085, fo. 526b. 
Kuerden's MSS., fol. 274.) By vill is probably meant * manor,' 
which the word signifies in Domesday Book. (Sir Hen. Ellis' 
Introd. to Domesday, p. ^6) [Hibb.-Ware, vol. iv. p. 88.] 

Magister Adam de Suthwick, Clerk, was instituted to 
the Rectory of Mamchester on the presentation of Sir John le 
Warre, Knt, his proxy being Master William de Weston, Canon 
of Lichfield and Coventry (1322), and Commissary, on the resig- 
nation of Master John de Cuerdon, now Dean of St. Paul's. In- 
stituted 4 kaL Oct., 1323, on which day appeared John de Suth- 
wyck. Rector of Papworth, and answered all objections for the 
said Adam. (Northburgh's Reg. Lichf., p. 99.) Hollinworth 
erroneously states that Suthwike was presented to the Rectory 
Ao. 1327. (Mancun., p. 35.) Dr. Ormerod the same; and that 
Sir Will. Herle also obtained a dispensation of non-residence for 
him. This is incorrect in both incidents. He died Rector, 31st 
July, 1327. [Hibb.-Ware, vol. iv. p. 94. He was Rector of Ros- 
theme from 1 3 19 to the time when he took the cure of the Church 
of Mamcester. Ormerod, vol. i. p. 437. last ed.] 

John de Claydon, Presbyter, was admitted to the Rectory 
of Manchester, and canonically instituted, ix. kal. Sept, 1327, 
in the person of Thomas de Wyke his Proctor, he exhibiting 
sufficient authority in this matter ; the Patron being Sir John de 
Ware, and the Church having been vacant since the last day of 
July, by the death of Adam de Suthwyck, the last Rector there. 
(Northburgh's Reg. Lichf) He was probably a native of Lanca- 



8 Rectors of Manchester, 

shire. The Claydons of Tongton, alias Tawnton, in the Parish 
of Ashton-under-Lyne, were settled there for several centuries 
and were not unlikely originally from Clayton near Manchester. 
Dom. John de Claidone, P'sona Mamcestr., is the first attestor 
of the Grant of John de la Warr, Lord of Manchester, of Lands 
to Rich, ffranc' and Cecilia his wife, on Sunday next after the feast 
of Hilary, 7 Edw. IIL Ao. 1333. {Lane, MSS, vol. xxiv. p. 399.) 
He was probably brother of Robert de Claydon, Chancellor of 
Cambridge Ao. 1 340-1 341 (Le Neve, vol. iii. p. 598), and a relative 
of John de Claydone, inst. to the 12th stall in S. Paul's Cath., 17 
kal. Nov., 1 361, on the Nomination of Sir John de la Warr. 
(Newcourt*s Reper.^ i. p. 174.) Dom. John de Claydone, Parson 
of the Church of Manchester, attests the grant of land in 
Blakeley to John de Claydone, CapelL, and Dom. Will, de 
Barton, CapelL, in trust for Emme, wife of John de Penulbury, 
by John de la Warr. Dated Mamcestr., on Thursday next after 
the feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross, 14 Edw, HI. (Traff. 
Evid) Dom. Joh'es de Claidon, Parson of the Church of Manchr, 
attests the entail of Johanna, formerly wife of John le Warr, of 
lands in Bradford and Mamcestr., upon John de Salford de 
Wakerly, and Alice his wife, w'ch the said Johanna ratified, by 
deed, dated 21 Edw. HL (1346-7). (Traflf. Evid. vol. xxv. p. 64.) 
[Hibb.-Ware, vol. iv. pp. 96, 100.] 

John de Herle, Clerk, Rector of the Church of Mancestr., 
on the 1 2th March, 1333, on which day and year, John de 
Hotham, Bishop of Ely, and formerly Canon of York and Provost 
of Queen's College, Oxford, and afterwards Chancellor of Eng- 
land, addressed a letter to Roger de Northburgh, Bishop of 
Lichfield and Treasurer of the Exchequer, in which he stated 
that these two " discreet men," Dom. John de Herle, Rector of 
the Church of Mancestr., and Dom. Roger de Crephull, Rector 
of Dudyngton in the diocese of Ely, were engaged in arduous 
and various causes, in hearing, examining and deciding these 
causes, and that they being desirous of exchanging their Bene- 



C. A.D. 1335—^51- 9 

fices, the said Roger had resigned his Parsonage of Dudyngton 
to the said John, who desired to be admitted thereto, and by his 
letter, dated Dutton, xii. March, 1333, asked to be instituted, 
which was also the request of the Bishop of Ely, apud Heywood, 
xL kal. April, 1333. The Bishop's consent being obtained, there 
is a letter announcing it thus : — " Roger, by divine permission, 
Bp. of Lichfield, to my beloved Son in Christ, * Roger de Crephull, 
Presbyter, in utraque lege doctor,' grace and benediction." — 
(See below). The probability is that Herle was a son of Sir 
William Herle, Kt., made by Edw. III. Chief Justice of the 
King's Bench in Hilary term, 1327, and in the same year Judge 
of the Common Pleas. He was in high favour with the king 
and died in 1335. This Rector probably never resided in Man- 
chester ; he was a Clerk in Chancery. 

Roger de Crephull, Presbyter, in utraque lege doctor, 
was instituted to the Rectory of Manchester, in the diocese of 
Lichfield, on the resignation of Dom. John Herle, the last Rector 
there, the Bishop of Lichfield being Patron for this turn. (North- 
burgh's Reg. Lichf.) This man, like the last, appears to have 
been a Clerk in Chancery, and absent from his living. He is 
probably the Rector, and not D'Evorden, who, according to 
Hollinworth, obtained a licence for non-residence through Sir 
William Herle, Knt. (See ante p. 6.) 

Thomas del Wyke, Presbyter, was instituted to the Rectory 
of Manchester on the 11 kal. September, 1351, on the presenta- 
tion of Joan, widow of John Lord la Warr. Dr. Hibbert-Ware 
says that he was the immediate successor of Claydon, which is 
not correct. He resided upon his benefice, which the two inter- 
vening Rectors did not do. On the 3 kal. April, 1352, he granted 
the privilege of sepulture to the inhabitants of Didsbury, and the 
Bishop issued a license, with the Rector's consent, to celebrate 
Divine offices and services in the ancient Chapel there. The 
Chapel had existed beyond the memory of man, but had been 

C 



lo Rectors of Manchester. 

long disused. (Northburgh's Reg) v. Id. Nov., I3S7, a dispen- 
sation was granted to Thorn, de Wyk, Rector of the Church of 
Mamchester, to be absent from his Church " in loco honesto," for 
two years, and it is ordered that he pay ten marks, five at Easter 
next, and five at the same feast next following. (/A) On the 

3 October, 1355, ^ similar dispensation had been granted him, 
and all the fruits and revenues allowed. (/A) And it is stated 
on the S August, 142 1, that "in times past some of the Rectors 
never, and some very rarely, cared to reside personally in the 
large, spacious, and populous parish." (Decree of Bp. of Cov. and 
Lich., p. vii. of Turner's Letter to Bp, of Manch,^ ii. app., 8vo, 1850.) 
On the 2 kal. January, 1360, the Bishop granted a licence to 
Dom. Thome de Wyk, Rector of Manchester, and a presbyter^ 
to be absent on his occasions from his Church. (North-* 
burgh's Reg, Lichf.) And on the same day the Bishop granted 
to Dom. Roger la Warre, a licence for his Oratory at Blakley, 
for two years. {Ibid) On the viii. Feb., 1360, the Bishop 
granted to Dom. Thome de Wyke, Rector of Manchester, 
licence of absence for two years, with a clause as to a certain 
part of the tithes being appropriated to a locum tenens, {Ibid) 

4 Idus Mail, 1362, Thomas, son of Thomas de Wyk, was inst. 
to the Rectory of Ashton subter Limam, on the presentation 
of Roger la Warre, Patron. {Lane. MSS,, vol. xxii. p. 10.) 
"Thomas de Wyke de Mamecestre" is the first, and John de 
Wyke, the second attestor of Roger le Warre's grant to Thomas 
de Booth of Barton, of all the lands in Barton, formerly belong- 
ing to John, son of Gilbert de Barton. Dated London, on the 
Feast of S. Margaret the Virgin, 39 Edw. III. {lb,, vol. xxv. 
p. 212.) On the S February, 1364, at London, Bishop Stretton 
granted a licence to Thomas de Wyk, senior Rector of the church 
of Manchester, to hear confessions and to absolve his parishioners, 
according to the accustomed form, "usque ad festum Pasche 
prox. futurum." (Northburgh's Reg) In the 47 Edw. III., 1367, 
Thomas de Booth of Barton, Esq., appointed Thomas de Wyche, 
Rector of the Church of Manchester, Richard, son of John de 



Thomas de la Warre, a.d. c. 1381 — 1422. 1 1 

Radcliflfe, John Radcliflfe, his brother, and Ellen Booth his (testa- 
tor's) wife, the executors of his will, and provided that masses 
should be offered on the altar of S. Katherine, in Eccles, for the 
souls of Edw. III., Roger la Warre, Thomas de Wyche, Parson 
of Manchester, and for the souls of the testator's parents, Roger 
de Hulton, and other benefactors. (Gastrell's Notitia Cest, vol. ii. 
pt. I, p. 48, note.) [Hibb.-Ware, vol. iv. p. 105.] 

Thomas de la Warre, son of Roger Lord de la Warre, 
bom about 1359, was the last Rector of Manchester on the old 
foundation. 

On Sunday in the feast of Pentecost, 44 Edw. III., Anno 
1370, Thomas de la Warre, Capell., and John de ffarington. Sen., 
granted to William, son of William del Lee and Isote his wife, 
half of the manors of Croston and Maudisley, and all the lands 
in Longton, which they held of the said William del Lee. 
(Traff. Evid,; Lane. MSS., vol. xxv. p. 265). The seals appended 
are, i. Warre, a lamb and banner; 2, ffarington, three leopards' 
faces, between a chevron. 

On I Nov., 1373, Magr. Thom. de la Warr resigned the 
Rectory of Ashton-under-Lyme, and John Ic Warre the Patron 
presented John de Marcheford, Presb. (Lane. MSS., vol. xxii. 
p. la) In 1376 he was collated to the Prebend of Sleaford in 
Lincoln Cathedral, which he resigned in the year 1426 (Le 
Neve, vol. ii. p. 161), having held it half a century. On the 31 
Jan., 1 38 1, he was collated to the Prebend of Grindall in York 
Cathedral, which he held until his death. Dr. Hibbcrt-Ware 
says that he " soon after " became Rector of Manchester and ob- 
tained a dispensation for non-residence [vol. iv. p. 112]. I did 
not meet with his nomination at Lichfield. 

On the 20 Ric. II. Ao. 1396, Thomas le Warre, Capell., granted 
to Ellen, dau. of Alexander de Pilkington, half of a burgage 
which he had of the gift of the said Ellen, between the burgages 
of Hen., son of John de Strangways of Manchester, to have for 
the term of her life, and the reversion to John Lancaster and his 



1 2 Rectors of Manchester. 

heirs. (Traff. Evid,y vol. xxv. p. 63.) On the 8 Aug., 1 397, he was 
collated to the Prebend of Oxton and Cropwell, in the collegiate 
Church of Southwell, on the resignation of Tho. de Weston. 
(Le Neve, vol. iii. p. 450.) He resigned his stall in 1404. {lb) 

On the death of his elder brother, John* (22 Ric. II. according 
to Le Neve, vol. iii. p. 450; and i Hen. IV. 1399, according to 
Dr. Hibbert-Ware) without issue, the Rector succeeded to the 
Barony of De la Warr, and as the representative of the old 
Barons de Grelley, Lords of Manchester, he was summoned to 
Parliament. (Hollinworth's Mancun. p. 38 ; H.-Ware's Hist.^ vol. i. 
p. 35.) After his succession to the Peerage, he seems chiefly to 
have resided at the Baron's Hall in Manchester, and to have 
styled himself " Decanus Decanat{lls de Mamcestr.," which would 
seem to shew according to Whittaker's inference, that the De- 
canal and Rectorial title were united. (Hist. Manch.y by Rev. 
John Whittaker, vol. ii. pp. 391-2.) [Hibb.-Ware, vol. iv. p. 122.] 

[Jan. ID, 1401-2, lie. to Thos. Lord la Warre to be absent from 
Parlt. for three years. {Feed, viii. 236.) On Apr. i, 1403, the 
king requests a loan of 500 marks from *' Le Sire de la Warre," 
te enable him to resist the Welsh and Scotts. {Acts and Orders 
Privy Council, vol. i. p. 202.) i?.] 

On the 29 Sep., 1407, he was collated to the stall and prebend 
of Riccal in York Minster, and only vacated it at his death. 
(Le Neve, vol. iii. p. 209.) And in 141 9 he obtained the prebend 
of Ketton in Lincoln Cathedral which he held at his death. (/<J., 
vol. ii. p. 158). At this time he was Rector of Swineshead, near 
Spalding, in Lincolnshire. 

On the Thursday next after the Feast of the Ascension, 10 
Hen. IV., 1410, Thomas del Warr, Lord la Warr, conveyed to 
Alice, relict of Thomas de Ashton of Croston, and daughter of 
Sir William de la Lee, Knt., certain lands which he had held in 
trust. (Traff. Evid) In the year 1419, he succeeded Archdeacon 
Hanworth in the Canonry of Ketton, in Lincoln Cathedral (Le 

• [For this, see Dugdale's Baronage, vol. ii. p. 17. He was then 40 years old.— i?.l 



Thomas de la Warre, a.d. c. 138 i — 1422. 13 

Neve, vol. ii. p. 158), so that he was not indisposed to hold Church 
preferment after he had obtained the Barony of La Warr, and 
even contemplated resigning the rich Rectory of Manchester in 
his own gift 

He had an intimate acquaintance with the spiritual wants of 
his large and extensive parish ; and, we may hope, being imbued 
with a love of learning and wishful to promote the spread of 
Christian doctrine, he determined to found a Collegiate Church 
within his manor of Manchester. In this liberal determination, 
and in settling the foundation and its revenues, he was advised 
by his early friend and former neighbour, Bishop Langley, the 
Lord Chancellor, whose munificence had not been confined to 
the Galilee of Durham, and whose regard for Manchester was 
evinced by a bequest to form a public Library in that important 
town. It may, however, be reasonably inferred that another and 
principal cause for altering the constitution of the Church was a 
desire to arrest the propagation of the Lollard doctrines and the 
encroachments attempted to be made on the revenues of the 
Church by an innovating and unscrupulous House of Commons. 
(Campbell's ChancelLy vol. i. p. 329.) Lord de la Warr*s name is 
frequently associated with that of Langley in Lancashire matters, 
and Langley's name is discreditably connected with the sentence 
passed against Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, who was the 
first English peer burnt as a heretic. In the Registers of the 
Bishop of Lichfield there are many records of individuals in the 
diocese being summoned and convened "for religion," but the 
precise ofTence and the punishment are alike omitted. 

On 22 May, 142 1, Henry V. granted his licence to Tho. de la 
Warr to erect the Parish Church into a Collegiate Church. On 
14 June, 142 1, the churchwardens and parish assented. On 5 
August, 142 1, William, Bishop of Lichfield, granted a decree to 
erect the Parish Church of Manchester into a Collegiate Church. 
(See it app. to Mr. Turner's Letter to Bp, of Manch, 8vo, 1850.) 

On the 9 May, 1422, 9 Hen. V., Lord la Warr paid two hun- 
dred marks into the king's exchequer, and obtained the royal 



1 4 Rectors of Manchester. 

licence, under the seal of the Duchy of Lancaster, for the appro- 
priation of the Rectorial tithes and possessions of St. Mary's 
Church (afterwards to be abandoned) to the new Collegiate in- 
stitution. He also reserved 3cxx)/. for the building of his College. 
He increased the efficiency of his Church by an additional num- 
ber of Clergymen, and made ample provision for their becoming 
maintenance. He also gave the ancient Baronial Hall, adjoining 
the College, formerly the residence of the Lords of the Manor, 
for a residence for these ecclesiastics. The new Foundation was 
to be dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Denys, and St. 
George, but in the charter the first name only occurs. The estab- 
lishment was to consist of a Master or Keeper (custos), 8 Fellows, 
4 Clerks, and 6 Choristers, under the title of the Guild or Com- 
pany of the Blessed Virgin of Manchester. They had also the 
privilege of a common seal. (H.-Ware's Hist, vol. i. pp. 41, 42.) 
This authority observes that the eight Fellows associated with 
the first Warden consisted of two Parish Priests, two Canons, 
and four Deacons, to whom were attached four clerks and six 
choristers. In the original charter they are styled — ** Master 
or Keeper, and his Fellows Chaplains of the same, who were to 
be parsons perpetual!' 

Before this time, although the precise date has not been dis- 
covered. Lord la Warr had resigned the Rectory of Manchester ; 
and on the 9 May, 9 Hen. V., as recited in the charter of the 
22 May, 1422, he had resigned the advowson of the Rectory of 
Swyneshead, in Lincolnshire, to John Heneage and Nicholas 
Motte, whom he appointed two of his trustees of the manor and 
advowson of Manchester. [He was a benefactor to Crowland 
Abbey in 1422. (Gale, vol. iii. p. 515.) R!\ 

In a Brief Account of the Collegiate Church of Manchester, by 
the Rev. Robert Assheton, M.A., Ao. 1700, 8vo, in MS. penes me, 
it is recorded, *' The Rector's elder brother being dead, without 
an heir, and the estate devolving upon him (the Rector), he 
obtained a dispensation from the Pope to marry, upon this con- 
dition, that he should found a College in the same place where 



Thomas de la Warre, a.d. c. 1381 — 1422. 15 

he had been Parson, for a Warden, and Eight Fellow Chaplains, 
eight singing men, eight boys, and two parish clerks, which he 
did accordingly, and gave twelve manors or lordships to the 
maintaining of the same.*' The statements here made are in 
several respects inaccurate, especially as regards the number on 
the original foundation. 

In 1423, May 15, Letters of Fraternity were granted by the 
Prior and Convent of Durham, to Sir Thomas de TWare et de 
Manchestre, Canon of York and Lincoln, and Rector of the 
parish Church of Swynnesheued. {Reg. 2, p. loi ; Durliam Obi- 
tuary Rolls, Surtees Soc, vol. Ixxxv. p. 109.) Having accom- 
plished his great undertaking in Manchester, but before the com- 
pletion of the building of his Church and College, he quitted the 
scene of his useful labours and munificence, before 8 May, 1427, 
aged about 6Z years. He held his Canonries of York and Lin- 
coln, and apparently the living of Swineshead, at the time of his 
death, although Nicholas Motte is styled Rector, 22 May, 142 1, 
Henry V. 

There had been another and an earlier connection between the 
Gresleys and De la Warrs, otherwise the Rector would not have 
been summoned to Parliament as a Baron in consequence of his 
elder brother having married the heiress of the Lords de Grelly. 
Sir Thomas de Gresley, K.B., 34 Edw., L, was summoned to Par- 
liament as a Baron from the i to the 4 of Edw. H. He died s,p. 
in 1347, and his large estates passed to his sister Joan de Gresley, 
who married John, son of Roger de la Warn (Burke's Extinct 
Peerage, p. 230.) 



1 6 Wardens of Manchester. 



THE WARDENS. 

John Huntingdon was the first Warden of Manchester, 
being the Rector of Ashton-under-Lyne, and probably Chaplain 
to his patron, Thomas, Lord de la Warre. John Huntingdon, 
B.D., was presented to William, Bishop of Coventry and Lich- 
field, by the Lord de la Warre (who reserved the patronage 
during his life), and was admitted November 23, 1422, a few 
months after the accession of Hen. VL Like his patron, he was 
a pious and public-spirited Churchman, and was obviously se- 
lected to fill the important office In consequence of his peculiar 
adaptation for its duties. He was probably more a good man of 
business, as his Church works required him to be, than a literary 
character. During his presidency the new works of the College 
and Church proceeded, being materially aided by his individual 
liberality and influence. The sum bequeathed for the erection 
of the buildings by the late Custos proving insufficient for the 
large undertaking, it was found necessary to deviate from the 
original plans, and, according to the prevailing custom, to build 
a considerable portion of the Church of timber. 

Several mementoes of his connection with the new buildings 
appeared in the form of rebuses or puns on his name, which still 
remain in the carvings ; and others also exist under some of the 
Misereries in the Church of St. Michael at Ashton-under-Lyne, 
which had been either rebuilt or considerably adorned during his 
Incumbency. It has not been noticed that Huntingdon on his 
appointment to the Wardenship retained the Rectory of Ashton- 
under-Lyne for two years before he resigfned it in favour of his 
successor. On the 22 Nov., 1424, James Skelyngton, Clerk, 
was presented to the Rectory by Thomas Lord la Warre " on the 
resignation of John Huntingdon." He held the living only a few 
months, as the same patron again presented Warden Huntingdon, 



John Huntingdon, 1422 — 1458. 17 

who was instituted 12 June, 1425, on the resignation of Skelyng- 
ton, who had evidently been the wrong person for carrying on 
Church works. Nor has it been noticed that Warden Huntingdon 
held Ashton Rectory until his death, when on the 6 Nov., 1458, 
Sir Thomas Assheton, Knt, the patron, presented Laurence 
Assheton, Chaplain, who died there in i486. 

The Warden " built the choir of Manchester Church with the 
aisles on both sides, being in length thirty yards, and in breadth 
twenty yards, from the two great pinnacles, where the organs 
stood betwixt, to the east end of the Church.*' Nor did his zeal 
for the house of God terminate with his life, as he bequeathed by 
will nearly the whole of his effects for Ecclesiastical purposes. 

He was much in the confidence of the great neighbouring 
families of Pilkington and Trafford, and it may be inferred that 
like them he adhered to the cause of the house of Lancaster. 
In 8 Hen. VI. (1429), Sir Reginald West, Lord la Warre, gave 
by indenture to William Chantrell, Serjeant-at-Law, and Master 
John Huntingdon, Clerk, his park of Blakeley, and all lands, tene- 
ments, and woodlands, in Blakeley and Blakeley fields, to hold of 
the chief Lord of the fee, paying during the first twenty years, 
thirty-nine marks, viz : vj* viij<*, at the feast of St. John the 
Baptist, at the feast of St. Michael, at the feast of the Nativity of 
our Lord, and at the Annunciation of the B. Virgin Mary ; and 
afterwards fifty marks per annum ; the attesting witnesses being 
Sir John Stanley, Sir John de Bothe, Sir Ralph de Longworth, 
Sir Thomas de Asheton, Knts., and Thomas de Stanley, and 
Gilbert de Radclyffe, Esquires. 

On the I February, 13 Hen. VI. (1434-5), "Magister Johannes 
de Huntingdon " attests at Bury, next after Sir Edmund de 
Trafford, Knt, and Sir Geoffrey de Masey, Knt, the release of 
Richard de Radclyf of Radclyf, Robert de Pilkyngton, and Henry 
de Lever, to Sir John dc Pilkyngton, Knt., of all the lands, tene- 
ments, rents, and services in the vill of Bury, and within the 
manor, belonging to the said Sir John, and which they had held 
as trustees. 

u 



1 8 Wardens of Manchester. 

And on Monday next after the feast of St Valentine the 
Martyr, 13 Hen. VI., Sir John de Pilkyngton, Knt, grants to 
Master John de Huntyngdon, Guardian of the Collegiate Church 
of B. M. of Manchestn, and to Roger de Bradley, Chaplain, all 
his Lands, &c., which John de Bradley, Roger de Smethurst, and 
five others, held within the manor of Bury, and a certain meadow, 
called Elton Carr, lately held by Thomas de Hulton, Rector of 
Bury ; and the said Master John de Huntingdon and Roger de 
Bradley appoint William Whithead and Hugh de C\^yton to 
receive seisin from Sir John de Pilkington. 

On Monday next after the Feast of St. Leonard, 13 Hen. VL, 
Master John de Huntingdon attests next after James de Langton, 
Rector of Wygan, the grant of William, son of Jordan de Workes- 
ley, to Sir Edmund de TrafTord, Knt, of all his lands in Baudon 
(Bowdon }) within Hayfield, in the county of Derby, &c, to secure 
payment of a certain sum of money advanced to tlie said William 
by Sir Edmund, when the former was a prisoner in Lancaster Gaol. 

On the 6 Febr., 13 Hen. VI., Thomas [Langley], Lord Bishop 
of Durham, released all his right in lands, &c., in Bury, which he 
held as a trustee for Sir John Pilkyngton, Knt ; and these lands 
were settled on the marriage of Sir John, with Elizabeth, daughter 
of Sir Edmund Trafford, and are recited in the covenant of her 
marriage, dated 10 Oct., 30 Hen VI. (145 1), with Peres Legh of 
Lyme, Esq., on all which occasions Huntingdon occurs. His 
friends the Pilkingtons, to whom he appears to have been attached 
through life, were well disposed towards the Church and religious 
houses, although not the founders of any separate establishment. 
There was a sort of prescriptive payment of 45 j., payable in 1478 
by the Abbot of Whalley to the Sir John (Thos. ?) Pilkington, 
whose estates were forfeited after the battle of Bosworth; but 
the services rendered for it to the Abbey are unknown. 

On the 20 April, 16 Hen. VI., Sir John de Pilkyngton appoints 
Henry and James de Smethurst to deliver seisin of his lands, &C., 
to Richard de RadclyfTe, Rector of Wilmslow, Hugh del Scoles^ 
Priest, &c., then in the possession of his various tenants (whose 



John Huntingdon, 1422 — 1458. 19 

names are given) in Bury, Chetham, &c. ; and on the 16 June, 
16 Hen. VI., at Pilkington, Sir John again enfeoffed Sir Robert 
de Harington, Sir Edmund de Trafford, and John de Huntyng- 
don, Clerk, WiUiam de Hulme, and Henry de Trafford, of all his 
manors, lands, &c, in Pilkyngton, Bury, and Chetham. 

Warden Huntingdon died at Manchester on the 11 Nov., 1458, 
having been the zealous and useful head of his Collegiate Church 
for thirty-six years. He was buried in a vault prepared by him- 
self "at the east end of the choir just going up to the high altar." 
Dugdale, in recording the inscription on his monument in the 
Collegiate Church, observes, ** Super marmoreum lapidem pros- 
tratum in orientali parte chori cemitur effigies hominis habitu 
Canonici secularis vestiti in lamina xnei, et sequens epitaphium • 

Vte fatet Jfol^aiiiieK Vutitsnglion SatralaiiM to Secrrtto, 
prtmtw Magintet 0(be CttiitDK tetiiut CoUegii, i|iii He notoo toti^ 
Ktmxft fetam CatueUam, qitf oiiitt tmHettoio Ute memte §xiwcc^ 
tote flo« VxA ^.ecedVlfH* CttfttK atitoie propttietur 

In a list of the Wardens, written probably by Dr. Dee, it is added, 
after recording Huntingdon's burial before the high altar, " wheirc 
his Tomb is yeelt above to be seene with his Picktur in brasse in 
his Priestly garments." There is some obscurity in this descrip- 
tion. On the brass plate still remaining he is represented within 
a niche, with his hands clasped, a ring on the fifth finger of the 
left hand, robed in an alb, and over his shoulders a cape or scarf. 
In a label above his head, proceeding from his mouth are the ap- 
propriate words — Urie diUxi Decorem Dam&s tuct, Sevend 
of the words on a narrow border of brass, encompassing the 
gravestone, and originally forming a perfect superscription, have 
perished, and have been incorrectly supplied by Dr. Hibbcrt-Ware, 
who has engraved the Monument. 

The limner has been unsuccessful in pourtraying on the brass 
the Warden's features. He seems to have been advanced in years, 
of middle stature, with much amplitude of forehead, and a face 
full and broad, indicating neither mortification nor asceticism. 



20 Wardens of Manchester. 

There is no deficiency of hair, but the scapular is not seen. The 
hands are small, and there seems to be much energy in the ex- 
pression of the countenance. 

Dugdale makes no observations on the Arms assigned to War- 
den Huntingdon ; and there is an error, most probably, in attribu- 
ting to him the Arms of Hastings in the old list of Wardens. It 
is not at all likely that he was a member of the Hastings family. 
The title of the Earl of Huntingdon (from which we might have 
supposed his name to be derived, if he had been in some way an 
off-shoot of the Hastings family) was not conferred upon the 
Hastings' until 1539 ; ^tnd the Warden died in 1458. The inser- 
tion of the Arms is an obvious anachronism. The Warden never 
used arms, but always a black letter, J^, surmounted by a crown. 

His Will is dated 13 Nov., 33 Hen. VI. (1454), and expressed 
as follows : Bee hit knawen unto all men, wher*s I, John Hun- 
tyngdon, Gierke & Warden of the Collage of our Lady of 
Manchester, now of late by my dede have gifen & granted to 
James Bridde, Hugh Aston, & Nicoll Ravalde, p'istes, & to their 
heirs & ass. for eu*, all the mes'es, burgages, landes, ten*ts, rentes, & 
s'uyces, in Manchester, Salford, or in any other place w'in the 
Counte of Lancaster, and also in Chest* rfeld, w'in the Shir of 
Derby, that my s'd feffes shall suffer me & myne assignes 
duryng all my lyfe to receive the rents, &c., and ymmediatle aft'r 
my decesse to selle the same to the best auayle & price yai may, 
Except all the said landes &c in ChestVfield, and shall dispose of 
all such money to the edificac'on, expences, costes, & byggyng of 
the newe werke by me begon'en of the Chauncell of the Kirke of 
of our Lady of Manchester, if so be yat my moveably godes aft'r 
my decesse suffice noght, nor been sufficiaunt'y to pTorme the 
said edificac'on, costes, & byggyng. And if yai then bene suffii- 
ciaunt'y, yt yen yai shall aftV my decesse dispose the said suche 
money, rents, &c., except bifor' excepted to P'istes to say Masses 
& to make & do oy' dyuine s'vyces & prayers for the Sawle of 
me, the saide John, and of all other yat I am endettet or bounden 
to praie for. And as for all the said landes in Chest'rfeld I 



John Huntingdon, 1422 — 1458. 21 

wyll yat yai immediate aft'r my decesse g'of enfeoffe my kynes- 
woman, Elisabeth Baret, to hir & to hir heir* for eu*, if sho then 
be open lyve or haue heir* of hir body lawfully geton, & if sho be 
then dede and have noon suche heirs, yat yai then shall sell all 
the said landes in Chest'rfeld and make disposic'on y'of in all 
thynges as yai do of the other heir* aboue said — Power to revoke 
the said Will. — Theis* wytnes Edm*nde Trafford, Geffrey Mascy, 
Thom. Assheton, Knyghtes, Alexander Radclif, John Trafford, 
esquyers, and mony others. Gyuen at Manchester ye xiii. day of 
November the xxxiij^ yer* of Kyng Henr* the sixte. — Endorsed 
** Voluntas loh'is huntyngton." 

The lands were not disposed of according to the Testator s 
directions, as by deed dated at " Mamcestr., 10 Dec., 3 Edw. IV. 
1463," the three Priests whom he had enfeoffed conveyed to John 
Bamford and James Chaloner, Chaplains, and William Bamford, 
all the lands and tenements adjoining Manchester called Nether- 
aldeport and Overaldeport which they had of the gift and 
feoffment of John Huntyngdon, Clerk, Master or Guardian of the 
Collegiate Church of B. Mary of Manchester, to hold to certain 
uses, not declared. And by another indenture dated 22 Edw. 
IV., 1482, Geoffrey Hulme of Manchester, Raufe Langley, 
Warden of Manchester and Parson of Prestwich, John Biron, 
John Radclyffe (of Radclyffe), Esquires, and James Radclyffe 
(his brother), convey to Richard Bexwicke of Manchester, and 
Ralph, son and heir apparent of the said Geoffrey Hulme, certain 
lands and services, apparently part of the estate of Warden 
Huntingdon. And by another deed, dated 19 July, 22 Hen. VII. 
(1506), Ralph Hulme granted to Ranulph Poole, Clerk, Sir Oliver 
Thomelegh, Clerk, Richard Bexwicke, son of Roger Bexwicke of 
Mamcestr., Ralph Holland of Clayton, William Galey and Seth 
Galey, and Thomas Bexwicke, son of Richard Bexwicke, all the 
before-named lands, burgages and rents, which were formerly the 
property of John Huntingdon in Mamcestr and Salford, ex- 
cepting certain lands and tenements called Netheraldport within 
the manor of Mamcestr., to the use and for the purix>scs ex- 



2 2 Wardens of Manchester. 

pressed in a certain indenture made, with the consent of Ralph 
Hulme and Henry Sedale, by the arbitration of Anthony Fitz- 
herbert and Richard Hesketh, Esquires, learned in the law, dated 
30 May, 22 Hen. VII ; in which very long Award it is stated 
that there had been various controversies and debates between 
Ralph Hulme, Gent, and Sir Henry Sydall, William Bradford, 
and Richard Mascy, ** Prest Vicares " of the same College, re- 
specting the lands and tenements formerly the inheritance of Sir 
John Huntingdon, Warden of the College of Manchester ; and 
that the contending parties were bound to abide the Award of 
Fitzherbert and Hesketh ; and reciting, further, that Huntingdon's 
will had not been fulfilled. 

Hulme claimed the lands by virtue of purchase of the deceased 
Warden's right heir ; and also of John Ravald, cousin and next 
heir of Nicholas Ravald, the last survivor of the original trustees 
of Huntingdon ; whereas Henry Sydall and others claimed to be 
feoffees for the performance of the last Will of the said Nicholas 
Ravalde, Priest, by the feoffment of Sir Thomas Bradford, who 
was enfeoffed by one Sir John Bamford, Priest, conjointly with 
other persons, whom the said Sir Thomas survived, and which 
Sir John Bamford was enfeoffed by the said Nicholas to perform 
his Will, which refers to and contains the substance of the Will 
of the Warden touching the premises. 

The Arbitrators awarded that a deed should be made by Hulme 
to the feoffees named in the last recited indenture of all Warden 
Huntingdon's lands and tenements in Lancashire and elsewhere, 
except Netheraldport ; and the feoffees were empowered to receive 
out of the rents loar. a year for a Priest to say mass in the Col- 
legiate Church and to be nominated by Hulme and his heirs for 
ever ; which Priest should pray for the soul of John Huntingdon 
and his benefactors, for the souls of Geoffrey and Elizabeth, 
father and mother of the said Raufe Hulme, for the souls of 
Thomas, late Earl of Derby, and George his son, late Lord 
Strange, and for the good estate of the said Raufe and Elizabeth 
(Bexwicke) his wife and their children and heirs, and also for the 



Roger Radclyffey 1459. 23 

good estate of Thomas, Earl of Derby, then living, and for James 
Stanley, then Bishop of Ely, and for all the feoffees that were or 
should be seized to the use of the said Chantry lands, and after 
their decease for their souls and for all Christian souls for ever. 
And the said Raufe Hulme was enjoined to pay to Sir Henry 
Sydall, towards his costs and charges in the matter, lx>. 

The moneys received towards the edification, costs, and building 
of the said chancel of the Collegiate Church since the death of the 
Warden, and all Sir Henry Sydall's costs, were to be ordered and 
decided by Warden Clyff, Thomas Langley, rector of Prestwich, 
and two others, according to Huntingdon's Will. It was also 
awarded that a yearly Obit should be kept, with a Dirge, after 
noon, and a mass of Requiem on the morrow after, with note, 
for the souls of the said Sir John Huntingdon, his benefactors and 
others, on the nth November, being the day on which the said 
Sir John died. The original award, of which the above is a brief 
abstract, is attested by the signatures of James, Bishop of Ely, 
of the awarders, and also by Sydall and Hulme. 

On the 24th August, 12 Hen. VI., Warden Huntingdon pur- 
chased lands in Hangyngdyche of Reginald West, Lord la Warr, 
the nephew of his patron, as a site for an Almshouse for poor 
persons, but his original intention does not appear to have been 
executed. 

Dr. Hibbert's Hist^ vol. i. p. 42, appen. p. 380, vol iv. p. 174 ; 
MS, Holme, 95, i, 11, ex. cartul. Ep. Cov. et Lich., Gastrell's 
Not, Cestr., part ii. p. 60 ; lb,, p. 59, note ; Lane, MSS,, vol. xxiv. 
p. 409, XXV. pp. 8, 134, xxxviii. pp. 8, 9, 136; Whitaker*s WhalUy, 
3rd ed., p. 93 ; Hollinworth*s Mancuniensis ; List of Wardens in 
Coll. Arm., inf. Tho. W. King, Esq., York Herald; Pike House 
Evid. 

Roger Radclvffe, the sixth and youngest son of James 
RadclyflTe of Radclyffe Tower, Esq., by Joan, daughter of Sir 
John Tempest of Bracewell, in the county of York, Knt, by 
Katherine his wife, daughter of Sir Robert Sherbum of Stony- 



.24 Wardens of Manchester, 

hurst, in the county of Lancaster, Knt., was born (according to 
computation of dates) about the year 1405. His eldest brother, 
Richard Radclyffe, Esq., was High Sheriff and Knight of the 
Shire in Parliament for his native county, where he had high 
and Influential connections ; whilst his second brother, Sir John 
Radclyffe, K.G., a distinguished soldier in the French wars, was 
ancestor of the Barons Fitzwalter and Earls of Sussex. His 
uncle, Thomas Radclyffe, was Abbot of Rushen, in the Isle of 
Man ; and his nephew, Henry Radclyffe, succeeded to the same 
high office ; whilst another near member of his family was the 
progenitor of the Radclyffes of Dilston, Earls of Derwentwater. 
(Whitaker's Whalley^ vol. ii. p. 292.) On the 19 June, 1458, being 
then styled LL.D., he was collated to the Prebend of Ealdland, 
in St. Paul's Cathedral, which he held until his death. (Le Neve, 
vol. li. p. 383.) On the 11 July, 1465, he was collated to the 
Archdeaconry of Sarum, which he also held at his death. (/J. 
p. 625.) He was elected Dean of St. Paul's, 15 December, 1468, 
and confirmed before the 23rd of the same month ; Booth, the 
Bishop of Durham, having a short time before vacated the 
Deanery. Radclyffe died before the 28 July, 147 1. (/J., vol. ii. 

p. 313.) 

Early in 1459, Roger Radclyffe, Doctor of Laws, was presented 

by Lord de la Warr to the Wardenship of Manchester. [In the 

Charters of the Duchy of Lancaster there is a writ of Quare im- 

pedit, dated Lancaster, 22 Feb., 1458-9, addressed to the Sheriff 

of Lancaster, to command Laurence (Booth) Bishop of Durham, 

Seth Worsley, Esq., and Roger Radclyf, clerk, to permit Richard 

West, knt, to present to the Collegiate Church of Manchester 

(xxxvii. Refit of Dep, Keeper^ p. 177).] On the 9th December, 

in the same year, he exchanged the dignity for the Rectory of 

Adbolton-cum-Holme-Pierrepoint, in the county of Notts., with 

his neighbour (whilst in Lancashire) John Booth, afterwards 

Bishop of Exeter. (Ex, Inst, Lickf) In the Fabric Rolls of 

York Minster for the year 1472 or 73, is this entry, " Mortuaria 

i6s. Sd,, de precio equi magistri Rogeri Radclif, nuper preb. de 



John Booth, 1459-1465. 25 

Masham/' " a Lancashire man of considerable rank and prefer- 
ment" He obtained this stall in 1456, on the resignation of Geo. 
Neville, elected Bishop of Exeter, afterwards Chancellor of Eng- 
land, and Archbishop of York. (Raine's Fabric Rolls, Surtees 
Soc, p. 79 ; Le Neve, vol. iii. p. 202.) 

John Booth, fourth son of Sir Robert Booth (brother of Sir 
Thomas Booth of Barton), by his wife Dulcia, daughter and co- 
heiress of Sir Richard Venables, was a member of a great ecclesi- 
astical family. His uncle (in half blood), Lawrence Booth, was 
successively Bishop of Durham, Archbishop of York, Keeper of 
the Privy Seal, and Lord High Chancellor ; his uncle William 
was Archbishop of York, and his uncle John held a Prebend in 
Lincoln Cathedral (Le Neve, vol. ii. p. 195) ; whilst his younger 
brothers, Robert and Edmund, were respectively Dean of York 
and Archdeacon of Stow, and his brother Ralph, Archdeacon of 
Durham and York. Nor were the family undistinguished in 
other ways. His cousin, Sir John Booth of Barton, was killed at 
Flodden ; and with his grandson the male line of Booth of Barton 
ended ; whilst from Sir William, the Warden's elder brother, are 
descended the Booths, Barons Delamer and Earls of Warrington. 
In the Durham Visitation of 1575, John Booth is erroneously 
stated to be the son of Roger Booth of Bolingboro' and Master 
of the Kepier Hospital, and nephew of Lawrence, Bishop of 
Durham. Le Neve states that he was collated to the office of 
Treasurer of York Cathedral in 1457 and resigned it in 1453, 
but this is obviously an error. He was collated to the Prebend 
of Wistow in the same Cathedral by his uncle William, Arch- 
bishop of York, in 1457, ^"^ ^^ the Prebend of Strensall 1 1 Auj^ 
1459, h'^ uncle Lawrence, who had filled Wistow stall, having 
been made two years before Bishop of Durham. On the 27 May, 
1459, John was admitted Archdeacon of Richmond, on the col- 
lation of his uncle William the Archbishop of York. 

On Dec. 9, 1459, ^^ was appointed Warden of the Collegiate 
Church of Manchester on the resignation of Dr. RadclyfTe. On 

£ 



26 Wardens of Manchester. 

the 14 March, 1463-4, he was collated to the Prebend of Mapes- 
bury in St. Paul's Cathedral, which he resigned the year following, 
being collated, 28 March, 1464, a few months before the death of 
his uncle, to the Prebend of Bole in York Minster. He held this 
preferment for a short time only, being deprived of all his digni- 
ties and promotions in the following year by Edward IV., owing 
to his adherence to the rival house of Lancaster. He had prob- 
ably found it convenient to change his political views, as he was 
shortly afterward restored to the royal favour, and having been 
promoted to the See of Exeter by the Pope in 1465 (5 Ed. IV.), 
he was consecrated February 22^ 1466, according to Newcourt, 
and on the 23 February, 1465-6, according to Le Neve. On the 
12 June, 1465, he had obtained the royal assent and the restitu- 
tion of the temporalities (i.e, his Baronage), when he resigned the 
Wardenship. In the list of Wardens in the College of Arms, he 
is erroneously stated to have been Bishop of Exeter in the time 
of Henry VI., " when the dissention of Lancaster and York fell 
out ; and taking part with Lancaster, he was fined when Edward 
IV. of York came to the Crown," " as the recordes of the Tower 
doe testifye." It does not appear that he was a benefactor to 
Manchester, although born in the immediate neighbourhood. He 
ably governed his Church of Exeter, and built the Bishop's throne 
in the Choir, an exquisite piece of work such as no Church in 
England, according to Newcourt, can shew the like. It is 
admitted that he was a liberal Churchman and devoted large sums 
to the beautifying of his Cathedral ; and he lived in great repu- 
tation. Being weary of the great troubles between Edward IV. 
and the Earl of Warwick, the Bishop retired from Court and lived 
in quiet at his country house in Hampshire ; and dying i April, 
1478, at East Horsley in Surrey, he was buried in the Church of 
St. Clement Danes, London, his brother Hammond, or Hamo, 
Booth, LL.B., being at that time the Rector. His epitaph, how- 
ever, might lead to the conclusion that he was buried at Horsley, 
where he died, as in the Church is the following record on a 
plate of brass : 



Edmund Langley, 1465. 27 

Quisquis ens, qui transieris, Sta : perlege : plora : 
Sum quod eris, fiieramq* quod es, Pro me, precor, ora. 
Hie jacet Johannes Boothe quondam Episcopus 
Exon. qui obiit v die mensis Apr. An. Dom. 
MCCCCLXXVIII. 

His brother, Mr. Robert Booth, Dean of York, was appointed 
supervisor of the will of their nephew, Gkorge Booth of Dunham 
Massey, county of Chester, Esq., dated 17 March, 1480 ; and the 
Dean dying at York, 25 January, 1487-8, was buried in the 
Cathedral. His will is dated 23 January 1487-8, and was proved 
at York, 8 Augfust following. This Ecclesiastic appears to have 
borne the arms of his family, argent 3 boars' heads erased erect 
sable ; in chief a label of 3 points gu.; but a remarkable feature in 
the list of the Wardens in the College of Arms is that the armo- 
rial bearings of Boothe have impaled with them, on the sinister 
side, argent a fesse engrailed gules, being the Arms of Bamford 
of Bamford in the county of Lancaster, and which, unless some 
mistake has been made, seems to be unaccountable for that period. 
The arms of De la Warr bear a close resemblance to those of 
Bamford, being arg, a fesse dancette sab, 

Baines' Hist, Lane, vol. iii. p. 1 1 3 ; Lane, MSS,, vol. xii. ; Booth, 
voL xxxviii. p. 553 ; Le Neve, vol. iii. pp. 161-2, 175, 215, 226 ; 
Newcourt, vol. i. p. 275 ; Goodwin, p. 615 ; Ormerod's Cftesh,, vol. 
li. p. 17 ; Lc Neve, vol. i. p. 376, vol. ii. p. 407, vol. iii. p. 140 ; 
Jenkins* Hist. Exeter \ List of Wardens in Coll, Arm,, inf. Tho. 
W. King Esq., York Herald. 

Edmund Langlev succeeded John Booth, when deprived of 
his preferment by Edward IV. in 1465. He held the dignity for 
a very short time, as on the 9 November in the same year Mr. 
Ralph Langley, Rector of Prestwich, was nominated and appointed 
to it Edmund Langley does not occur in any Catalogue of the 
Wardens, nor is there any notice of his appointment amongst the 
records of the See at Lichfield ; and yet he is expressly named 
as *' Eadmund Longlcy, late Master or Warden of the Collegiate 



28 Wardens of Manchester. 

Church of the Blessed Mary in Manchester^' in a grant of a mes- 
suage to Thomas Langton of Lowe, brother of Gilbert Langton, 
situate in Hindley, in the tenure of Wilh'am Kersley, and also 
a fee farm rent, with the appurtenances, of John Sale, from his 
tenement in the tenure of James Cleworth in the same town, to 
hold to the said Thomas Langton for his life, with remainder to 
the said Gilbert and the heirs of his body, and which the late 
Warden had by the gift of the said Gilbert This deed is dated 
at Hindley on Monday next aft^r the feast of the Apostles Peter 
and Paul, in the third year of Richard the third, 14 July, 1485. 
Attested by John Langton, Parson of the Church of Wigan, 
John Longley, Robert Chemock, esquires, Hugh Hyndley and 
others. 

Ralph Langley, second son of Sir Robert Langley of Age- 
croft, near Manchester, Knt, by his wife Katherine, daughter of 
Sir William Atherton of Atherton, in the same county, Knt, 
probably obtained the Wardenship by purchase on the death of 
his relative, the last Warden, as the patron, Richard (West) Lord 
Delawarr, ceded the nomination, pro hdc vice, to Richard Hatfield 
and Nicholas Statham, who thereupon presented him. Accord- 
ing to Dodsworth, he was not a remote relative of Thomas 
Langley, the Cardinal Bishop of Durham, and Lord Chancellor, 
whose name frequently occurs in deeds about Manchester, and 
in South Lancashire, during his episcopate. It seems more pro- 
bable, however, that whilst both these ecclesiastics were of the 
same family, the Cardinal was descended from the Langleys of 
Langley, in the adjoining parish of Middleton, and the Warden 
from the collateral house of Agecroft. The Langleys were de- 
scended from the Tetlaws thus : Jordan Tetlaw married Amabele, 
daughter of John Radclifie, and had a son Jordan, whose daugh- 
ter and heiress married Langley. Their son and heir, 

Roger Langley, was the father of Robert, whose son Thomas 
was living A.D. 1480. {Vide i. D. 4, 98. Coll. Arm,, London.) 

On the 25 April, 6 Hen. V. (1418), Henry del Bothe, Thurstan 



Ralph LangUy, 1 465-1 481. 29 

dc Langley, Parson of Prestwich, Hugh de Bromburgh, Chaplain, 
and Richard de Middleton, Chaplain, appoint Richard Folkton 
their attorney to give seisin of lands belonging to the Booths 
situate in Barton and Flixton, to Sir John le Buron, Knt, Robert 
de Langley, Esq. (father of the Warden), and William del Bothe, 
Canon of Southwell. And on the 8 Sept, 33 Hen. VI. (1454), 
Thomas de Langley, Esq., son and heir of Robert, and elder 
brother of the Warden, attests at Scroby, in the county of Notts., 
with Sir Thomas de Assheton, Knt. (whose sister he had married) 
and Nicholas Byron, Esq., the grant and confirmation of William 
Bothe, Archbishop of York and Legate of the Apostolic See 
(their relative), and Sir Robert Bothe of Barton, of all the lands 
in Salford, Flixton, Hulme and Croft, in the county of Lancaster, 
to Thomas, son and heir of Sir Thomas Bothe, Knt., which they, 
the said Archbishop and Sir Robert Bothe, had of their father, 
John Bothe, Esq., in trust 

Robert Langley of Agecroft, Esq., and Thomas, his son, were 
mentioned to be specially prayed for by name in the king's 
licence granted to Archbishop William Bothe and others for the 
chantry of S. Katharine, in Eccies Church, dated Scroby, 6 May, 
1460. 

Ralph Langley became Rector of Prestwich, probably on the 
death of Thurstan de Langley, as the Manchester Chronicler 
states, "which same (family) was allways Parson of Prestwich ;" 
and he is so styled on November 9, 1465, on succeeding to the 
Wardenship. [The Catalogue of the Rectors of Prestwich, vol. 
vi. Cluth, Miscell.f p. 29, states that he succeeded to Prestwich, 
20 August, 1445, on the death of Peter Longley.] The advowson 
of Prestwich was obtained by his ancestor, Richard de Langley, 
in marriage with Joanna, daughter and heir of Jordan de Tetlaw, 
by his wife Alice, the descendant and representative of Adam 
de Prestwich, the feudal lord, and had continued in the Langley 
family from, at least, the beginning of the 14th century. 

On the day of the feast of S. Bartholomew the Apostle, 32 
Hen. VL (1453), " Rauf Langley p*son of ye kyrkc of Fstwych," 



30 Wardens of Manchester. 

leased for three years all the tithes, oblations, and emoluments of 
the Chapelry of Oldham (parcel of his extensive Rectory), to Sir 
Henry Pendlebury, Chantry Priest (apparently of Cardinal Lang- 
ley's foundation) of Middleton, On the lO Nov., 8 Edw. IV. 
(1468), "Rauf Langley Warden of Manchester" was a trustee of 
the lands of Geoffrey Hulme of Hulme : and he occurs simply as 
"Rauf Langley Clerk," 15 Edw. IV. (1476), and on the 20 Oct, 
19 Edw. IV (1479-80), as Rauf Longley, Warden of Manchester 
and Parson of Prestwich. 

On the 4 Nov., 1476, he covenanted with certain architects, 
masons and builders, to erect at Oldham the nave of the Church 
there wTiich had fallen into decay, for the stipulated sum of 
xxviij^ vjs viijd. All the items are minutely recorded, and the 
Rector himself liberally contributed to the undertaking by sup- 
plying at his own costs the stone, lime, scaffolding, &c., and the 
work was to be completed by Easter Day, 1479, — a long period 
for Church works which could not be very considerable. No 
mention is made of a Tower for the Church, but that one existed 
at that time is evident from an indenture dated 24 Sept., 1486^ 
whereby " Raufe Longley, Parson of Prestwych," acknowledged 
to have received x^ part of xx^ to be raised by the inhabitants 
of Oldham for the purchasing of three bells for their Chapel, and 
the Rector agreed to bear certain expences in procuring and 
hanging the said bells in the tower of the Church. After a lapse 
of nearly four centuries the Church of Oldham possesses a peal 
of twelve bells, said to be the finest in the diocese. 

Warden Langley was evidently a devout admirer of this 
ancient and delightful ecclesiastical music. Hollinworth records 
that he gave the first chimes to the Collegiate Church of Man- 
chester ; but in the MS, List of Wardens in the College of Arms 
it is stated, "he made the Clocke and Chime in Manchester 
Church with his owne handes," from which it appears that his 
mechanical skill had been considerable. His individual acts of 
charity and piety, like Warden Huntingdon's, added new leaves 
to the book of Ecclesiastical renown in Manchester, proving that 



Ralph Langley, 1 465-1 481. 31 

he had not only inherited the blood, but also the liberality and 
virtues of his ancestors. The portion of the Collegiate Church 
" between the Pulpit and the Steeple " was built during his War- 
denship. On the 12 June, 20 Edw. IV. (1480), " Radulphus Lang- 
ley, Magister sive Custod. ColL B. Marie de Mamcestr.," attested 
a deed of Nicholas Ravald, John Bamford, James Chaloner, 
Fellows, and William Bamford, of lands granted to John Birch 
of Manchester, gent. 

The statement of Hollinworth and others that Langley re- 
signed the Wardenship on the 27 July, 148 1, and retired to his 
parsonage of Prestwich, is incorrect, as on the 21 August in that 
year he was collated by Kemp, Bishop of London (nephew of the 
Cardinal Archbishop), as " Warden of the Collegiate Church of 
Manchester," to the Prebend of Holywell, alias Finsbury, in 
St Paul's Cathedral, London. He exchanged his Wardenship 
with James Stanley for this stall, having the consent of King 
Edw. IV ; and Bishop Gastrell erroneously styles him, " War- 
den and Parson of Prestwich," 22 Edw. IV. (1482). On the 26 
October, 1482, he attests next after Sir John Trafford, Knt., 
as Rector of the Church of Prestwich, but his dignity of Warden 
is omitted. Stanley and Langley probably owed their Prebendal 
preferment to their personal knowledge of Bishop Kemp, who 
had been Archdeacon of Richmond, as well as to their high 
family connections, and we may hope to higher considerations. 

He seems to have died about 1493, and was buried in the 
Rector's Chapel at Prestwich, as his successor was appointed at 
St. Paul's on the 15 April in that year ; and about the same time 
he was succeeded at Prestwich by his nephew, Ralph Longley, 
Bachelor in Decrees, who was instituted i May, 1493, on the 
presentation of Robert Longley, Esq., by the death of Sir Ralph 
Longley the last Rector ; and on the 4 Sept., 1498, he resigned 
the living, the patron, Robert Langley, Esq., presenting Thomas 
Langley, the friend of Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter, the 
Beswickes and Hulmes, and also the friend and executor of 
Isabel, widow of Robert Chetham, Gent, Founder of Jesus 
Chapel in the Collegiate Church. 



32 Wardens of Manchester. 

On the 19 July, 1506, this Rector was a party to the final 
settlement of the fabric trust estate of Warden Huntingdon, 
which had been in dispute in the time of his uncle the late War- 
den, and was only settled after much unseemly litigation. In 
1523 he is described as "Sir Thomas Langley late Parson of 
Prestwich," and occurs along with "Sir William Langley, now 
Parson of the same." 

The Warden's Arms are those of his family, derived from the 
feudal house of Prestwich, — Argent a Cockatrice Sable, beaked 
and wattled gules ; and pedigrees of families of Langley in the 
Visitations of the county of York, in the College of Arms, have 
had the bearing allowed, attributed to this Warden ; but there is 
no entry of Langley of Agecroft, except that of the last direct 
heir male of the house, Sir Robert Langley, who died i Eliz,, 
leaving issue four daughters and coheiresses. 

Booker's Mentor, of Prestwich, p. 190 ; Assheton's MS. List of 
Fellows ; Lane. MSS., vol. xvi. pp. 340, 350-2, xxiv. pp. 408, 
413; Trafford Evid., pp. 54, 224, 229; Hibbert's ColL Ch. of 
Manchester, app., p. 380 ; GastrelFs Notit. Cestr., vol. ii. pp. 60-62, 
note ; Newcourt's Reper., vol. i. p. 160 ; Le Neve, vol. ii. p. 395 ; 
List of Wardens in Coll. Arm., inf. Tho. Wm. King, Esq., York 
Herald ; Inst. Bk. Lichf. 

James Stanley (i) was fourth and youngest son of Thomas 
first Lord Stanley, K.G., and by his mother descended from the 
Princess Elizabeth Plantagenet, daughter of King Edw. L On 
the 26 August, 1458, he was installed Prebendary of Holywell 
alias Finsbury in St. Paul's. In 1478, he was collated to the 
Archdeaconry of Chester (not Carlisle, as said in Brydges, Collins). 
On I Nov., 1479, he [rectius, the next Warden] had the Prebend 
of Dunham, in Southwell Collegiate Church, on the resignation 
of Gervas Clifton, being succeeded 24 April, 1485, by his friend 
and neighbour in Lancashire, Edmund Chaderton. In 148 1, he 
exchanged his stall in St. Paul's with Ralph Langley, for the 
Wardenship of Manchester, being installed on the 27 July, and 



yames Stanley (i), 1481-1485. 33 

presented to the dignity by Thomas la Warre, Knt, the patron. 

On the 27 July, 1484, 2 Ric. III., Thomas Lord Stanley, great 
constable of England, Mr. James Stanley, Arcltdeacon of Chester^ 
Sir William Stanley, Knt, Chamberlain of Chester (all brothers), 
were appointed arbitrators to settle a dispute betwixt John Man- 
waring of Pevor, Esq., on the first part, Edmund Trafford of 
Trafford and Margaret his wife, on the second part, touching the 
jointure lands of John Honford and Margaret his wife, daughter 
of the said Manwaring. During his Wardenship he engaged to 
maintain "all the privileges of the franchise," which, doubtless, 
refers to the sanctuary and its ancient and questionable privi- 
leges. Its defence by the Warden may excite a little surprise, 
as the sanctuary precincts were generally inhabited by the most 
desperate and worthless members of society, who sought sanc- 
tuary after committing robbery, murder (blode-wyte), and other 
dark deeds ; so that from prime to compline the neighbourhood 
of the Collegiate Church would be little better than a pande- 
monium, and the Warden and his Fellows were bound to protect 
at once the privilege and these desperadoes in vice. Hollinworth 
correctly states that Stanley held the Wardenship only four 
years, and Le Neve gives his death in i486, Christopher Talbot 
being admitted as his successor in the Archdeaconry of Chester, 
on the 7 June in that year. Considerable confusion has been 
made by there having been two successive Wardens of the name 
of James Stanley, some biographers having omitted one of them 
altogether, and others having attributed wrong preferment to 
them both. This Warden is not in the MS, List in the College 
of Arms, nor in Assheton's MS, 

His Arms were ^4^. on a bend az,, three bucks* heads cabossed 
or, with a martlet as the mark of a fourth son, — the same as the 
Stanleys Earls of Derby. 

Collins (Brydges), vol. iii. p. 56 ; Le Neve, vol. i. p. 567, iii. p. 
419; Newcourt, vol. i. p. 160; Trafford Evid., Lane. AfSS., 
p. 146 ; Hollinworth's Maneun. ; Hibbcrt- Ware's Hist. ColL Ch. 
Maneh., voL i. p. 48. 

F 



34 Wardens of Manchester. 

James Stanley (2) was the sixth and youngest son of Thomas, 
second Lord Stanley and first Earl of Derby, Constable of Eng- 
land, by his first wife the Lady Eleanor, daughter of Richard 
Nevile, Earl of Salisbury and sister of Warwick, "the King-Maker." 
He became a scholar of the University of Oxford, and on the 
18 June, 1506, he was licensed to proceed D.C.L, which was 
granted with some conditions ; and on the 29 January, 1507, the 
congregation of regents with the non-regents granted that he, then 
Bishop of Ely, might be created Doctor of Degrees, by a cap put 
on his head by Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Fitz 
James, Bishop of London, which being done with solemnity he 
acknowledged the honour in a letter of thanks to the University. 
He graduated at Cambridge as well as at Oxford. (Cooper's 
Ath, Canty p. 16.) In 1458 he became Prebend, of Holywell in 
St. Paul's Cathedral, and held the stall until 148 1. On the 
II November, 1460, he was collated by Archbishop William 
Booth, the great patron of Lancashire men, to the Prebendal stall 
of Driffield in York Cathedral, and in 1479 to the Prebend of 
Dunham in the Church of Southwell. He was appointed Pre- 
centor of Salisbury, 20 March, 1484-5, vice Edward Pole, but does 
not appear to have been collated until 10 September, 1505, and 
vacated it in the year following on obtaining higher promotion. 
In 1485-6 (22 July, 1485, Cooper's Ath, Cant), Browne Willis 
states that he resigned his stall at York on becoming Warden of 
Manchester, on the death of his uncle. His presentation, dated 
22 July, 1485, is by ** Thomas West, and La Warre Lord of Man- 
chester, the Patron"; and he is described as "James Stanley 
Clerk," the place being vacant by the death of Sir James Stanley. 
{Ex, Record, Lichf.) In 1491 he became Prebend of Yetminster 
Prima, in Salisbury Cathedral, which he exchanged in the follow- 
ing year for the more lucrative Prebend of Bedminster Prima, in 
the same Church. In 1493 he occurs as Dean of St. Martin's-le- 
Grand, London ; and it is worthy of note, that in 1382 Thomas de 
Stanley was collated to a Prebend at Lichfield, which he ex- 
changed in 1399 with Dr. William Assheton for the same St 



y antes Stanley {i), 1485-1506. 35 

Martin's Deanery in London, and afterward became Dean of 
Wells. 

By a deed of Arbitration, dated 20 February, 10 Hen. VII, 
(1494), Thomas Couper and James Gartside of Oakenrod, gent, 
were bound to John Chadwick, son and heir of John Chadwick, 
gent., in xl. marks, to be paid on the Feast of St Chad the Bishop, 
to abide the award of Mr. James Stanley, Gierke, and Warden of 
Manchester, *'to bee geven by y« sayd Mr. James in wrytyng, 
under his scale affore y« feast of th'annunciation of o' blessed 
Ladie the Virgin next" On the 19 November, 1500, he was ap- 
pointed Archdeacon of Richmond, vice Christopher Urswick 
resigned, and admitted 5 December, 1500. After holding the 
office six years he resigned it, being at that time Warden of 
Manchester. 

By deed dated i Oct, 17 Hen. VII. (1501), Robert Chetham 
of Manchester, gent, enfeoffed Mr. James Stanley, Archdeacon 
of Richmond and Warden of the College Church of our Blessed 
Ladye of Manchester, Sir William Bradford, Priest, Richard 
Bexwicke the elder, Richard Bexwicke the younger, James 
Radcliffe, Richard Hunt, and Adam Holland of Manchester, 
MarcluxntSy their heirs and assigns for ever, of messuages, lands, 
&c., for the endowment of a Chantry within the said " College 
Church," the Warden of the College and one of the Vicars to be 
perpetual feoffees, with power for the Warden and " two of the 
most eldest Vicars of the College," the Churchwardens of the 
said Church, and the feoffees, for the time being, to remove the 
chantry Priest for criminous conduct On the 23 April, 15 Hen. 
VIII., "Mr. James Stanley Archdeacon of Richmond and late 
Bishop of Ely," and all the original feoffees, except Richard 
Hunt, were dead. 21 June, 22 Hen. VII., James, Bishop of Ely 
released to Ralph Hulme, his heirs and assigns for ever, all the 
right which the said Bishop had or hereafter might have, in all 
the messuages, lands and tenements in Manchester and elsewhere 
in the county of Lancaster, which formerly belonged to John 
Huntingdon, Warden of the Coll. of B. M. of Manchester. The 



36 Wardens of Manchester. 

signature is bold and distinct — " Ja. Elien " — the seal small and 
broken. 

He was advanced to the spiritualities of the See of Ely by the 
Bull of Provision of Pope Julius II., dated 17 July, 1506, and on 
the 5 November, 1506, Henry VII. restored to him the temporal- 
ities of the See, which had accumulated during a vacancy of nine 
months to nearly 2,500/. He is described at this time as Dean of 
St. Martin's, London, and Archdeacon of Richmond, both of which 
dignities he vacated in 1506 ; but held the Wardenship of Man- 
chester in commendam. Godwin styles him Doctor of Divinity. 

In 1506, as "Master or Custos" of the Collegiate Church of 
Manchester, Dr. Stanley, along with the Fellows of the same, 
being " Rectors and proprietors of the said Church," having ma- 
turely and deliberately considered the subject, granted their 
licence to the founders of a certain Chapel on the eastern part 
of the Collegiate Church, lately built to the glory of God the 
Saviour, and in honour of the name of jESUS, by Richard 
Bexwicke junior, Richard Bexwicke senior, and others of the 
guild of St. Saviour, on certain conditions. The Warden's seal is 
appended to the deed, being the assumption of the Blessed Virgin 
Mary, with arms folded, within the Vesica piscis, and her body 
irradiated. On two shields are the Arms of Gresley and De la 
Warr. 

In 1506 he resigned the Rectory of Walton-on-the-Hill, and 
Richard Dudley, M.A., was instituted on the 12 August, on the 
presentation of Mr. Edmund Dudley, by grant from Edmund 
Molyneux, Esq. {Inst. Book Lichf.) And on the 18 March, 1507-8, 
Hugh Hill, Chaplain, was instituted to the parish Church of 
Rotherstone (Rostherne, county of Chester), vacant by the con- 
secration of James Stanley to the Bishoprick of Ely, on the 
presentation of Thomas Lovell, knight, and Edmund Dudley 
Esq. {Ibid) 

In the MS, History of tlie Wardens in the College of Arms it 
is recorded that **at Manchester he built a most sumptuous 
Chappell on ye North side of the Church being xxviii yards long 



James Stanley (2), 1485-1506. 37 

and IX yards broad, and a square Chappell on ye North side of 
that againe hee built. He built the South side of the Wood- 
worke in the Quire ; ye seates for ye Warden, Fellowes and 
Churchmen (choristers.^) being xxx seates on both sydes (and 
Mr. Richard Beswicke that built Jesus Chappell, builded th'other 
syde"). Although it is distinctly recorded that he built the large 
Chapel dedicated to S. John the Baptist, as well as the small one 
on its north side, in 15 13, it has been conjectured that he was 
only the co-founder of these Chapels, and that his natural son 
was united with him. The only ground for this supposition seems 
to be that over the door of the north chantry were the Arms of 
Stanley (base line) impaling Honford, and an inscription in Latin, 
which is now gone, but which existed in 1632. Nor is the gene- 
rally received opinion correct that the oak tabernacle work on 
the north side of the choir was erected by Richard Beck, who, 
although a liberal Churchman and a connection of the Bexwickes, 
had no part in it 

Warden Stanley's munificence was not confined to Manchester, 
as he was a considerable benefactor to Jesus College, Cambridge, 
having, 22 Hen. VH., impropriated to the use of the College the 
Rectory of Great Shelford in Cambridgeshire, partly for the 
foundation of a Fellowship, in the exclusive nomination and 
appointment of the Bishops of Ely, as well as another Fellowship 
in the sapie University, the patronage of which he annexed to 
that see ; and to him the College owed its first set of Statutes, 
which he got confirmed by Pope Julius H. He also founded a 
Grammar School in the College, with a master and usher, which 
was held in the buildings situated " between the tower and the 
Fellows' gardens." 

Bishop Stanley acceded to the request of his devout and 
liberal step-mother, Mar^ret Countess of Richmond and Derby, 
for the suppression of the Hospital of St John the Evangelist in 
Cambridge ; and her son, the King, granted her a licence for that 
purpose and for the endowment of St John's College on its site 
[cf State Papers, For, atid Dom,, Henry VIIL, No. 406, 7 Aug., 



38 Wardens 0/ Manchester. 

1 509* P- 55 of Calendar] \ but the foundation was temporarily 
suspended by the deaths of the King and Foundress occurring 
within a few months of each other. In carrying out the inten- 
tions of the Lady Margaret's Will, Bishop Fisher and her other 
executors had to contend with many difficulties and much oppo- 
sition, especially as the Bishop of Ely was no longer willing to 
consent to the dissolution of the Hospital Every difficulty was 
at length overcome by the persevering labours of Bishop Fisher, 
and the old Hospital was dissolved 20 January, 1 5 10; and in 
1515, a few months after the death of Bishop Stanley, the build- 
ing of St. John's College was finished and solemnly opened in 
the year following. The Bishop also built the Rectory house 
or Palace of the See of Ely, at Somersham, in the county of 
Hunts., where he resided and kept great hospitality. 

On the 28 November, 11 Hen. VHI. (1519), in a suit regarding 
Theile Moor and the Boundaries of Manchester Parish, in the 
Duchy Court, "John Thorpe, aet 85, deposed that he was tenant 
to the Earl of Sussex, and was present when James Stanley, 
Clerk, Warden of Manchester, did meet upon Theile Moor, and 
there did tend the Meres between that Parish and the Parish of 
Oldham, and did take an order at the same time that none should 
drive but with a little Dog and a Wand of one year's growing." 
(Clietltam Evid, MS) In a suit about the Tithes of Manchester 
and the Boundaries of the Parish, May 1601, it was deposed that 
the boundaries were set long since by one James Stanley, Bishop 
of Ely, and Warden of the College of Manchester, and that on 
the 8 January, 1592, an order was made by Henry, Earl of Derby* 
upon an Inquisition and Certificate made by Justices of the Peace* 
that certain parts of Theile Moor were in the Parish of Manchester, 
and the rest within the Parish of Prestwich, and so to be taxed 
and assessed in all taxations for her Majesty's service. (/&.) 

The Wardenship of Manchester was resigned by the Bishop in 
1506, and his preferments, though various, do not appear to have 
been indecently accumulated, but to have been vacated from 
time to time. It has been said, but apparently on insufficient 



y antes Stanley (^2) y 1485-1506. 39 

• 

ground, that he was indebted for them to the powerful influence 
of his step-mother, the Lady Margaret ; and Baker says, the 
Bishop's appointment to Ely was the worst thing the Lady 
Margaret ever did. He was one of the supervisors, although not 
a legatee, of the will of his father, Thomas, first Earl of Derby, 
dated July 28, 1504, in which will the Earl besought his son-in- 
law, the king, " to be a good Lord " to James Stanley, his son, 
whom he had charged on his blessing to do as good service as 
lay in his power, and so to continue during his life, to the king 
and all his. 

The Bishop afterwards had an opportunity of showing his 
devoted loyalty to the royal house of Tudor ; and it seems to be 
admitted that his activity in raising troops in Lancashire and 
Cheshire, contributed materially to the victory at Flodden, in 
1513, where his grand-son, "yonge John Stanley," commander 
of his contingent, was for his bravery knighted on the field of 
battle. In the poem of "The Scottish Field," printed by the 
Chetham Society, it seems that the Earl of Surrey sent from 
Pontefract, where he then was located, to Manchester or Lathom, 
to the Bishop, who was probably with his relatives at this time, 
although the poet records that ** he bode in those partes.'* It is 
clear, however, that he had relinquished the dignity of Warden 
of Manchester. He was commanded to summon the shire in the 
king's name, and to see the army raised and put in battle array, 
he being "put in more power than any other Prelate." His 
efforts were eminently successful, and they are minutely detailed. 
He is described (11. 372-395) as 

" .... a Bishop full bolde , For his witte and his wisdome, 

that borne was at Lathum, and his wale deedes. 

Of Eley that ylke lorde He was a piller of peace 

that epe was of deedes ! the people amonge ; 

An egg of that bolde erle His servants they mair syke 

that named was Standley, and sorrow for his sake, 

Nere of nature to the Duke What for pitie and for paine 

that noble have been ever ; my pen doth me fayle. 

But now death with his dart I will medle with this matter 

hath driven him awaye ! No more at this tyme. 

It is a losse to the Ixmde, But he that his maklcs of mercic 

our Lorde have his soule ! have mynd on his soule ! " 



40 Wardens of Manchester. 

Notwithstanding poetic eulogy, we may fairly conclude that 
the Bishop was not exactly endowed with those high qualifica- 
tions which were indispensable in a dignified ecclesiastic, and 
the want of which in a prelate must have been felt as calamitous 
to the spiritual interests of the Church. Habits and tempers 
like his would fan the smouldering embers of the Reformation 
which, over-ruled by Providence, ultimately burst into a flame 
which purified the Church and gave light to the world. His 
friend and legatee. Dr. Standish (who was probably one of his 
chaplains), was afterwards Bishop of St. Asaph, and the oppo- 
nent of Erasmus and Dean Colet. 

The Bishop had some commendable regard to his final resting 
place, and wished his dust to repose in his own county and, if it 
might be, in his own Church. It was his belief which prompted 
the dying wish ; and it may be said of him as of the old Patriarch 
that "by faith he gave commandment concerning his bones," 
for, notwithstanding his failings, he believed in Jesus as " the 
Resurrection and the Life," and I have met with no evidence to 
corroborate the popular tradition that he died under the sentence 
of excomnlunication. The report is that his body was not per- 
mitted to be buried within the walls of a church, but that filial 
piety placed the remains of the bishop as near the sacred building 
as possible, and afterwards, in conformity with the dictates of 
of right feeling, enclosed them by adding a small projecting 
edifice. 

This is mere conjecture and opposed to temporary statements. 
In 1545, the Chantry Commissioners reported to the King that 
the chantry in the new chapel within the parish church of 
Manchester was of the foundation of James Stanley, Bishop of 
Ely, to celebrate there for the souls of the said Bishop and his 
ancestors, and the inscription over the door of the large chapel 
which asked for prayers for James, Bishop of Ely, John Stanley, 
Knight, and Margaret his wife, and their Parents, wfio built the 
said Chapel^ would lead to the conclusion that various members 
of the family had contributed to the foundation, some of whom 
had died long before it was built. 



y ames Stanley {i), 1485 — 1506. 41 

The Bishop's Will is dated xx March 15 14-15, and he styles 
himself "by the sufferance of our Lord God, Bishop of Ely. My 
body to be buried in a new Chapel in my Cathedral church of 
Ely, or else in my new Chapel now in building at Manchester. 
I will that the chapel be made for me to be buried and rest my 
bones in at the east end of my Cathedral Church, for the which 
I will c marks to be bestowed upon walls, iron work, glass and 
covering, besides my tomb, on which tomb I will xl marks be 
bestowed by the advice of Master Alday, Sir Ranulph Pole, and 
Sir John Claydon my Receiver. I give and bequeath to remain 
in the said Chapel a Chalice gilt, &c. I will that another Chapel 
be builded and made at Manchester, on the north side of the 
Church betwixt St. James' Chapel and the east end of the same 
Church, with a tomb therein for me, by advice of Master Alday, 
Master Warden of Manchester, with xx^ a year for finding two 
Priests to sing in my said Chapel ; to Doctor Standish, xl*. I 
will that Sir John Stanley, knight, Thomas Stanley his brother, 
William Serjaunt and Alexander Tyldesley be my executors. 
Proved 23 May 15 15, at Canterbury." (Testamenta Vctusta, 
p. 535, from Lansdawn MS., p. 949.) 

It seems probable that Sir John Stanley completed the 
smaller chantry agreeably to the directions of his grandfather's 
will, and within it his lordship's remains were interred. A 
square tomb of grey marble was erected, on the table of which 
is still to be seen a small effigy of the Bishop, in brass, in his 
pontifical robes, and the arms of Stanley and his Bishoprick 
quartered, with this inscription : — 

Aff Tgwc rtiarttr pras for tfie luittle of JFamen StAiOrs liStffm 
biuilispe of Olf atm OUrBini of tfito CoIIeDgr of IHantfietitfr 
WtUift DemutfD otttr of tfite tramitore taiorlOe tfie xx*i Base of 
IMarrlii S^ S^ of ottr lorD <SoD f^.eeeee ^ XV. uftm taifms 
flumi atm all CTfirtotiati SoiiUi if^enii tiatie mrrcs* 

Tfbe Deo gratMt toto nrotilio titiirolatiui. 
Crimfnc mutiDatitflK irmper tramfre yaratitf* 
^fi tiomimtm tuMtue quo gratii corDe ut tptOl Dfligttis 
toanttatrm rt tuerit' mmDadiiiii 
SMnam Mperetit rt itttelUgemitt ac nototosima ptobQitmit 

(; 



42 Wardens of Manchester, 

There is a line etching of this Brass in Dr. H. Ware's Hisi, 
Coll. Ch, of Manchester, I. vol. ii. p. 322. On many parts of the 
glass in the Chapel was the motto, Memorate novissima. The 
Metrical History of the House of Stanley bestows upon him the 
following lines : 

He did end his lyfe in merrie Manchester 
And ryght honourably lyeth he buryed there 
In his Chappell, which he began of freestone ; 
Syr John Stanley built it owt when he was gone. 
God send his Sowle to the heavenly companye. 
Farewell, godlye James, Bysshop of Elye. 

This poem has been erroneously attributed to him by Collins, 
who had evidently not seen it Its author was Thomas Stanley, 
Bishop of Sodor and Man, son of Edward first Lord Montegle 
but Seacome is wrong in stating that he ultimately became the 
second Lord Montegle. In the same poem the Bishop of Ely is 
described : — 

His third sonne was James, a goodlye man, a priest ; 

Yet little Priests' mettle was in him, by Christ. 

• • • • • 

A goodly tall man as was in all England 

And spedd well all matters that he took in hand. 

He was one of the representative men of his day, entering, 
like other members of his family, into the leading political ques- 
tions, and taking his part in the discussion of the great principles 
which agitated the country. Notwithstanding Godwin's unj'ust 
remark, that he died without performing any one thing worthy 
to be remembered, his name deserves to be rescued from obloquy, 
and there are numerous proofs of his liberality, generosity, and 
public spirit His chief failing seems to have been a violation 
of the vow of celibacy, for which he probably obtained a dis- 
pensation. 

(Wood's-/! /Am. Oxon.y\o\X\, pp. 704-7 ; Newcourt*si?<5^/^?ri«iw, 
vol. i. pp. 160-1 ; Le Neve, voL L pp. 601, 161, voL ii. p. 643, 
vol. iii. p. 140 ; Collins (Brydges), vol. iii. p. 65 ; Hist of Chadwick 
FanLy 4to. p. 562 ; MS. in Coll. Arm. c 37 ; Dr. Hibb.- Ware's 
Hist, Coll, Ch, vol. i. p. 50, app. p. 382, and vol. ii. p. 327 ; Willis' 



yatptes Stanley {2), 1485 — 1546. 43 

Hist York Cath,, vol. i. p. 131 ; Ormerod's Hist Chesh^ voL iii. 
p. 641 ; Harl. Bibl, 2129, p. 66 \ Robson's Flodden^ Chetham 
MiscelL, vol. 2 ; Wordsworth's Eccles, Biog,, vol. iii. p. 305 ; 
Knight's Life of Colet ; Hist of House of Stanley, p. 119; Hist 
Lane. Chantries, p. 28 seq, ; Heywood's Verse Writers, Stanley 
Papers, part i ; Godwin's de Presul,, ed. 1616, p. 331 ; Memor. of 
Cambr,, Wright and Jones, vol. i. p. 6, Jesus Coll. ; Cooper's 
Atlien. Cantabr,, vol. i. p. 16). 

Prior Robert Stuart has, in a few words, in his Anglia Sacra, 
described the Bishop as " Armis quam libris peritior." On the 15 
June, 1812, the Bishop's tomb was reverently opened, in the 
presence of the Rev. C. D. Wray, M.A., at that time one of the 
chaplains of the Collegiate Church ; by Mr. Thomas Baritt, the 
Antiquary, and others ; but nothing was discovered except bones. 
The Bishop appeared to have been a tall man, and to have been 
rightly described by the family poet, as to stature. Dugdale has 
preserved the arms of the Bishop's family, impaling those of his 
see. 

There is some confusion as to the Bishop's natural son and his 
grandsons. It might seem that the " Young John Stanley," who 
was at Flodden, was not the son but the grandson of the Bishop 
of Ely, and that the aged Prelate in his will appointed his two 
grandsons his executors, and that John Stanley, of Elford, was 
not the Bishop's son. On the 26 May, 1494, 10 H. VII., John 
Stanley of Elford, Esq., William Tatton, Robert Chauntrell, 
John Ashley, Thomas Fitton of Pownall, and Edward Buckley, 
give and confirm to Thomas Leicester, Thomas Hawardyn, 
Peter Leicester and Robert Leicester all the messuages, lands, 
rents, and services in Chorlcy, Fulshagh, and Werford, held of 
them by certain tenants to Hold during the life of Agnes, then 
wife of Robert Honford Jun' Rem' after her death to John 
Stanley, Son of John Stanley, of Elford, Esq., and Agnes, dau' 
of the said Robert Honford, Jun"" and the heirs of the body of the 
said John and Agnes, lawfully b^otten, for ever. But if John 
Stanley the Son had no lawful issue by the said Agnes, Rem' 



44 Wardens of Manchester. 

to the said Agnes and the lawful issue of her body. In default 
Rem^ to the right heirs of Robert Honford, Sen"" Father of the 
said Robert Honford, Jun^. Witness Sir Geoffrey Massey kt 
William Davenport of Bromhall and Thomas Leigh of Leigh 
Esquires. Dat. at Chorley 26 May 10 Hen. VH. And yet 
noticing this settlement on 4 Hen. VHI. (1S13) William Honford 
of Honford, Esq. (and others) was a feoffee of Sir Edmund 
Trafford of Trafford, kt., of a parcel of land for a Chantry at 
Wilmslow. {Lane, MSS,, vol. xxxvii. pp. 137-8; Trafford Evid.) 
Sir John Stanley of Honford, kt, the Bishop's illegitimate Son, 
bore arms Or, three Eagles^ legs erased gules, on a chief assure as 
many stags^ heads caboshed of the first. 



Robert Cliff, supposed to be a native of Cheshire, and pro* 
bably descended from the Clives of Huxley (ancestors of the 
earls of Powis), as that family were often described as Cliff or 
Clyffe, and were intimately connected with ecclesiastics. Richard 
Cliff, Esq., of Huxley, in the diocese of Chester, was a friend of 
John (Bird) Bishop of Chester, and on the 26 March, 1547, re- 
commended to him as a sub-deacon Richard Clyve of the same 
diocese. (Book of Orders at Chester) Dr. William Clyffe, who 
had been connected with the Abbey of St. Werbergh, was pre- 
sented by the abbot and convent to the rectory of Waverton, 
in which parish was Huxley Hall, the seat of the Clives (Orme- 
rod's Cheshire, vol. ii. p. 801), and probably was the William Cliff, 
LL.D., who died in 1558, Rector of Standish, having been Arch- 
deacon of London (1529), Treasurer of York (1538), and after- 
wards Dean of Chester, of which last dignity he was deprived in 
1558, and died in the same year. (Newcourt, vol. i. p. 62.) 

Robert Cliff was educated at Oxford and Cambridge ; at the 
latter place he was a member of Clement Hospital, and gradu- 
ated BcL. 1496, and afterwards commenced LL.D. He was 
admitted " to the Guardianship of the Collegiate Church of Man- 
chester, by the removal of the last Guardian, on the presentation 
of our most illustrious Lord, the King, for special reason, 29 Oct., 



Robert Cliffy I $o6 — 1516. 45 

1 506." {Lichf. Reg) He occurs, 19 July, 22 Henry VII. (i 507), as 
"Master Robert Cliff, Warden of the College of B. Marie of 
Manchester," being at that time one of the four Awarders 
"towching the disposal of the trust estate of John Huntingdon," 
the Warden, the Bishop of Ely watching the proceedings and 
being instrumental in bringing the litigation to a favourable issue. 
(Gastrell, vol. ii. p. 62.) The date of Warden Cliff's appointment 
as given by all the local historians, and by the A then. Cantabr,^ 
voL i. p. 66, is erroneous, as it is clear that Stanley vacated his 
dignity in Manchester immediately upon his consecration as 
Bishop of Ely, and that Cliff was his successor, although alto- 
gether omitted by Dugdale and Assheton. 

May 26, 1502, Robert Cliff, Bachelor in both laws, was official 
of John V^s^Yy LL.D., Archdeacon of Chester (Lichf, Reg), and 
Feb. 15, 1504. {Lane, MSS,, vol. xxii., Rysley Evid) On the 
23 Sept., 1511, in the Parish Church of Blackburn, before the 
Dean of the Deanery of Blackburn, as official of the Archdeacon 
of Chester, he investigated the legality of the contract of espou- 
sals of Thomas Chadwick of Healey Hall, in Rochdale, and 
Grace Radcliffe, being minors : and annulled the same before 
consummation on the joint petition of the parties, on the 11 
March, 1511-12, being styled "Robertus Clyff in utroquc jure 
baccal., officialis domini Archdi Cestriai." The King, by his sign 
manual and letters patent dated at Lancaster on the 26 July, 15 
Henry VII. (1500), granted the guardianship of the person and 
lands of the said Chadwick, and also his marriage, to James 
Stanley, Clerk (the Warden and Archdeacon). (Hist, of Fam. of 
Chadwick, in Cony's Latic., pp. 563, 647, 648.) 

In the Whallcy Compotus of 1478, a pension of iii« iv** was 
paid by the Abbey to " Magister Clyff," who was a dependent, 
probably in holy orders, of that house (Whitaker's Wlialley, p. 94), 
although not admitted as a student at Cambridge until 1488 
(Athcn. Cantabr), and in the Compotus of 1521, the gift of iii* \w^ 
again occurs to "Mag. Clyff," who had, however, at that time 
ceased to be Warden. That the payment had been due to him 



46 Wardens of Manchester. 

appears from the fact that a Dean of Chester did not at that time 
exist, and the House of Whalley was regarded with great affec- 
tion by the Collegiate Church, having large possessions in Man- 
chester, Eccles and Dean. At this time, a gift was paid by the 
Abbey to the " Official of Chester," so that this payment to Clyff 
was independent of the Wardenship, although he had held both 
offices. {Ibid,, vol. i. p. 122.) In the 1 1 Henry VHI. (1519), a debt 
upon bond given by Warden Cliff to the Abbot of Whalley " for 
the use of a Priest and the support of the College of Manchester," 
was claimed by Warden West, and resisted by Abbot Paslew 
(Duch. Lane, quoted in Hibbert-Ware I., vol. L p. 382), so that 
it is more than probable that the Warden had been, in early 
life, an official of this religious house. 

In 1509, Bishop Oldham nominated him the first Visitor of the 
Grammar School of Manchester, but survived his Visitor three 
years, so that the Warden did not discharge the duty entrusted 
to him. He does not appear to have been subject to Bernard 
Gilpin's reproof of " growing wanton with stall feeding,*' like so 
many of his contemporaries, nor yet to have been " picking what 
he could get off a common," as he was not unmindful of his 
College, but bequeathed a pension for the support of a Priest, 
and for other purposes connected with the Church. (Hibbert- 
Ware's Hist, vol. i. p. 182.) 

The Rectories of Northwold in Norfolk, and of Outwell St 
Clement, near Wisbeach, were both given to him by the Bishop 
of Ely, who had appreciated his merits and probably secured him 
the Wardenship. (lb,, p. 56.) He was also Rector of Cottenham, 
in Cambridgeshire. Dr. Hibbert-Ware supposed that he vacated 
the office of Warden in 1 5 1 3 or 1 5 14, but what led to the vacating 
of it was unknown. 

He held the dignity to the time of his death, which occurred 
before the 29 July, 15 16 {Lichf, Reg), as the vacancy is referred 
to his death in the presentation of Warden West. This may be 
an error, and the Wardenship was probably resigned, as it appears 
from the Athen. Cantabr, (vol. i. p. 66), that on 25 June, 1525, he 



Robert Cliff, 1 506—1 516. 47 

became Vicar of Wisbech, in Cambridgeshire [a living which 
he resigned before the 3rd July, 1533], and was constituted 
Chancellor Official Principal and Commissary of the Diocese of 
Ely. "On the 29 October, 1529, he was excommunicated by Dr. 
Edmunds, Vice-Chancellor of the University, for infringing the 
privileges of that body. The matter being referred to Cardinal 
Wolsey, he confirmed what the Vice-Chancellor had done, and 
ordered Dr. Clyffe to submit, which he accordingly did, and 
obtained absolution. He was one of the learned Canonists sum- 
moned to the Convocation on the business of the King's divorce. 
In 1 5 3 1, he was convicted in the King's Bench of having infringed 
the statutes prohibiting intercourse with the Court of Rome, but 
obtained the King's special letters of protection. He died before 
2 June, 1538." (Cooper's A then, Cantabr,^ p. 6j ; Hibbert-Ware, 
vol. iii. p. 75.) [The year of excommunication should be 1528.] 

The following Letters are endorsed, " M*" Warden's Ires about 
y* Tythe of y« More 11^ h. viii", and are copies in the hand- 
writing of that reign. It does not appear to whom they were 
addressed, but it is not improbable, as they refer to lands in 
Crumpsall, Chetham and Chaderton, that they were addressed 
to Bishop Oldham, Mr. Chaderton, or to some of their kinsfolk, as 
they were found amongst the Beswicke Evidences at Pike House, 
May 3, 1842. The style, "Right Worshipful Sir," implies eccle- 
siastical as well as civil rank. From the passage in the third 
letter, " my brother-in-law, and his neibor," it appears that Robert 
ClyfT was connected with a family in Manchester, and as Exlmund 
Chaderton of Nuthurst married Margery, daughter of ... . Cliffe 
and niece (sister ?) of Warden Cliflfe, and was father of Bishop 
Chaderton (Notitia Cestr.^ voL i. p. 8), he is probably the person 
here indicated. As the three letters appear to be dated on the 
same day, they may have been addressed to various individuals. 

I. H. S. 
" Right W'shipfull S' my full duetie Rembit to yo^ w'ship w* 
humble comendaoons I thank you for yo' moche kyndenes aswell 



48 Wardens of Manchester. 

at london as where ells for whiche ye haue bounden me to the 
utfmost of my smale power duryng my lyffe And where I was 
p^'pesed to haue waited apon you at y* tyme / verely it is so y* 
I receyued as yesrday a Ire from the quenes grace w^by I hade 
soche knolwige y^ I colde not in any wise kepe my suche promes 
insomyche as she willed me to deffer my suche p'pes for certen 
dayes / wheropon I beseche yo^ w^'ship so tend^'lie [as I] can and 
as eu I may do you sves to be gud m*" in the mar y* hangs in yo' 
hands / wherin verely I dowt not / ye may do what shalbe yo^ 
owne pleasur cunveniently / and in yo^ w^'ship haHi yai trusted a 
long tyme, and now it lathe in you to do so for yem as yai shalbe 
your beademen and sVantts so long as yai ly ve / wherof I beseche 
you w^ all my hert and as my trust is / Certyfying y^ w^'ship su- 
dele further in this mat so it is my brother and oyj be in condi- 
tion for sellyng of the same lande / yt is now in variance to 
take money for y« same / ellis to chaunge it for oyl land where 
ellis / and yet w* suche as shalbe bothe of substance f power by 
himselfe / and also befor frynds to record yat y* is y« right / whiche 
thing I wolde be lothe shulde ensue / bicause it lith so comodi- 
ously for my frynds / and also I wolde not gladly thother ptie 
shuldbe trowblet / but surely rather yen thay shulde entreat y« 
pore men on this ma8 surely I think such pvision or exchews- 
aunce wold be made / wherepon it may please yo^ maisrship 
eftsones ones to halfe in y* p'miss* / and wher I vnderstand y« 
othS ptie doth onlie clayme infcomyn w* y« pore men as I 
haue lerned of tempall lawiers / in this thay gfraunte the p^ptie 
and verey right title of the sole and grounde to be in 
Cheth"m & Chad'ton / whiche beyng of trowth thay are not Jus- 
tifie to dryve any catell on the said Cheth**m f Chad'ton a 
syde / and onles thay can pve suche title of entrecomyn to haue 
bene vsed wk)ut in?uppc6 / thay said lawiers say it wolde be 
saide for yem to Justifie y) suche clayme / wolde god I might 
haue waited apon you at ys tyme Albeit yf yo^ m^ship thinck I 
culd do any good for to wait apon you in this behalf please it 
you /yf ye can not oy^wise order y« pmiss to rememb^ this 



Robert Cliff, 1 506 — 1 5 1 6. 49 

greate matf/and the plament yt is so moche spoken of/ and 
apointe a tyme conuenient when ye thinke I shalbe at laisP / and 
I wulnot faaiele by godds grace to wait apon you / nottw^tandyng 
I beseche you to take some paynes and by yo^ wisdome to order 
y« ^mis as right wele / thus the Haly goeste psVe you in helth 
and when ye be mery sutymes wisshe me y) / from Cambrigge 
vltio August y*" moste assu'd. Rob* Clyff pst" 

"Right w'shypfull S*" in all my full hertie man'r I comend 
me to you / w* like thanks for yo^ manyfolde kyndnes f grace 
there as well at London as where elles bcsechyng you to do som- 
what in the mat I spake to you of and my broth*" lykewise / 
reserve (onles yo^ gudenes) I know well my frynds shalbe putte 
mychc wrong w^'appen / as eu I may do you s'vice helpe yem / 
according to conscience & justice / In whiche mat please it you 
to understand / sub modo forti / yf thother ptie be not content to 
suffer them to vse y« lande aftr y« notis / forsothe meanes is halfe 
redy made f mediation had apon w^ soche frends as wole not 
faiele to receve y« very ryght ' and gcfe my said frends large 
money or byl landc for y« same w^'bie v*lie thother shall have no 
greate vauntage bi y*" suche doying and besides yat suche ground 
as is inclosed / to be ordert according to y« Statute notw^standyng 
I hade moche rather my said poure frynds might enioye y« rights 
yem selfe w* fauo^ of thees ptie wherapon eftsones beseche you*" 
godenes as aboue w'bic ye shall bynd me body and guds / thus 
the Holgoste pserve you /from Cambrigie ulti6 Augusti you"" 
owne ass'red Rob* Cliff p'st" 

" S*" suche newes are comyn (and y* gud) y* I can not wait 
appon you myselfe as I was ppsed." 

** Right WhorshipfuU I comend me to you in my most hertie 
man*" whith lykc thanks for yo^ moche gudenes aswcll to myselfe 
as to my poure frynds in those ptics ' for y« wich Y^ be ass*ed of me 
to y« utt<^most of my smalc power / paying you for continuance of 
the same / specially at this tyme of you' gudenes to helpe my 

II 



50 Wardens of Manchester. 

b'other in lawe& his neibur to y« right where a 3ten mater of theires 
is putte yu and cten oy! wheare I know well ye may do moche / 
wherfore I beseche you as eu I can or may do you svice to helpe 
in the ^miss / for whene I was fully ppsed to have be w^ you this 
tyme it is so I can not althoe the land where myn awne / and 
yTore my speciall trust is in you so knoweth ou lord who pserve 
you to his ^leas / from Cambrig ult August, by you*" awne asSred 

Robt. ClyfTe/' 

[A graphic picture of Dr. Cliff's carriage in the case of his 
quarrel with the University of Cambridge, is quoted from Dr. 
Lamb's Cambridge Documents, in Cooper's History of Cambridge^ 
vol. i. p. 327-9 ; see also the Henry VHI. State Papers, Brewer, 
vol. iv. p. 21 14. Cliff defended Nicholas West, the Bishop of 
Ely, his master, '* in a great stomach " and in " a stoute glory." 
The phrase " your mastership," and other touches in the speech, 
confirm the authenticity of the Pike House letters. ClifFs 
troubles in this business lasted more than a year, and the excom- 
munication weighed upon him. One of his letters is extant in 
the Record Office, addressed to Wolsey, in which he writes as 
one who has been long unused to converse with men, though 
living among them, and as one who has not for many days per- 
formed the office of priest ; and he besought Wolsey in the 
name of Christ, whose Nativity was at hand \i.e,y the 1529 anni- 
versary], to hear and make an end of his cause. If he could not 
grant a perpetual absolution, he begged that he might at least 
have on^ for the holidays. The reference in the first Pike House 
letter to the Parliament about to meet, seems to be that opened 
by Sir Thomas More, 3 Nov., 1529, in which an act was passed 
against pluralities, and non-residence of the clergy. 

Dr. Cliff personally attended the Convocation of 8 Nov., 1529, 
being one of the Proctors of the diocese of Ely. Amongst those 
summoned were Will. Knyght, Archdeacon of Chester ; John, 
Abbot of Whalley ; Will, Abbot of Vale Royal ; Chr., Abbot of 
Combarmere; John, Abbot of St. Werburgh ; the Abbot of Nor- 
ton ; Rob., Prior of Burscough ; John, Prior of Birkynhead ; and 
the Prior of Holland. (Brewer's State Papers, pp. 2699-2700.) 



Master Alday, ^.1515. 51 

The Queen referred to in the first Pike House letter, is Queen 
Catherine, whose divorce was then pending. It does not appear 
that Cliff was one of her counsel ; but the Bishop of Ely was her 
intimate friend {State Papers, vol. iv. p. 2579), and one of her 
advocates {Ath, Ox., vol. ii. p. 706). In February, 1530, Cliff 
attended a meeting of the heads of the University of Cambridge, 
summoned at the King's instance, to ascertain the opinion of 
that body on the proposed divorce, and Gardner wrote an account 
of the meeting to the King, which is printed amongst the Records 
in Burnet's Reformation, From this report, we gather that Cliff 
expressed himself against the King's wishes, and was to speak 
somewhat concerning the Canon law in the matter, but the 
speech is not given. {Cf, State Papers, vol iv. p. 2808.) — Ed.] 



Alday. — This Warden is omitted in all the lists of 

these dignitaries, and Mr. Whatton was the first to enumerate 
him amongst the Wardens. (Hibbert- Ware's Hist ColL Ch,, p. 56.) 
He was one of the Domestic Chaplains and probably Confessor 
of Dr. Stanley, the Bishop of Ely, and appears to have lived on 
the most friendly terms with his patron, being associated with 
him in the labours of his Diocese. The Bishop, in his last Will, 
dated 20 March, 15 14-15 {Test, Vetusta, vol. ii. p. 535, 8vo), de- 
sired that 40 marks might be bestowed on his tomb to be erected 
in a new chapel at the east end of Ely Cathedral, by the advice 
of Master Alday, Sir Ranulph Pole, and Sir John Clayden, his 
receiver. The Bishop also provided that a tomb should be raised 
"in his new Chapel now in building at Manchester," "by advice 
of Master Alday, Master Warden of Manchester,'.' and yet there 
is no evidence that Alday was ever appointed or installed as 
Warden. This reference to his office is so distinct that it is not 
easy to account for the omission of his name in the Registry of 
the Diocese. West is stated to be the next successor of Dr. Cliff, 
but as the exact date of Cliff's death is unknown, it may be as- 
sumed that Alday had been nominated his successor, but not 
legally instituted. As Bishop Stanley died on the 31 March^ 



52 Wardens of Mancfuster. 

eleven days after the date of his Will, and the admission of West 
as Warden took place in July of the following year, Alday's term 
of office was very brief. When it ceased is unknown. 

On the 20 August, 1515, 7 Henry VIIL, Alday and the Fel- 
lows were united with Bishop Oldham, Thomas Langley, Rector 
of Prestwich, Hugh Bexwicke, and Ralph Hulme, to nominate 
and appoint a Master of the Grammar School of Manchester, 
and after their death the appointment was intended by the Bishop 
to be vested in the Warden and Fellows for the time being 
(Whetton's Hist Gram, Sch, of Manch,y p. 10), but the Beswickes 
afterwards transferred the patronage to Corpus Cliristi College, 
Oxford. 

The name might be originally Aldoun. Sir Thomas de Aldoun, 
a Kentish knight, vix. anno 1381. (Wordsworth's £'rr/. -fiwjjr., 
vol. L p. 234.) 



Sir George West was the third son of Sir Thomas West, 
Lord de la Warr, K.G., by his second wife, Eleanor, daughter of 
Sir Roger Copley of Gatton, in the county of Surrey, knt. (Collins, 
Brydges, vol. v. p. 16.) His father, in the 22 Henry VIH., sub- 
scribed the declaration to Pope Clement VH., intimating that his 
supremacy would not be regarded in England unless he complied 
with Queen Catherine's divorce ; and on the dissolution of the 
great Monasteries he exchanged several manors at the instigation 
of the King, for those which had belonged to the religious houses. 
(/J., p. 13.) His father, by will dated Octobers, 1524, settled 
his large estates, in failure of issue of his son and heir apparent 
and his heirs male, on his second son Owen West and his heirs 
male, with remainder to George the third son and his heirs male; 
but the tocsin of the Court having at this early period sounded 
the hard fate impending the Church, his father bequeathed his 
third son, being an ecclesiastic, neither lands nor legacy speci- 
fically {Testam, Vettista, vol. ii. p. 605), and he seems to have met 
with no better treatment from his mother in 1536. (Ib^ p. 672.) 
Some provision had, however, been made for him, as on the 29 



George West, 15 16—1598. 53 

July, 15 16, he was admitted " to the dignity or office of Guardian 
or Keeper of the Collegiate Church of the B. Mary of Manchester, 
vacant by the death of Robert Clyff, the last Guardian or Keeper, 
on the presentation of his father, Sir Thomas West, Knight, the 
true Patron." (Lichf, Reg) This Warden was the fourth in de- 
scent from Joan, sister and heiress of Thomas, Baron de la Warr, 
the last Rector of Mancliester and Founder of the College, she 
having married his ancestor. Sir Thomas West (Nicolas' Synops.)^ 
and through Eleanor, daughter of John, Lord Mowbray, he was 
descended from Henry, Duke of Lancaster, grandson of Henry 
III. (Collins, Brydges, vol. v. p. 6.) 

In the II Henry VIII. (15 19), Warden West claimed a debt 
upon bond given by the late Warden Cliff to the Abbot of 
Whalley for the use of a Priest and for the support of the College 
of Manchester, the Abbot having refused to dispose of the bene- 
faction according to the supposed intention of the donor. (AnUd, 
p. 46). 

Sir George West, the Warden, built the Chapel at the east end 
of the Choir first dedicated to the B. V. Mary, but commonly 
known as Sir John Byron's Chapel, and since it was purchased 
by Mr. Humphrey Chetham of Clayton, called Chetham's Chapel. 
(Asshcton's MS. Hist.) Dr. Hibbert-Ware considers that this 
Chapel is "doubtfully" ascribed to the Warden, and on the 
authority of an ancient MS,, formerly in the possession of the 
Rev. Joshua Brookes, but by an anonymous wn'ter, it is attributed 
to the Lord de la Warr, brother of the Warden, chiefly on the 
ground of his family Arms being found there, without the dis- 
tinction of a younger brother. {Hist., p. 53.) It ought to be 
remembered that ecclesiastics did not bear arms, and the family 
coat being placed in the Chapel is not a clear proof that the 
foundation was the work of a pious layman. The Warden, as 
brother of the patron of the Church, would naturally place the 
arms of his house in his own Chapel. It was once called " the 
Warden's ChapeL" (ColL Arms MS., c 37.) 

Sir George West resigned the Wardenship before the 2 Oct., 



54 Wardens of Manchester. 

1528, when his successor was appointed {Lichf. Reg), and not in 
1535, according to the statement of Dr. Hibbert-Ware. (Hist 
ColL Ch^ p. 60.) It appears that on West's resignation of the 
dignity, he stipulated with his successor for the annual payment 
of "a certain pension of 18/. during the natural life of the said 
George West " (Lictif. Reg), a sort of simoniacal transaction not 
uncommon at that period, but strongly condemned by the canons 
of the Church. 

It has been conjectured that he renounced his wardenship and 
a priestly life at the same time, in anticipation of the downfall of 
the Church (Hibbert-Ware, p. 60) ; but it is more probable that 
he obtained a dispensation to contract marriage to preserve and 
continue his ancient lineage and titles, and therefore relinquished 
his office and celibacy. He married Elizabeth, daughter and co- 
heiress of Sir Thomas Moreton of Lechlade, in the county of 
Gloucester, Knt, son of Thomas Moreton of the same place, who 
was the nephew of Archbishop Moreton, the Lord Chancellor. 
There was issue of this marriage, Margaret, wife of Thomas 
Arundel, Esq.; a second son. Sir Thomas West, Knt; and a son 
and heir, who on the death of his uncle, in half blood, Thomas, 
Lord de la Warr, and of his uncle Sir Owen West, without issue, 
would have succeeded to the family honours, but being impatient 
for his uncle's natural death, he prepared poison to dispatch him, 
which atrocity being discovered, so highly incensed him that in 
the 2 Edward VI., on complaint being made to Parliament, the 
nephew was disabled to succeed his said uncle Thomas, either in 
honours or estate, but had an allowance of 350^ per annum. In 
1568 the Queen, however, granted him a new creation to the title 
of Lord de la Warr, and he was restored in blood by the Parlia- 
ment. (Collins, p. 17.) This son of the ex- Warden sold the 
manor of Manchester and his rights and privileges therein, and 
died in 1595. 

Sir George West, during the twelve years he was Warden, 
seems to have seldom resided in the College of Manchester. He 
was buried in the Church of Warbleton, in Sussex, according to 



George Colliery 1528 — c. 1557. 55 

his testamentary bequest, dated 7 September, 1538 ; the probate 
being dated on the 27th of the same month, shows that he died 
in that month and year. (Collins, Brydges, p. 17.) 

Nothing more is known of his personal character or merits, 
and his public works were neither numerous nor munificent. He 
founded no charities, built no school, and all the events of his 
Wardenship were unimportant. He was probably a man of peace, 
as he does not occur in any suits at law, so common in his time. 
How he regarded the rising of the storm, on the remarkable men 
who affected the destinies of his College, is unknown ; but his 
absence from it in the hour of peril would be regarded with no 
favourable eye by sincere men, and it is not unlikely that if piety 
or desert had always decided relative positions, others ought to 
have been what he was. He probably abandoned his religious 
office with perfect resignation, and might feel that the Church 
had " many a worthier son than he," having little sympathy with 
public feeling, and disregarding the silent and gradual advances 
of the Reformed Faith. 

The Arms attributed to him by the writer of the MS,, c. 37, 
168, in the College of Arms, are erroneous. The Arms of West 
are Argent a f ess dancetU sable, and Sir George West being de- 
scended in the female line only from the ancient La Warrs, Lords 
La Warr, had a right only to quarter the Arms of La Warr and 
Cantelupe. The Arms given here are a combination of La Warr 
and Cantelupe. (Tho. W. King, Esq., York Herald) 



George Collier or Coleire,' was son of Robert Coleire, 
a Frenchman, who came into England in the time of Henry VL, 
and settled at Darlaston, in the county of Stafford, by Isabel his 
wife, daughter and heir of Sir John Dodington of Dodington, 

' Collier was a near relative of Cardinal Allen. William, son of Ralph Allan of 
Brockhouse, in the county of Stafford (tpc. Henry VI L), by his wife Elizabeth, dau. 
of John Allen of Rossall, in the county of Lancaster, marric<1 Margaret, dau. of John 
Collier of Darlaston, in the county of Stafford. \Pc<L of Allan of Blackwtll Grange^ 
CO, Durham ; Longstaffe's Hist. Darlington, ) 



56 Wardens of Manchester. 

Knt, who was the son of John Dodingfton by Elizabeth his wife, 
daughter of Oliver Hussey. His brothers were, Thurstan G>liere, 
who died without issue ; James Coliere of Darlaston, who mar- 
ried a daughter of ... . Leveson of Wolverhampton, and who 
was ancestor of a family of Coliere whose pedigree was entered 
at the visitation of Lancaster anno 1663 ; and Robert Coliere, of 
whom there appears no issue. (Inf. Tho. W. King, Esq., York 
Herald:) 

He was bom about the year 1488, 4 Henry VH. In 1507, 
Dom. Rob. Colyer was a member of the Corpus Christ! Guild at 
York-Register (p. 166, Surtees Soc., 1872). At the age of 40 he 
was admitted and instituted, 2 October, 1 528, as " George Collier, 
A.M.," to the office of Guardian of the Collegiate Church of the 
B. V. Mary of Manchester, vacant by the free resignation of 
Greorge West, the last Master or Keeper, on the presentation of 
Sir Thomas West, Knt, the patron. (Blythe's Reg. Lichf) It 
is also recorded that Collier covenanted to pay an annual pen- 
sion of 18/. to his predecessor during his natural life, apparently 
out of the revenues of the College. (lb,) 

On the 6 June, 24 Henry VIII., Magist. George Colyer Clerk 
Master or Guardian of B. M. of Manchester and his Fellows 
Chaplains of the said College unanimously consented to grant 
to Elena Keneon widow late wife of Adam Keneon that tene- 
ment and all the land lying in the hamlet of Newton within the 
Par. of Manchester now in her own occupation for her life and 
the life of one of her children paying yearly to the said Master 
and Fellows xxviii^ annually at the Feast of the Nativ. and St 
John the Bapt. by equal portions and rendering all services due 
and accust<^ with power of re-entry distraint &c and the custos 
and his fellows shall have power to enter the s^ premes and to 
see that they are kept in good condition and if not they shall 
remove expel &c. The common seal of the College is affixed. 

On 20 June, 32 Henry VIII., George Colyer, Clerk, Master or 
Custos of the Collegiate Church of B. M. of Manchester and his 
Fellows Chaplains of the said College with their unanimous con- 



George Collier, 1528—^. 1557. 57 

sent and assent appoint tfieir well beloved in Christ William 
Browne and Raphe Byrch their true and lawful Attorneys to 
enter into a certain tenement in Newton, called Pedley Place, late 
in the occupation of Robert Laborey deceased, and to give peace- 
able possession of the same in the name of the said Custos and 
his Fellows Chaplains to Stephen Hulme and Alice his wife, ac- 
cording to a certain Indenture to them made, dated 20 June, 
32 Henry VIII., by the said College. Seal remains, but broken. 

Sir Henry Turton, a learned and liberal Fellow of the College, 
by Will dated May 2, 1533, bequeathed to the Warden, whom 
he styles his "Master," two volumes of Origen's Works and 
Homilies, for his life, and then to revert and remain in the 
College Library, to be distributed to the Fellows of the said 
College by the hands of the Master, from time to time, " for to 
edify themselves in virtue." (AIS. Willy Chester ; also Lane, and 
Qtesh, Wills, vol. ii. p. 12, Chet. Soc.) 

In 1535 — the year in which Dr. H.-Ware erroneously states 
that Collier became Warden {Hist. Coll. Ch., p. 61) — the King 
renounced the supremacy of the Pope and declared himself the 
temporal head of the English Church. Collier was staunch in 
his fidelity to the Sovereign Pontiff, and signalized himself by 
his zeal for the rights of the Romish see. He brought upon 
himself the jealous eye of the ruling powers, but waxing strong 
as a soldier of the cross, he did not quail before his mighty op- 
ponents. His refusal to acknowledge the King's supremacy 
(/A, p. 61), did not, however, lead to his deprivation, as he held 
his preferment during this reign. 

In the Subsidy Roll of 1535-6, his income, as Warden, was 
assessed at x". On the 22 October, 24 Henry VIII., he was 
chosen an Awarder in a dispute between Ralph Standish of 
Standish, Esq., Edmund Asshcton of Chaderton, Esq., and 
Thomas Radclyffe of Denton, gent., on the one part, and Thomas 
Chetham (of Nuthurst) and Edmund Chaderton, gent, on the 
other part, respecting their title to certain lands. {Lane. AfSS., 
vol. xxiv. p. 328.) In the 37 Henry VIII., Thomas Trafford and 

r 



58 Wardens of Manchcstar. 

Elizabeth his wife, late wife of George Leigh deceased^ late 
farmer of the tithe com of Heaton, Ralph Trafibrd and others, 
prosecuted George Collyer, Warden of Manchester College, in a 
disputed title to tithe com at Trafford and Heaton, in Manchester 
parish. iCal. Plead,, Duchy Court.) In 1545, Bartholomew Colyere 
held the tithe com of Bumage belonging to the College, paying 
yearly to the Chapter xx\i*. (Royal Inq) 

In 1540, Henry VIII. founded the See of Chester, and much 
of the power and authority of the Warden of Manchester was 
absorbed in the new foundation, and his commissions from the 
Diocesan ceased {Lane. MSS.^ vol. xvL p. 341), whilst the mor- 
tuaries rendered payable to the Bishops of the Diocese on the 
death of Incumbents, however mean their endowments, were long 
felt to be oppressive exactions by their families. But Cromwell, 
first of the name notorious, was at hand with his exactions, and 
in the great Commission of Enquiry addressed by the King, 13 
February, 1545 (37 Henry VIII.), to Sir Thomas Holcroft, Knt, 
and three others, preparatory to the dissolution of CoU^ate 
and other ecclesiastical establishments, it was found that George 
Colyer, Clerk, was Warden of the College, and that there were 
only, at the time of the Inquisition, five instead of eight " Priests 
Incumbents being Fellows/' four Deacons and six Choristers, 
" all bounden by the Founder to be resident and kepe hospitalitie 
together.'* Out of the annual income of ccxxxi^*, the Warden 
received yearly in money xx^, his living 1^, and two servants and 
three horses found of the common (fund) of the said College — 
in all, xxii^^ x^. The Warden's clerk and his horsekeeper had an 
allowance for his wages and livery, each of them xxxiii* iv^. 
Commons were allowed to the Warden and five Priests, ** being 
Fellows now Incumbents" (resident) after xvi^ a week. The sur- 
plus fund amounted annually to Ivi^* iii^ iiiid towards the payment 
of the King's Majesty yearly and the charge of one mease of meat 
daily allowed for strangers and all other charges of household^ 
the maintenance and upholding of the mansions and other repa- 
rations, " with the relief of poor people which is ryght grete and 



George Colliery 1528 — c. 1557. 59 

chargeable." Such was the statement of unfriendly inquisitors ; 
from which it appears that Mr. Collier managed the temporal 
affairs of his College with admirable economy and discretion. 
The corporation was not in debt, but on the contrary, the income 
exceeded the expenditure, and the amount bestowed in charity 
formed a not inconsiderable part of the annual receipts. 

In another Royal Inquisition, taken 2 Edw. VI. (1548),' George 
Colyer was still styled the Warden, and said to be of the age of 
60 years, having for his salary as Warden 68/. lar., besides 16/. a 
year " for his salary in other places." It appears impossible to 
account for this large increase of income, except by supposing 
that it includes not only the warden's share of the chapter fund, 
but all the stipends and charges incident to the office, whilst the 
payments referred to in 1545 are allotted to the various recipients. 

He probably held other preferment, but it has not been dis- 
covered where. In 1547, the College was dissolved, although it 
is recorded that Collier was deprived for refusing the oath of 
supremacy to Edward VI., and to be conformable to the times 
(Coll. Arm,, c. 37), and yet he had a pension of 34/. $s. settled on 
him by the King. (Hibbert- Ware's Hist, append., p. 388.) Sir 
George Colyer retired from Manchester to the neighbourhood of 
Stone in Staffordshire, where his brother dwelt, and there lived 
privately {Coll. Arm., c. 37), never bending, like the oaks by 
which he was surrounded, although he might be broken, and of a 
very different spirit to his contemporary Erasmus, who said he 
had no inclination to die for the sake of the truth. 

On the accession of Queen Mary,^ he was recalled to resume 
his wardenship. Opposed to the suppression of his College and 
the violation of the Monasteries, he looked upon the retainers of 
Church lands as involved in the crime of sacrilege, and regarded 

' On the 15 March, 1548, the Privy Council required the Bishops to give directions 
to the whole Clergy to administer the Holy Sacrament to the laity in both kinds. 
{Dom, StaU Pap,, vol. iv. p. 7; Cal,, 1548- 1580.) 

• In July, 1557, the Queen wrote to the Earl of Derby, informing him that she had 
restoij^ the Incorporation of the College of Manchester, and thanks him for the favour 
he halMiown them. The charter is dated July 13. {Dom, State Pap,, vol. xi. p. 94.) 



6o Wardens of Manchester. 

Queen Mary as a public benefactor, and as a blessed successor to 
the heritage of Church robbers. The Queen made what repara- 
tion she could for the evil which had been done. She refounded 
the College of Manchester, appointed a warden, eight fellows, 
chaplains, four clerks, and six choristers. (Hollinworth's Mancu- 
niensis) She also restored certain lands, and the tithes which the 
pious founder had given, and wished the rights and immunities 
of the ColJcge to be preserved. The chisuble and cope, the in- 
I cense clouds and tapers, the long processions, the chantry priests 

I and the gorgeous service were all again visible and in operation, 

■ to the great satisfaction of Warden Collier, who regarded them 

as ancient verities. This foundation had only a brief existence. 
The Warden had the gratification to see its origin, and the mor- 
tification to foresee its destruction and the actual dispersion of 
his fellows. 

An old writer observed, "This Sir George Colyer was a resolved 
Papist, and could not be brought to comply with the present 
world, though he was held to be the most bountiful and generous 
jj Warden that had been in this Church." {MS.pen^s Rev. Joshua 

Brookes, quoted by H.-Ware, Hist,, p. 76.) The latter part of 
this eulogy is fairly open to investigation, and it is certain that 
Colier left behind him no works equal to those of Huntingdon 
or Stanley. A passage, misquoted in Mr. Brookes's MS.^ and 
transferred to the more pretentious pages of Dr. H.-Ware, has 
perplexed all who have considered it, in reference to Collyer. 
" His bounty is yet fresh," said Mr. Brookes's authority, " by the 
writing of many that then knew him" {Hist., p. y6)f but the 
MS, Lives of the IVardcfiSy in the College of Arms, gives us the 
correct version : *' Of whose exceeding great bounty and hospi- 
tality, it is yet fresh in memory of many in that towne (Man- 
chester) that knew him, both first when he was Warden, and in 
his absence, and after." 

On the 21 March, 1555, Bradford, the martyr, writes: "By 
means of one of the Earl of Derby's men, left behind my lord 
his master for the soliciting of my cause, as he said to me,* there 



f 

I 
I 

t 



1 



I 
i 



George Collier^ 1528 — c. 1557. 61 

came to the Compter [the prison] to dinner, one Master Collier, 
once Warden of Manchester, and the said servant of the Earl of 
Derby ; of whom I learned that Master Docter Weston, Dean of 
Westminster, would be with him in the afternoon, about two of 
the clock or before. At dinner therefore (when the said Warden 
did discommend King Edward, and went about to set forth the 
authority of the Pope, which I withstood, defending the King's 
faith, that it was Catholic, and that the authority of the Bishop 
of Rome his supremacy, was usurped, bringing forth the testimony 
of Gregory, which affirmeth the name of Supreme Head to be a 
title to the forerunner to Anti-christ), a woman prisoner was 

brought in At length all went out save Master Weston, 

Master Collier, the Earl of Derby his servant, the Subdean of 
Westminster, the Keeper, Master Clayden, and the parson of the 
Church where the Compter is." (Bradford's Writings, vol. 1. 
p. 538, Parker Soc. ed.) **On the 28th of March there came to 
the Compter Dr. Pendleton and with him Master Collier, once 
Warden of Manchester, and Stephen Beiche," />., Becke, probably 
a connection of the Martyr, through the Beswickes {lb, p. 541) ; 
but none of them could refute his arguments or quench the spirit 
with which he spoke. 

After these painful interviews with Bradford, Collier again 
became Warden of Manchester, where he was living 20 October, 
1556 {Lane, and Chcsh, IVills, pt. ii. p. 149), and where he died, 
according to Dr. H.-Ware, about 1557 (p. j6). It is clear that 
oa the 19 March, 1556-7, he was Warden, and Commissary of 
Cuthbert, Lord Bishop of Chester {Lane, MSS.y vol. xvi. p. 341), 
and an Inventory of the Goods of George Collier, Clerk, late of 
Manchester, was exhibited in the Consistory Court of Chester, 
12 July, 1558. {Ib,)^ " He was buried in a little Chapel at the 
east end of the Collegiate Church, built by Sir George West, 
Warden, his predecessor, or the founder his brother, the Lord, 
without any monument." {ColL Arms, c. 37.) 

' fHiis Inventory, enumerating property valued at 69/. 141. Il</., will be found in 
voL iii. of the Chetham (new) Series, pp. 18, scq.] 



62 Wardens of Mancfuster. 



j His high reputation for charity and hospitality had made him 

; a valuable auxiliary of the adherents of the Romish faith, who 

I felt the importance of maintaining him in a position which, if not 

j the most lucrative, was assuredly one of the most important in 

1 that period of religious transition, when adhesiveness to fixed 

j principles and the absence of tergiversation would not be without 

their influence. Dr. H.-Ware observes, that it is creditable to 

him that he does not appear to have aided persecution (p. 76), 

although it is unfortunate that he should have been found aiding 

persecution. 

His Arms, which are not depicted in Dugdale's copy of the 

" List of Wardens of Manchester College," are Quarterly i and 4. 

Sable a cross pate^ fitc/ied^ or, COLIERE. 2. Sable, three bugle horns 
j sable, stringed, gtdes, DODINGTON. 3. Barry of six, ermine and 

gtdes, HUSSEY. (Inf Mr. King, York Herald.) 



Laurence VAUX,or Vauce,' was bom near Blackrod, in the 
parish of Bolton-le-Moors, in this county, according to computa- 
tion, about the year 15 19. He appears to have been descended 
from a family who had acquired some small property under the 
Tudors, but whose prosperity was of short duration. The sur- 
name Vose is not unknown at this day in the neighbourhood of 
Blackrod, and about St. Helens it is common. It appears that 
" Dns Laurencius Vauce,'* of the Diocese of Chester, was ordained 
I Presbyter, on the title of John Urmston of Leigh, Esq., by John 

1 Bird, Bishop of Chester, on Sunday next after the feast of St 

Matthew the Apostle (September 21), 1542, in the Collegiate 
: Church of B. Marie (of Manchester T), having been an Acolyte, 

Subdeacon, and Deacon in regular gradation. (Bp. Bird's Ordin, 

1 

Bk) Wood says he was made Priest about 1540, — which is an 
error. {A then., p. 130.) 

Vaux was educated, probably, at Manchester Grammar School, 

' [An ample and exact memoir of this Warden is prefixed to the reprint of his 
Catechism, in voL iv. of this series, by Mr. T. G. Law, who has corrected some errors 
in Canon Raines's account, which is here printed as he left it — Ed.] 



Laurence Vaux, c, 155.7 — 1558. 63 

at that time in its infancy and enjoying a high reputation. He 
was entered of Queen's College, Oxford, but afterwards removed 
to Corpus Christi College, the noble foundation of Bishop Fox 
and his judicious friend Bishop Hugh Oldham. At the latter 
College, where he was either clerk or chorister, Vaux was much 
favoured by Dr. James Brookes, a Fellow of the College, after- 
wards Master of Balliol and Bishop of Gloucester (1554-58). 
(Wood's At/ien, Oxon,, p. 130; Dodd's Ch. Hist,, vol. ii. p. no, foL, 
1739.) He became a Fellow of Manchester College. He had 
a high reputation for instructing youth in the peculiar tenets of 
the Romish Church, and was zealous against the Reformed faith. 
He probably witnessed the martyrdom of Bishop Hooper in 
1554-5, as he was the Chaplain and friend of Brookes, who suc- 
ceeded the martyr. 

At the dissolution of the College of Manchester, i Edw. VI., 
" Laurence Vauss, Incumbent Fellow," had a pension assigned of 
8/. 1 3J. 4//. (Dr. H.-Ware, vol. i. p. 388, app.) He returned to his 
Fellowship on the new foundation of the College by Queen Mary, 
being named in the Charter. {lb,, p. 76.) 

On the 19 March, 1556, he was a Commissioner, along with 
Warden Collyer, of Cuthbert, Bishop of Chester, and is styled in 
the commission, " Laurence Vauce, Fellow of the said Church of 
Manchester." {Lane. MSS,, vol. xvi. p. 341.) In this year, 1556, 
he was admitted to the reading of the Sentences at Oxford, and 
was B.D. (Wood's A then., p. 130.) 

In the 2 Edward VI., he was described as " one of the Priests 
Curates of the Parish of Manchester," having from the College 
an income of 12/. 19^. 6d,, "and no other lyvynge," so that in an 
age of pluralities he was not a Pluralist. 

He was appointed Warden of his College by Queen Mary on 
the death of Collier, in 1557 or 1558, being the first instance of a 
Fellow advanced to that dignity. 

On the 12 August, 1558, Nicholas Baguley of Newton in Man- 
chester, yeoman, a wealthy and liberal individual, provided by 
his Will that a "sepulture," or Easter monument, should be 






I' 



64 Wardem 0/ Manchester. 

erected by Sir Thomas Cunliffe, in the Church of Manchester, 
" by the High Aulter," at a cost of vi^S and he provided " that 
Sir Laurence Voce Warden of Manchester be overseer of this 
work and see it performed and done and if it be thoup^ht by M"" 
Warden and my Executors that vi^' is not sufficient for the work- 
manship then I will that the said Thomas have more reason- 
able by M'^ Warden and my Executors." {Lane, MSS,, voL xiii. 
p. 283.) 

There is little doubt that the letter signed " L. V." in the State 
Paper Office, dated November 2, 1566, is written by him. It 
contains an explanation of Dr. Sanders's letter and gives autho- 
rity to him and Dr. Harding from the Pope. There is an expo- 
sition of various points of doctrine as taught and enforced by the 
Roman Church. He urges the good example of his correspondent 
(not named) towards reviving the Catholic Religion in England, 
and wishes his letter to be communicated to Sir Rd. MoUineux 
and other his friends. (Vol. xli. No. i, Cii/., p. 281.) Ano Nov. I, 
1568, Edm. Holme writes to Mr. Glaseour and Mr. Hurleston 
at Chester, detailing the circumstances under which Sir Richard 
Mollincux, his son John Mollineux, and his daughters Jane, 
Alice and Ann Mollineux, and other persons, took an oath de- 
claring the Pope to be the supreme head of the Church, (/5., 
vol. xlviii. No. 34, p. 321.) 

February 21, 1568, the Queen wrote to Edw. Holland, Sheriff 
of Lancashire, to cause certain deprived ministers to be appre- 
hended and committed. On the back the following names are 
endorsed : "Alen, who wrote the late Book of Purgatory; Vause; 
ones Warden of Winchester [Manchester] ; Murrey [Murran], 
Chaplen to Boner, late Bushop of London ; Marshal, ones Deane 
of Christchurch in Oxford ; Hargrave, late Vicar of Blackboume, 
and one Norreys, tearming himself a Physician." (Dom, State Pe^^ 
vol. xlvi., No. 32, p. 307.) And the Queen, at the same time, 
wrote to Downham, Bishop of Chester, urging him to take especial 
care for maintaining uniformity of religious worship within his 
Diocese. (Ibid) 



Laurence Vaux, c. 1557 — 1558. 65 

He held his office for a short time only. On the accession of 
Queen Elizabeth he refused to take the oath of supremacy pur- 
suant to the Act I Elizabeth, and was consequently deprived of 
his Wardenship. Keeping up the love of his own county, he 
retired to his native place and ancestral possessions, which had 
apparently never been large, and is supposed to have officiated 
in the family of Standish, who were zealous Romanists in that 
neighbourhood. To this family he bequeathed his Library and 
also the Communion Plate of the Collegiate Church, which Hol- 
linworth says he had conveyed away with him, not from any 
mercenary motive, but doubtless in order to preserve it, as he 
thought, from the contamination of his heretical successors. He 
regarded, like many others, the spoliation of Church property 
with abhorrence, but seems to have forgotten that no good could 
arise from such an evil act as his own. The plate was probably 
in his possession when the College was plundered, and the re- 
ligious mind of the day had its effect upon the Warden, and 
brought out the various shades of his character. Such appro- 
priations at that time were not uncommon, and were even con- 
sidered to be meritorious, although Bradford's supposed misap- 
propriation of a small sum of money was an act never to be 
forgiven. 

After his deprivation, Vaux emigrated to Ireland, a country 
at that time turbulent and disordered, where he had the misfor- 
tune to be robbed of all his substance, and narrowly escaped 
with life. Several of his companions were murdered (Dodd, Ch. 
Histy vol. ii. p. 3) ; but Wood intimates that the loss was occa- 
sioned by thieves, and that his religious creed had no concern in 
the casualty. {Athcft, Oxon,, i. 384.) 

On the last July, 10 Eliz. (1567), at the Manor of Lathom, "in 
alta camera ibm vulgato nuncupat the dyninge Chamber," before 
Edward Earl of Derby, William Bishop of Chester, Sir Edward 
Fitton, Sir Richard Sherburne, Edward Holland, Wm. Gerard, 
Richard Asheton, Esquires, and Robert Lcchc, LL.D., Commis- 
sioners of the Queen in causes ecclesiastical, appeared twenty 

K 



66 Wardens of Mancliester, 

Lancashire recusants, who had been bound in their recognizances 
to answer the charges objected against them. Amongst the 
clerical recusants, twelve in number, were Vaux and Allen. The 
principal charges against them were, not repairing to their parish 
Church nor receiving the Holy Communion, harbouring certain 
objectionable persons and refusing to obey the Queen's proceed- 
ings "in order of the divine service set fourth and allowed." 
They appear to have confessed their fault " with greate humble- 
ness," and to have promised conformity, and the Queen desired 
that such should " with great lenitie be used." They were dis- 
missed with an injunction to receive the Holy Communion at 
their own parish Church or Chapel, at or before the feast of All 
Saints next following, and yearly afterwards three times in the 
year, and to repair at all times, when and as often as any Sermon 
should be preached, within three miles of their dwelling houses, 
to the Church " where the Sermon should be made havinge therof 
knolledge.** They were each of them required to enter into bond 
in the sum of 300 marks to the Queen, to appear at all times 
personally before the said Bishop and the other Commissioners, 
upon 20 days warning being given to them by precept, if they 
shall be within the county of Lancaster, or else within 40 days 
after the leaving of the said precept at his or their houses. (Pic- 
cope's MSS.frofH Clicsicr Reg., p. 117, 4to.) 

On the 6 April, 12 Eliz. (1569), Vaux appears to have been in 
Lancashire and to have " subscribed " certain articles before the 
Queen's Commissioners at Lathom. One of these was, that "he 
should not reason, dispute, or maintain any Controversie against 
the Religion nowe most godlie sett fourthe." And at the same 
time William Singleton of Bank Hall, in the county of Lancaster, 
Esq., who had been committed to prison in the North Gate, 
Chester, as a recusant, was brought before the Commissioners, 
and in consideration of his sickness, through imprisonment* as 
well as by the report of Richard Case, the chief keeper of the 
gaol, " and also by sight of the s<i William Singleton his bodye 
and pson manifestlie appeareth to be true," and the said prison 



Lauretue Vanx, c. 1557 — 1558. 67 

" being pestered with so many prisoners," that there was no con- 
venient chamber or lodging for a sick person, a license was granted 
to the said Singleton to retire to Bank Hall until the 27 June 
next, on condition that he did not hear Mass or relieve with meat, 
drink, clothes, or money, any of the Priests whose names are 
subscribed, amongst which occur those of Vaux and AlletL {It., 
p. 123.) 

He afterwards "fled beyond sea" (Assheton*s MS.), seeking 
an asylum in Flanders, where he met with many individuals of 
unshaken constancy who had emigrated thither from Lancashire, 
so that he did not find himself altogether amongst strangers. 
He ultimately became an academical Professor in the University 
of Louvaine, then a celebrated educational establishment, and is 
said to have become a Monk, but more likely a Jesuit (HoUin- 
worth's His/,, p. 80) ; although Wood supposed that he was " of 
the Cenobie of St. Dionyse." {At/ten. Oxon,, i. 386.) 

Never quitting the anchor of hope, although unable to steer 
the vessel of St. Peter in Manchester, he returned to England 
as a seminary Priest, in defiance of the public prohibition, and 
bitterly hostile to the government of the Queen. 

Paternal attachments, and old reminiscences and experiences, 
induced him to seek the neighbourhood of Blackrod, as well as 
his close association with the Jesuits, who had long shared his 
sympathies. In 1580, he entertained at his house in Lancashire 
his personal friends and colleagues, Campian and Persons, who 
had chosen the north of England as the scene of their labours 
against the stability of the government and Church. Having 
brought himself within the jurisdiction of the Lord President and 
Council of the North, and knowing the high estimation in which 
Vaux was held by the Roman Catholics, these high functionaries 
deemed it necessary to act with great stringency in enforcing the 
laws against him. And it seems probable that this was the first 
time that the Stat. 2 Eliz. was enforced aj^^inst him as a seminary 
Priest, the penalty being for the first offence forfeiture of goods, 
with one year's imprisonment ; for the second, the penalties of a 



68 Wardens of Manchester. 

premunire^ and death for the third. Having held a place of im- 
portant trust and authority, and being known as a learned Popish 
recusant, he met with no favour ; but being apprehended, was 
committed to the Gatehouse Prison, and died there in great 
necessity. {MS. Coll, Arms, c. 37.) Wood, on the authority of 
Pitts, says, Vaux died about 1570; but Dr. Symon Patrick, at 
Wood's request, sought for, but could not find, the entry of his 
death in the Register of Burials in St. Margaret's Church, West- 
minster (in which parish the Gatehouse was situated), between 
1567 and 1573 (Wood's Allien, Oxon,, i. 386), nor was he likely 
to do so, as Vaux was not imprisoned until 1580. 

1583. Interrogatories for the Examination of Laurence Vaws 
and Mr. Tichebourne touching the reason of their departure 
beyond sea, and popish relics they had brought over with them, 
&c. {Ibid,, p. 145.) 

The State Papers supply some additional information. On 
21 August, 1583, Laurence Vaux (late Warden of Manchester), 
writing to Mr. Coppage, rejoices to hear of his restoration to 
liberty, and that he had set up a College for Priests. The keepers 
made great profit by them. His Catcchisme sold well, the Jesuits 
and Priests using it for instruction of the people. Mr. Cotesmore, 
a priest, sends his remembrances. Subjoined is a proposed sup- 
plication to the Queen to grant free liberty to her Catholic subjects. 
{Cal, of State Pap, Dotn.y 1581-90, p. Ii8.) 

1583, Dec. 26. Confession of Alex. Barry taken before Sir 
Richard Greynvile and Barnard Drake touching a Popish Book 
or Catechism set forth by one named Laurence Vaux, belonging 
to William Edmonds, servant of Mr Chapell and used by him in 
the Church of Great Torrington. {Ibid,, p. 140.) 

Hollinworth, some of whose early contemporaries would per- 
sonally know the ex- Warden, has recorded, that " he was a man 
well beloved and highly honoured by many in Manchester, yea, 
by the generality ; and this was one reason why many thereabouts 
were lother to be reclaimed from Popery than about Rachdale. . . 
Vaux was wise and zealous in his generation." (p. 80.) " He 



• • • 

••• •• J 

V- ••: ; • • 

• • • "»• • • 



Laurence Vaux.c. 1557 — 1558. 69 

was laborious, learned, and in his way, devout and conscientious " 
{Ib.y p. ^^)y which is not moderate praise from a rigid Presby- 
terian, and his attainments rose even higher than these. 

For the credit of our common Christianity, we may hope that 
his sufferings were, in a great measure, the result of his political 
views, and not because he sought to extend the power of Rome 
in England. Whatever his creed, he had ceased to be a patriotic 
Englishman, and was notoriously convicted of treasonable prac- 
tices. The struggle he endured was a severe one, and, doubtless, 
shattered him greatly, as similar struggles had done greater and 
better Lancashire men in the preceding gloomy reign ; but it is 
due to them all to say, whatever the measure of their sincerity 
or intolerance — "the glory dies not, and the grief is past" God 
grant that the latter may never be revived ! 

The Arms assigned to this Warden are nearly the same as 
those borne by the Lords Vaux of Harroden, but he docs not 
occur in their pedigrees. (Inf. of Mr. King, York Herald.) 

His published works are : 

1. A Catechisme or a Christian Doctrine necessary for Children 
and Ignorant People, Lov. 1 567, Antw. 1 574, printed again 1583' 
and 1599, &c. 8vo and i2mo. 

2. An Instruction of the laudable Customs used in the Cat/iolic 
Churck This in some editions is entitled, Tlie Use and Meaning 
of Holy Ceremonies in God's Church, 

3. Godly Contemplations for the Unlearned. These two last are 
printed with one, two, or more of the editions of the Catechisme, 

4. Certain brief Notes of divers Godly Matters, Printed with 
the Catechisme m 1583 and 1599. 8vo. 

In 20 Eliz. (1578), lands in Manchester parish belonging to the 
Collegiate body were held by the wife of Richard Vaux and the 

• The edition printed in 1583 is in iSmo. The full title is : A Cattchisme or Chris- 
tian Doctrim necessarie for Children and ignorant PeopUf by Ijaurence Vaux^ Ji, of 
Divinitie ; with an other later addition of instruction of the laudable Ceremonies vsed in 
the Catholicke Churche^ and a brief form of Confession. It was printed abroad, no place, 
nor printer ; in an old vellum wrapper. 



^o Wardens of Manchester. 



[ . 

I wife of Thomas Vaux, probably connections of the deprived 

Warden, and are named in the Queen's Charter. 



* William Birch, third son of George Birch of Birch Hall, 

in the parish of Manchester, gentleman, by his wife, Marion, 
daughter of Thomas Beck of Manchester, merchant He was 
of good and ancient descent from both parents, his father being 
the 1 2th m lineal succession from Matthew de Birch, living in 
the time of King John (Lane. MSS., voL xii. ; Booker's HisL of 

» Birchf 4to., p. 102), and his mother being of an opulent, religious 

! and liberal family — the Becks — long settled in Manchester. (Lane. 

* Visit. y 1664, p. 33.) According to computation, William Birch 

was born about 1522, receiving his early education at Manchester 
Grammar School shortly after its foundation, and at the period 
when England was convulsed by the throes of the Reformation. 

He was of St John's College, Cambridge, B.A. 1547-8, M.A. 
155 1. The dates of the B.D. and D.D. degrees are not given. 
He was elected Fellow of Corpus Christi Coll. in 1548. 

Hollinworth states that he was ordained by Bishop Ridley 
(after 1547), who had doubtless become acquainted with him at 
Cambridge. Birch's intimate knowledge of the doctrines of 
the Reformation, his talents and attainments, as well as his dis- 
tinguished oratorical powers, were witnessed by lai^e auditories 
throughout a far wider circle than the limits of his own parish or 
diocese. He was not one of the " Strawberry Preachers" described 
by Latimer in his sermon on the Plough, " which come once in 
the year and are soon gone ;" he was a constant and, if we may 
judge from the effects in South Lancashire, a successful preacher. 
He was one of the four Royal Preachers (Bradford the Martyr 
being another) licensed by Edward VL on account of their fervid 
oratorical powers to proclaim the Reformed doctrines from place 
to place. Birch's original Licence^ still exists, with the sign 

* This valuable parchment document was found amongst the Birch Evidences, and 
was presented in June, 1859, by Stephen Heelis, Esq., late Mayor of Salford, to the 
Peel Park Museum, Salford. The King appointed under the Ecclesiastical Seal other 



William Birch, 1560. 71 

manual of the young King, and a fragment of the red seal 
attached to the document. It sets forth that the people through 
the slackness of some negligent Pastors and Curates have been 
heretofore trained in ignorance and superstition, whereby they 
have neglected their bounden duty to God, their Prince, and 
others, — " We therefore of our godly zeal, and having knowledge 
both of the learning and godly conversation of William Byrchc, 
M.A., and Student of Divinity in the University of Cambridge, 
have authorized Ihe same to preach and deliver unto our loving 
subjects in all places of our dominions where he shall think good 
the true and holsome doctrine of the lyvely Word of God." All 
Archbishops, Bishops, and all the King's subjects and officers of 
every degree, both of the Clergy and Laity, are required not only 
to permit and suffer him to preach without interruption, but to 
hear him with all humility, and to follow his doctrine. Justices, 
Mayors, and others are empowered to punish all seditious and 
evil-disposed persons, who attempt to slander or defame any 
thing which shall be godly and justly taught and pronounced by 
the said William Birche. This Royal Licence was dated at the 
Manor of Guildford, the 21 July, 1552. {Lane, MSS., vol. xxii. 
p. 5 1 1.) 

During the reign of Queen Mary, Birch's history is unknown, 
but he was ejected from his Fellowship, and seems to have been 
an exile. On the accession of Queen Elizabeth he emerged from 
his retirement and was Rector of Gateshead, in the county of 
Durham, 1559. (Surtees, vol. ii. p. 118). In 1560 (1559, 2nd 
Eliz., according to Hollinworth, p. 79), he was presented by the 
Crown to the Wardenship of Manchester. The Sees of York 
and Chester being at that time vacant, the deed of presentation 
was addressed " to the Dean and Chapter of York and the Keeper 
of the Spiritualities there," but the same author was not informed 
whether Birch was admitted and installed. His nomination exists 

fiunoas preachers, and between July and December, 1547, nominated Hugh I^timer, 
Dr. Coxe, Robert Home, E^wyn Sandys, James Pilkington, Matthew Parker, John 
Knox, Edmund Gryndall, and others. {Dom. State Pap. , vol. ii. ; Cat, p. 5.) 



■. / 



7 2 Wardens of Manchester. 

amongst the Archiepiscopal records at York, and as Birch is 
afterwards styled and recognised as Warden, it seems probable 
that he had been admitted to the office. Hollinworth's date is 
erroneous. 

Dr. Hibbcrt-Ware states that Birch's Wardenship extended 
over " many years, probably from ten to twelve " {Hist. Coll. Ch.^ 
p. 79) ; whilst another local writer omits him altogether, and 
records that " Herle succeeded Vaux." (Edwards* Manchester 
; Worthies^ p. II. 8vo. 1855.) Dr. H.-Ware's errors and mis- 

statements on this period of his history are singularly confusing, 
' and the incidents which are attributed to the Wardenship of Birch 

belong to his successor. It had escaped the notice of Dr. H.- 
Ware that the earliest account of this Warden records that he 
■ held the office " for only one year," and the Dr. cancelled several 

i leaves in order to perpetuate a groundless statement, viz., that 

* Birch was Warden from 1558 to 1570 (p. 79, app. p. 390). "The 

Queen granted the Wardenship by her Letters Patent under the 
^ Great Seal, the 2nd year of her reign (1559), but she being 

desirous to place one Hearle here, sent him with a letter to Mr. 
Bearch, who resined his place, and Hearle was installed Warden 
in his roome." {MS. Hist. Wardens, Manch., in Coll. Arm) 

Herle himself, writing to Burghley, names "the deprivation of 
his popish predecessor." (See Strype's Life of Parker , p. 107.) 

In Assheton's MS. it is stated, " Birch held the place not long, 
wearied out by vain attempts to prevent sacrilege and spoliation." 
Through the interest of Pilkington, his neighbour in Lancashire, 
and also Bishop of Durham, he was collated to the 7th stall 
in that Cathedral, 3 July, 1562, and was deprived of the same 
in 1567, being succeeded by Leonard Pilkington, the Bishop's 
brother. (Le Neve's Fasti, vol. iii. p. 315.) He was also Rector 
of Stanhope, to which he was collated 25 August, 1564, by the 
same Bishop, at which time he resigned Gateshead. (Surtees Soc., 
vol. ii. p. 118 ; Coopers Atlun. Cantabr., vol. i. p. 562.) He was 
the friend of the Apostolic Bernard Gilpin, but leaning to the 
Puritanical opinions of Cartwright (a member of his own College 



William Birch, 1559. 73 

and his friend, through Pilkington), the feeble opponent of Hooker 
with more zeal than discretion sent Cartwright*s first Reply to 
Whitgift on Church Discipline, about 1570, soon after its publica- 
tion, to Gilpin, with a desire that he would read it carefully, and 
communicate to him his remarks upon it. His impatience to 
know Gilpin's opinions induced him to send a messenger before 
Mr. Gilpin had read the book half through. He returned it, 
however, with the following lines, which shewed Dr. Birch what 
his views were generally of Church government (Life of Bertt. 
Gilpin, p. 1 56) : — 

Multa quidcm legi, sed plura I^enda reliqui ; 

Posthac cum dabitur copia, cuncta legam ; 
Optant ut carcat maculis ecclcsia cunetis, 

Pncscns vita regat ; vita futura dabit. 

He was also the friend of the two Levers, who were natives of 
his own county, the Archdeacon succeeding him in the Rectory 
of Stanhope, and, like his brother, Thomas Lever, having "a 
rooted aversion to priestly habits." (Surtees, Durh., vol. i., p. 141.) 
The intemperate proceedings and disordered zeal of the popular 
party, to which these men were allied, rendered them, with their 
exemplary piety and various learning, obnoxious to the Govern- 
ment. Like Parkhurst, they appear to have regarded the Church 
of Zurich as the perfect model of a Christian community, and, as 
a matter of course, cared little for tippet, cap, surplice, or wafer 
bread. Birch had imbibed Knox's view of female sovereignty, 
and the jealous Queen not unnaturally pressed uniformity, and 
thus punished her seditious clerical subjects by deprivation. 
Several of these Durham clergy were convened before the Arch- 
bishop of York, and, after unavailing reprimands and imprison- 
ments, according to the evil fashion of the day, were suspended, 
and finally deprived. (Life of Bernard Gilpin, p. 157. York 
AfSS.) We can scarcely wonder that such individuals should 
have maintained Cartwright's opinion that Bishops ought not to 
be created by civil authority, but ought to be fairly and openly 
chosen by the Church. 



74 Wardens of MancJiester. 



Dr. H.-Ware says that Warden Birch " is said to have died in 
the year 1572" (p. 82), but his Will is dated 29 May, 1575, and 
was proved on the 30th November in the same year. He styles 
himself *• Pastor of Stanhope, Co. Durham," and " in a decayed 
body," although he was little more than fifty, but had lived in 
harassing times. He seems to have written his Will with his own 
hand, and observes, " According as in riches the Lord hath by 
His good blessing made me Steward, so now I bequeath them 
unto Him, as by His godly will He shall guide my heart to 
bestow them. Ipse animam et calamum dirigat ! " He gives 
to the poor prisoners in Lancaster Castle lo^. To xx poor widows 
or decayed artificers in Manchester and Sawford xl^, to every 
one ijs not unthrift. To xx poor maidens in Manchester parish 
towards their marriage iii^» iii^ apiece. To needful Brigs or high- 
ways within three miles of Byrche, my brother's house iii^, to be 
bestowed out of his ground, as he or his son George Byrche 
supposeth likely, xl^ to poor craftsmen, beginners, to set up their 
occupation in Manchester or Stopperde (Stockport). To xx 
poor scholars in Latin in Manchester School xl^ apiece. To 
ten poor in Stopperd x^, or so much rather to v. To the poorest 
in Risshum, Withington, Didsbury, v^ each place. To my brother 
Thomas* son, Ralph, James Pilkington's three Books all in one 
bounden book that now I have. To my brother Thomas, to 
be an heir-loom, my Geneva Bible there printed in English, and 
the Silver beare pot, parcel-gilt covered, that cost iiii". Also 
Munster*s Cosmography in Latin for Greorge his son. To 
George, my brother, Fabyan*s Chronicles and six silver spoons of 
mine that he hath in keeping. My Books of the Laws of this 
Realm I leave to Thomas my brother, for his children, as he 
thinketh, or to George his Son for him and brethren. The 7 
new volumes of Civil Law I give to Anthony Higgins, with the 
Annotations of Budaeus upon the Pandects. The Canon Law 
books to G. Higgins. Cicero's Works to Edw. Higgins, Logic, 
Arithmetic, Cosmography, and Books of Astronomy in Latin, 
and the Poets. All my Greek and Hebrew books to William and 



Thomas Herle, 1559 — c. 1575. 75 

Thomas Birch. To William Browell (a nephew) my Books of 
Erasmus, Melancthon*s Logic and Rhetoric To Robert Birch 
all my Books of Profane and Ecclesiastical histories. All my 
Latin Divinity books to those of my nephews that first be teachers 
in the Ecclesiastical Ministry. For Executors he appointed " my 
brother Thomas or his son George if living ; if not, my other 
brother George Birche, or if dead then Anthony Higgins." {Lane. 
MSS.y vol. xiii. p. 276 ; Bookers Birch, p. 81 ; and Durham 
Wills, Surtees Soc.) 

He remembered his family, friends, and the poor; but it is 
observable that his Patron and Diocesan had no bequest in his 
Will. Pilkington only survived him a few weeks, dying on the 
23 January, 1575-6, and was only a few years his senior. 

The arms borne by Warden Birch were ist and 4th, azure 
3 fleur de lis, argmt; 2 and 3, ist and 4th or a martlet azure, 2 and 
3 paly of 6 argetit and gu, {MS. ColL Arm) In Cooper's Athen. 
Cantab, the arms are said to be argent a chevron between 3 mullets 
sable (p. 563). 



Thomas Herle, son of John Herle of Prideaux Herle, co. 
Cornwall, Esq., originally of West Herle, county of Northumber- 
land, descended, according to Carew, who was his contemporary, 
<*from sundry knights." His mother was Margeret Fulkeram, 
or Fulkroy. He was probably brother of John Herle, Esq., M.P. 
for Preston, in Lancashire, 1555. (Baines, corrected, iv. p. 347.) 
Educated at one of the Colleges of Cambridge, he was M.A. 1558, 
B.D. 1561, but is styled M.A. only in a bond, 6 Oct., 17 Eliz. (157S). 
He was presented to the first prebendal stall at Worcester, 
probably by Queen Mary, 26 March, 1558, and, as his pre- 
decessor had been deprived, doubtless on account of holding the 
Reformed Faith, there can be little doubt that at this time Herle 
was a Roman Catholic, and Hollinworth uncharitably suspected 
that he continued one. " If he was a Protestant," says he, " he 
had always changed with the Princes in those changeable times." 
(Lc Ncvc, vol. iii. p. 79; Hollinworth's Maticun., p. 81.) Out- 



76 Wardens of Manchester. 

ward conformity to the principles of the Reformation, not in- 
volving the practice of the popular persecution, seems to have 
been unsatisfactory to the old Chronicler of Manchester, who 
had, however, enjoyed opportunities of conversing with many 
who had personally known Herle, and been acquainted with his 
character and proceedings. He was "an excellent preacher," 
but is stigmatised as "a selfish man," and the proofs of his 
selfishness are unfortunately recorded. 

On the 7 October, 1559, apparently the first year of his 
Wardenship, " Master Thomas Hearle and his fellows chaplens 
and bredern granted a lease of a messuage in Newton, in Man- 
chester parish, for ten years, to Edmund Assheton of Chaderton, 
Esq.;" and on the 17th January, 6 Elizabeth (1563-4), "the 
Right Worshippful Thomas Herle, Clerk, and his Fellows Chap- 
lens of the same College of Manchester, demised to Stephen 
Browne, of Manchester, yeoman, another tenement in Newton 
for a term of years, which the said Browne surrendered to Edwd. 
Siddall, who in his turn conveyed it to Stephen Becke, of Man- 
j Chester, yeoman, who on the 18 November, 9 Elizabeth, for 

,{ 33^ 6s, Sd, alienated the same to Robert Hulme of Newton, 

j gentleman, his heirs and assigns." (Latic, MSS., vol. xxiv. pp- 

I 411-421.) 

I On the 3 March, 6 Elizabeth (1563), "Thomas Hyrle, B.D., 

j Maistere Warden and Keper of the Colledge of our Lady of Man- 

I Chester within y« p'ysshe church of Manchester, and his felowes 

: chapleyns, demised to Nicholas Byron, son and heir of John 

I Byron, of Newstcad, Esq., Anthony Byron, another son of the 

said John Byron Esq., and James Costerdyne of Blakeley, yeo- 
! man, their executors and assigns, a messuage with divers pas- 

tures and meadows in Newton, called Travers farm, and all the 
lands \^ithin the Park of Clayton, in the parish of Manchester, 
parcel of the lordship of Newton ; and another messuage in 
Newton, in the holding of Margaret Ogden, widow, for the term 
; of their joint lives, and for the life of the longest liver." It was 

also fully agreed that if the said Thomas Hyrle " fortune or 



Thomas Herle, 1559— r. i575- 77 

happen att any tyme during his life to have any such ryght or 
tytle in and to the sayd Colledge and all the possessions and 
landes to the same app^teynyng whereby he can lawfully make 
over the said Colledge and the possessions thereof to anie pson 
or psons in fee farme, or of the nature of fee farme, that then 
the said Thomas Hyrle counants pmyses & grants by these 
psents that he and his felowes chaplens ymedly after such right 
shal hap to fall or come to the hands of the said Warden & Chap- 
lains, or at any reasonable tyme duryng his lyfe, will seal and 
convey to the said Byrons and Costerdync all such assurance in 
the fee farm of the lands & ten^ in Clayton Park aforesaid^ as 
they shall reasonably request, they yielding to the said Warden 
for y« fyne and gressome the sum of v^ xiii* iv*^." (/S., vol. vi. 
pp. 2-5.) 

By a deed in the Clietham Evidences dated 6 October, 1574^ 
" Thomas Hcrle, Clerk, M.A., Warden, Oliver Carter, Preacher^ 
Robert Barber, and Thomas Rydson are bound in 10/. to John 
Whitworth of Newton, husb", the condition being that Whitworth 
may peaceably enjoy the Collegiate lands within Clayton Park^ 
in the Manor of Newton, called Scotland Crofte, leased to Sir 
John Byron by Warden Collier and his Fellows and Chaplains 
for 50 years, by Deed dated 12 Nov., 24 Henry VIII." These 
lands were sold by the Byrons to Humphrey Chetham, Esq., 
but the title was disputed by Burdett, who purchased the lands 
of the Collegiate Church of the Parliament, and in 1653 they 
were the subject of legal proceedings. The Church had a clear 
right to the eight acres, but apparently was robbed of it. 

In the 9 Elizabeth (1566), Alexander Barlow of Barlow, Esq., 
as lessee of the tithes of Lcvenshulme, prosecuted at Lancaster 
Warden Herle for a breach of contract in relation thereto 
(Booker's Didsbitry, p. 234); and in 1568, "Master Herle and 
his fellows '* demised to John Barrow the tithes of hay, corn and 
grain in Manchester for 21 years, he paying lor. a year as a 
quit rent. 

It has been recorded of him that *• when he came to that great 



78 Wardens of Manchester. 

Benefice (Manchester), he sould all the Lands and Tithes and 
all other commodities belonginge (thereto), a fewe only except, 
and the House itselfe to the Earle of Derby (in whose hands it 
now is), and granted long leases of most or all the Tithes, 
Colledge lands and other sperituale livings to one Killigrewe, 
and Killigrewe granted them to the Queene, and she to them 
that are now possessed of them, to the utter overthrow of that 
famous rich Colledg, so that he left nothing to the mentenance 
of such a post as in times past had their bene keept" {MS, 
Hist, WardenSy ColL Arm.y c. 21.) 

It may be stated, in extenuation of Herle*s gross sacrilege, that 
his proceedings arose from an impression that the College was 
one of the foundations which had been suppressed, and ought to 
have been destroyed, by the Act of Edward VI., although he 
appears to have forgotten that it had been re-founded by Queen 
Mary. There seems to be no reasonable ground to doubt that 
he was a Protestant, otherwise he would not have been patronized 
by Archbishop Parker, nor have been one of the Chaplains of 
Queen Elizabeth ; but he neither admired the Swiss nor the 
Scotch Reformers, and was only a feeble supporter of the 
Reformed Church. Strype names that Archbishop Parker con- 
templated procuring for him the Bishopric of Bangor, consider- 
ing that he would have little peace amongst the leading families 
of Manchester, who were zealous Papists, and who had a particular 
envy against this College, which maintained godly preachers, 
(Strype's Parker^ vol. i. p. 406.) 

Parker, addressing Cecil, 12 Febr., 1565-6, observes : " I hear 
that Diocese (Bangor) to be much out of order, both having no 
preaching there, and pensionary concubinary openly continued, 
notwithstanding liberty of marriage granted. If I thought the 
Queen's Majesty would allow her own Chaplain, Mr. Herle, to 
be placed there hereafter, I would join him with some others 
learned to go through the Diocese ; and I think Mr. Herle to be 
a grave, priestly man, and should well furnish the office with 
cotnmendam of his livings which he hath now, though he should 



Thomas Herle, 1559 — c. 1575. 79 

give over Manchester, where he now can have little rest." (Par- 
ker's Corresp,, p. 259, Parker Society's ed.) 

It is not improbable that the Warden's alienation of the 
endowments of the College, rather than the opposition of Papists, 
led to his having " little rest," and the wonder is, that he had any 
at all. He failed in becoming Bishop of Bangor, but in 1567 
he was collated to the 4th stall in Chester Cathedral,' and he 
held the vicarage of Bromsgrove, in the county of Worcester, to 
which he had been collated by the Dean and Chapter of that 
Cathedral. 

Feb. 3, 1568, the Queen wrote to the Earl of Derby, the Bishop 
of Chester, the Sheriff of Lancashire, and others, directing them 
to attach such persons as, under pretence of religion, drew sundry 
gentlemen and other persons from their duty and allegiance. 
{Dam. State Pap.^ vol. xlvi., CaL p. 305.) 

On the 4 May, 1570, Archbishop Parker wrote to Secretary 
Cecil that he understood by the Warden of Manchester College, 

' On the 26 June, 1583, Bp. Chaderton, during his triennial Visitation, instituted a 
searching examination into the stale of the Cathedral of Chester and the performances 
of the services. It appeared in evidence tendered in the Chapter House by Mr. 
Robert Rogers, one of the Prebendaries, that since the 15 July, 1 581, neither the 
Dean, Canons, nor Prebendaries, with the exception of himself, had remained upon 
their Prebends according to the Statutes of the Church. Himself, Mr. Nutter, and 
Mr. Hyde, had kept residence ; but Mr. Dean, Mr. IlerU^ Mr. Bulklcy and Mr. Yale had 
not done so. The fabric of the Cathedral, especially the Choir, was in decay ; but the 
Dean and Prebends had allowed upwards of ;f 200 for repairs, half of which had been 
expendefl, and they had arranged that ;f 100 a year should be so appropriated, besides 
eight windows in the new work of the Cathedral furnishe<l by the same. The clergy 
were negligent in attending the Services ; Mr. Dean sometimes attended in the apparel, 
and so did Mr. Nutter, Mr. Hyde, and himself ; but Mr. IJerie, Mr. Bulkley and Mr. Yale 
did not Nutter and Hyde administered and received with Rogers the Blessed Com- 
munion, but none of the rest had done so. It was also stated that if the Queen*s 
Injunctions required four Services of the Canons in a year they were preacheil ; if 
not per se per alios. The Dean had kept a worshipful house \n Chester, and Nutter, 
Hyde and Rogers also, but none of the rest had satisfied the onler. The mansion 
houses of the Prebendaries were in goo<l repair, and the Cathedra) was being repaired. 
The Petti-canons had the New Testament both in Latin and English, and conferred 
daily. Cliapters were not kept as frequently as the Statute appointed. (Chaderton*^ 
Regr,) 



8o Wardens of Manchester. 

that he was very weary of continuing that College with such in- 
cumbrance as he had thereby, and that he had no hope of being 
relieved hereafter of his trouble, except he betrayed the College 
by giving over a lease of the best land it had, and he was at that 
time desirous of relinquishing it to her Majesty's disposal to be 
converted to some College in Cambridge, who might hereafter 
send out some Preachers to inhabit that quarter, and also by the 
rest of the revenue maintain some Students. {Parker by Strype, 
vol. ii. p. lo ; Corrcsp.y p. 365 ; Peck's Desid, Cur,, bk. iii. p. 16.) 
The good Archbishop fell into the snare, and, approving of 
Herle's specious scheme, urged Cecil to induce the Queen to 
benefit St. John's (Cecil's own College) by transferring to it the 
shattered endowments of Manchester. (Parker's Corresp., p. 365.) 

Herle's duplicity was not discovered by the Archbishop until 
some years afterwards, when his conduct was investigated and 
proved to be blameworthy. (Strype's Parker, vol. ii. p. 13.) 
Much of the treasure was found to have been wrested from the 
College, no less by the unscrupulous proceedings of the Warden, 
in conjunction with certain sceptical courtiers of the Queen, than 
by the Queen herself Her cold hard hand had been terribly 
felt 

Mr. Aynscough says of Herle, apparently with some injustice, 
that " he sold all the Church land that would be purchased, and 
granted long leases of the tithes, and endeavoured to make 
away with all the revenue thereof. His way was to grant what 
he intended to make over to one Killigrew, a countryman of his, 
who made it over to the Queen, who reconveyed it to such parties 
as he desired." Sir Henry Killigrew, kt., was a gentleman of 
her Majesty's Privy Chamber, and married one of the learned 
daughters of Sir Anthony Coke, sister of Lady Burghley ; but I 
have met with none of these leases. Some of the leases made 
by Herle have been already referred to ; others are described as 
having been *' for twenty-one years, after two or three lives then 
in being, or else for 99 years, in such ambiguous words as make 
it hard to know when the said 99 years commence or are to ex- 



Thomas Herle, 1559—^. 1575. 81 

pire. Such was the lease of the tithes of Stretford, Trafford, 
and half Chorlton made to Sir Edward Trafford, wherein the said 
tithes are granted first for 21 years, and then by a new habendum 
for 21 years more, and so from 21 years to 21 years to the term 
of 99 years, which was found to be a lease of 99 years after 21." 
{Account of the Wardens of Manchester, 8vo. 1773.) 

On the 17 Sept., 17 Elizabeth (1574), Warden Herle and the 
Fellows appointed, in full Chapter, Edmund Trafford of Trafford, 
Esq., Steward of the College with a salary of 40J. a year. The 
autograph of the Warden is bold and legible. {Lane. MSS., vol. 
XXV. p. 164.) 

He has left a cheerless account of the social state of Manchester 
during his Wardenship, in a letter to the Lord Treasurer Burgh- 
ley, dated 27 April, 1574, and printed by Strype in his Life of 
Abp. Parker^ vol. iii. pp. 135-7. 

Almyghty God preserve your good Lordschyp in myche felycyte. 

Plesyth your honourable Lordschyp to understand, that wher of late 
my lordes grace of York and the Commissyoners there at the Queen's 
Majesties commandement have stablyshyd and orderyd the college of 
Manchester, and placyd both honest and leamyd men there. And the 
landes and revenuys they have so orderyd as ys most nessysary for the 
hospilalyte and relyving powr then Which doyng of thers of lykelyhod 
hath displesyd some men : for on Mydlent Sunday last, as our prechyr 
(who ys a bachelor of Divynyte) was rydyng to preche at one of the 
chappels of the paryshe, beyng distant from the parysche church iiii 
mylys, one Wyllyem Smygth of the parysche of Manchester met hym 
by the way, and takyng hys horse by the brydell, drew hys dagger, and 
bet and woundyd hym wyth iii wondes ; and iff his horse had not brokyn 
owte of the hande of the sayd Smygth, of lykelyhode he had sclayne hym. 
Desyryng therefore your lordschyp to help us, that quyetly we may 
ther doo our funcyon and offyce, or else yf we shall be thys beaten, as 
before thys tvme, and now our precher ys, we schal never be able to lyve 
with them, excepte they may be ponyshyd to the tcrrowre of others. 

They have also causyd one Thomas Staunton, atoumey of the dewchy 
of Lancaster, to enter into certayn landes of the collage callyd Obyte 

M 



8 2 Wardens of Manchester. 

Landa^ and wold have hyt consolyd [concealed] landes, and [yet] hyt ys 
contaynyd within our letters patentes of our foundacion. And yf the 
landes be takjm from us, we be not able to meyntayne the cumpany. 
They have also takyn away al our evydences and letters patentes ; and 
of omamentes and plate as myche as ys worthe five hundred markes, 
wyche plate ys the Queenes Majestye's. And althoughe we have prove 
to whose handes hyt came after the deprivation of my prediscessor, yet 
ys h3rt kepte from us. Wherefore we request your honour to help our 
pour collage, as before this tyme ye have holpyn us (Almighty God 
reward you for hyt), or els the collage had byn utterly d)rstroyde and 
spoyled. Whereas now hyt wold be able to mayntayne lemyd men to 
the help of that cuntrye. And this ye bynd us to be your dayly oratowrs, 
and also of all those that help to the ayde therof Thys levyng your 
honour to Almight}' God, 

By your lordschypps ever to commond 

Thomas Herle, Wardyn of Manchester. 

Change of opinion is not always disputable, but when personal 
advantages, either present or prospective, appear to dictate the 
change, all casuists must condemn it — even Jesuits themselves. 
Warden Herle's altered opinions were not the result of principle 
or of sincere conviction, but of what Hollinworth describes as 
private selfishness. It was indecent in him to attempt to hood- 
wink the Archbishop, and avaricious to attempt to enrich himself 
again by other spoils. It seems probable that Oliver Carter, a 
high principled and independent member of the CoU^ate body, 
had at this time brought the dark features of the case under the 
notice of Dean Nowell, whose honesty of purpose was above 
suspicion, and whose influence was exerted, and not unsuccess- 
fully, to preserve the endowments of the Collie from further 
alienation. (Churtons Nowell, p. 253.) 

It is clear that Herle in writing to Lord Burgfaley spoke 
against all his own previous acts, and denounced the evil system 
by which he had obtained his nefarious ends, and it is at least 
satisfactor}*^ to find that this dignified iconoclast and Church rob- 
ber had the decency not to attempt a vindication of his gross 



Thomas Herle, 1559—^. i575- 83 

depredations. But the evil had not worked well for him, and 
his rapacity, like the horse-leech, was still crying, give ! give ! 
The Church, or in other words the public, had been injured, and 
the individual who had sanctioned the spoliation not much 
benefited. His proceedings had been so unjustifiable, and his 
unpopularity was so great in Manchester, that the Queen, in 
order to appease the public and to remove the general imputa- 
tion that she had connived at the spoliation of the College 
revenues, deprived Warden Herle, and those Fellows who had 
acted in concert with him, about 1575. Herle had a pension of 
20/. per annum for life settled upon him, and the Queen re- 
founded the College. The pension was not enjoyed without 
being grudged. An attempt was made to deprive him of it, and 
it is not improbable that Warden Chaderton was a consenting 
party to this measure ; but he was directed by Sir Francis Wal- 
singham, on the 31 July, 1580, to let "Herle, the old Warden, 
enjoy his pension. I see soe little hope," observed the Secre- 
tary, " that he will doe good anie where, that for the benefit 
of the Church generallie I think it less hurt that he enjoy the 
pencion from that College, than by easing that house thereof 
to place him in such a Benefit as he is utterlie unable to instruct" 
(Peck's Desid, Cur., lib. iii. p. 17.) He survived his deprivation, 
or, according to Assheton's MS,, his resignation, many years, 
and vacated the Vicarage of Bromsgrove and the Stalls at 
Worcester and Chester by death in 1587. (Bishop Chaderton's 
Reg, Ouster ; Le Neve.) 

1578, May 15, an award was given by Lord Burghley and Sir 
Francis Walsyngham for the settlement of the dispute between 
Thomas Herell, Warden of Manchester College, and Alexander 
Nowell, Dean of St. Paul's, in behalf of the said College of Man- 
chester. (Vol. cxxiv. Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1 547-1580, p. 590.) 

Archdeacon Churton observes that Herle appears to have 
been an instance (such, it is hoped, as is not often found) of a 
person who passed his earlier and middle days with integrity 
and repute, and forfeited his good name by his after conduct. 



84 Wardens of Manchester. 

The first considerable preferment which he enjoyed seems to 
have called forth a latent spirit of rapacity, and some years after 
his ejection, as has been noticed, he is mentioned as one of whom 
there was no hope of his doing good anywhere. (Churton's Life 
of Nowell, p. 256.) 

No arms are assigned to this Warden in the MS, History of 
the Wardens in the College of Arms, but his father's arms were 
arg, a fesse gules between three shovellers, ppr. The crest, a 
lion passant. 



John Wolton was son of John Wolton by Isabella his 
wife, daughter of John Nowell of Read Hall, Esq., and Eliza- 
beth Kay of Rochdale, his second wife. Bishop Godwin, Wol- 
ton's son-in-law, states that this excellent man was born at 
Wigan, and all his biographers have considered the statement 
accurate ; but Dr. Whitaker of the Holme, jealous of the honour 
of Whalley, long was impressed with the conviction that Wolton 
was a native of that place. His MS, notes on the subject 
{Lane. MSS, vol. xvi. p. 460) induced him to conclude from the 
Parish Registers and other sources that such was the fact. He 
found the burial of " Isabella, uxor Jolis Woulton, 22 Jan. 1567," 
whom he concluded to be the Bishop's mother ; and as the inter- 
ment of her husband did not appear the Doctor inferred that he 
had died at Wigan — from whence his widow naturally returned 
to her friends at Whalley after his decease. This opinion was 
afterwards confirmed. It is proved to a certainty that Bishop 
Wolton was born at Whalley, for in the Register of Grindal, 
quoted by Strype in that prelate's life (8vo. p. 58), and contain- 
ing the record of one of his earliest London ordinations, 
April 25, 1560, yoAn Wolton, aet 23, then ordained Deacon (in 
his Hist. WliaiUy Dr. W. says Priest, 3rd ed. p. 490), styles 
himself to have been ^^born at W/talley, in Cheshire," meaning 
Diocese. Dr. Whitaker rightly observes, "A man is surely a 
much better authority as to the place of his own birth than his 
son-in-law." {Latic, MSS,, ibid,) The name is variously spelt 



John Woltan, i575— 1579- 85 

Woulton, Wolton, and Walton — the latter an old and wealthy 
family long seated at Marsden Hall, in the ancient parish of 
Whalley. No attempt has been made to deduce this Bishop 
from that house, and the arms are not the same. 

He was born about the year 1535, being aged 18 when he was 
entered a student of Brasenose College, Oxford, on the 26th 
October, 1553. His residence was of short duration, as in 
^SS4-S> being a young man of pious and exemplary life, he 
accompanied or fled to his " thrice reverend Uncle," Alexander 
Nowell, and other exiles, into Germany, being obnoxious to the 
ruling powers, as well on account of his family connections as 
of his impressive earnestness and boldness in promoting the 
Reformation of the Church. It is clear that he had no wish 
either to endure the miseries of imprisonment, or the horrors of 
burning, to please a bigoted Queen or a sanguinary Parliament 
(Churton's Nowell, p. 257; Tanner MS, p. 159.) In 1555 he 
supplicated the University for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, 
but it does not appear that he was admitted. (Wood's A then. 
Oxon,, vol. i. 600. 

On the accession of Queen Elizabeth he returned to England, 
and in 1560 he was made Canon Residentary of Exeter Cathe- 
dral, and not being afflicted about rites and ceremonies was a 
useful preacher. He read a divinity lecture twice a week, and 
twice every Lord's day preached. During the plague he with 
one more remained in the city, and comforted the afflicted by 
public and private ministrations. (Churton's Nowell, p. 257 ; 
Strypes Whitgifty 8vo. vol. i. p. 419.) In 1563, being B.A., he 
was admitted to the Rectory of Spaxton, near Bridgewater, on 
the nomination of a private friend. 

There can be little doubt that it was through his Uncle 
NowelFs influence that he was appointed in 1575 Warden of 
Manchester, and in the May of that year, being Warden, he 
supplicated the University of Oxford as "John Wolton, a 
Minister of God's Word, and sometimes a Student of this 
University," to be licensed to proceed in Divinity, but it does 



86 Wardens of Manchester, 

not appear whether the petition was granted. (Wood's A then. 
Oxon,, vol. i. 600.) He is, however, styled B.D. in 1578. He 
does not appear to have resided in Manchester, and probably 
had a dispensation to exempt him from that duty until the new 
charter was granted by Queen Elizabeth in 1578, when he, being 
named the first Warden, would become amenable to the 
statute. But even then he would not be able to exercise much 
influence over the inhabitants, nor would they be often edified 
by his public ministrations, although he was a learned and 
discreet divine, and not overburdened with stalls, benefices, 
pensions, and gifts. His office was little better than a sinecure, 
and the wounds inflicted by the Court and Herle were scarcely 
cicatrised, notwithstanding the new foundation, so that his 
appointment and non-residence would only revive the recollec- 
tions of the worldliness, inconsistencies, and hypocrisies of some of 
the latter Wardens. It might have been supposed that Man- 
chester would have had associations and attractions for him 
of the most interesting character, as he was surrounded by 
his mother's respectable relatives, the Nowells of Read, the 
Towneleys of Towneley (albeit of another creed), the Holtes of 
Ashworth, the Asshetons of Middleton, the Whitakers of Holme, 
and the Hamonds of Whalley. Hollinworth is in error when 
he states that Warden Wolton " continued scarce two years in 
his Wardenship " when he became Bishop of Exeter. . {Man- 
cuniensis, p. 86.) He was styled Warden in 1575 (Wood, as 
before, on the authority^ of an old Register in Brasenose College, 
folio 90 b) ; and he was appointed by the Queen to the See of 
Exeter in 1579,^ being elected on the 2nd July, confirmed 
on the 24th, and consecrated on the 2nd August in that year. 
(Le Neve, vol. i. p. 379) ; but Hollinworth apparently dates 
his appointment as Warden from the granting of the new Charter. 

* Cole corrected this date to 1579. — Ed. 

* On the II Oct., 1578, Bridget, Countess of Bedford, wrote to BurgUey recom- 
mending that Mr. Woolton, a Canon of Exeter, might for his learning and ability be 
appointed Bishop of Exeter. {Dom, State Pap, ^ voL cxxvi. Na 4; Co/., p. 601.) 



John Wolton, 1575 — 1579. 87 

The Warden left behind him at Manchester the character of 
being a "pious, painfull, skilfull Divine" (Mancun., p. 86), and he 
became a vigilant and exemplary Bishop. (Churton's Nowell, 
p. 258.) In 1585 his strictness in his Diocese led some of his 
enemies to present certain accusations against him to Archbishop 
Whitgift, but he nobly vindicated himself, proved the charges to 
be malicious and unfounded, and annihilated his unscrupulous 
defamers. (Strype's Whitgifty 8vo., App. pp. 90, 92 ; vol. iii. 
p. 153; bk. iii. No. xxii.) There is no doubt that he was an 
earnest asserter of Conformity, and thoroughly understood the 
bearings of the popular controversies affecting the English 
Church. After his death his proceedings in his diocese were 
more favourably regarded, and it was found and believed that 
his counsel to every true Churchman had been 

Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's, 
And Truth's, and God's. 

His death was singularly tranquil, and he appears, like La 
Boetie and some others, to have surmounted all the usual 
attendants of dissolution. Bishop Godwin, who married one of 
his daughters, and seems to have been with him in his last 
moments, says that he had the courage and presence of mind 
to dictate letters not two hours before his death on subjects of 
importance, full of the piety of a man in the vigour of life. 
Being cautioned by his attendants, who saw death approaching, 
he applied the saying of Vespasian that ** a Bishop ought to die 
upon his legs," which in him, as before in the Emperor, was 
literally verified, for as he was supported across the room (his 
complaint being an asthma) he suddenly expired in the arms of 
his attendants on the 13th March, 1593-4, in the 59th year of 
his age. Such a death was a fitting sequel of a holy life, and 
his diocese would feel edified by such a noble example of 
Christian faith and resignation. 

The epitaph on his monument in Exeter Cathedral, where he 
was buried, was written by his eldest son, John Wolton. who 



88 Wardens of Manchester. 

was a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and a graduate in 
Physic, and is given at length in Polwhele's Devon,, vol. ii. p. 7. 

Hie jacet — hand jacet hie, tumulo quam credis inesse. 

Terra nequit tantum contumulare vinim. 
Ingenium, genium, mores, pietatis honores, 

Eloqoiumque pium busta perusta tegent ? 
Falleris, Ultonus tonus est, sic spiritus. " Unde 

Hoc nosti ? " Tonus est caelicus orbe tonans. 

The Bishop does not appear to have published anything after 
his advancement to the See of Exeter, but previously he had 
composed many theological tracts, monitory and practical, which 
seem all to have been printed in the years 1576 and 1577, during 
the time he was Warden of Manchester. These are — i. Ana- 
tomie of the whole Man. 2. Christian ManuelL 3. Of Conscience, 
4. Armour of Proof e, 5. Itnmortalitie of the Soule, 6. For tr esse 
of the FaithfulL 7. David's Chain (dedicated to the Earl of 
Bedford, his patron). (Churton's Nowell, p. 257, note.) Wood 
gives a full catalogue of his writings, vol. i. 601, and also Ames, 
pp.936, 1 1 33. 

Bishop Wolton*s Will is in the Prerogative Office, London. 
(Dixey, p. 37.) 

His son-in-law, Mr. Thomas Barrett, was instituted Arch- 
deacon of Exeter on the presentation of James Wolton, Gent, 
and William Brewton, of Exeter, Notary public, 14 Jan., 1582-3, 
and ob, 25 Nov., 1633, cet, 82. (Le Neve, vol. i. p. 395.) 

By a curious blunder in Dugdale's copy of the List of Wardens 
the arms of the See of Exeter are placed on the sinister side. 
There is no pedigree nor arms of this family in the Heralds' 
College. The arms assigned to him in the Lancashire Ordinary 
are arg, a chevron between three falcons* heads erased, sable, 
beaked or {Lane. MSS., vol. xii). But Greswell [following Izacke] 
says that the Bishop used for arms " a lion ramp, or, standing to 
a saltier engr. gu. Motto, Spernit pcriaila virtus'* (MSS. Hist. 
Mafuhester Coll. in Chetham Libr.) \Harl. MS., 5827, quoted in 
Bedford's Blazon, p. 45, says : " He gave for his arms his mother's 
coate. A., three standing cups covered 5."] 



William Chaderton^ 1579 — 1595. 89 

[Wolton's preferments in his own diocese were as follows : 
15 Aug., 1 561, instituted to Sampford Peveril, N.E. Devon, and 
afterwards to Whimple, E. Devon ; 22 March, 1 565, Bishop 
Alley collated him to a Canonry and prebend in the Cathedral ; 
4 May, 1570, Vicar of Braunton, near Barnstaple, presented by 
Abp. Parker; 15 Oct., 1573, Rector of Kenn, E. Devon; 20 Oct., 
1581, Rector of Haccombe, S.E. Devon, presented by the Carew 
family. The register of St. Mary Major, Exeter, records the 
baptism of Sarah Woulton, daughter of Mr. Woulton, Clarke. 
(Oliver's Bps, of Exeter)] 



William Chaderton was the second son of Edmund 
Chaderton of Nuthurst, in the Parish of Manchester, Gent, and 
of his wife Margery Cliffe of Cheshire, niece of Warden Cliffe 
{Lane. Visits 1567), and grandson of Geoffrey Chaderton, 
descended from Richard de Trafford, living in 1255, whose 
second son, Geoffrey de Chaderton, received from his father the 
vill of Chaderton, and from whose younger son, Geoffrey, this 
house descended. {Lane, MSS,, vol. xiv. p. 152.) His father 
was the head of an ancient and well connected if not very 
opulent family, and his two sons, George and William — the 
latter being born about 1538 or 1540 — were probably educated 
at the Grammar School of Manchester. William Chaderton 
was entered a student of Queen's College, Cambridge, where he 
graduated B.A 1557, M.A. 1561. He was afterwards elected 
Fellow of Christ's College, and was there contemporary with his 
learned and distinguished kinsman, Lawrence Chaderton of the 
Lees, near Oldham, and like him early embraced moderate 
Puritanical views. In 1567 he proceeded Bachelor of Divinity, 
and was elected the Lady Margaret's Professor, being Whitgift's 
successor in the office (Le Neve, vol. iii. p. 656), and in the fol- 
lowing year he commenced Doctor of Divinity, and was elected 
Master of Queen's College. On the 31st May, 1568, he was 
admitted Archdeacon of York. {Id., vol. iii. p. 1 34.) Probably 
through the influence of his friend Fleetwood, Recorder of 

N 



90 Wardens of Manchester. 

London, he was in the same year appointed Chaplain to Robert 
Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to whom he was indebted for his sub- 
sequent advancement in the Church. Being aware that the 
marriage of Ecclesiastics was not viewed very favourably at 
Court, and wishing to conciliate and obtain the consent of his 
patron on his intended marriage, he addressed a letter to him on 
the subject, requesting his advice. The Earl, in his reply, dated 
5 June, 1569, sensibly informed his chaplain that "the matter 
cencemeth, in all persons, the partie himself chieflie that meaneth 
to enter into the state of matrimonie ; and therefore yt behoveth 
him speciallie to bee carefuU what choyce he maketh." As the 
Earl deemed it to be both " lawfule and convenient for such as 
cannot otherwyse conteyne," and as " the consent generallie " of 
his " lovinge Frend and Master " was had and obtained (Peck's 
Desiderata Curiosa^ vol. i. lib. iii. p. 3), the President of Queen's 
proceeded to marry Katherine, daughter of John Revell, Esq., 
of London," by whom he had an only child, Joan, the first 
wife of Sir Richard Brooke of Norton, in Cheshire. For a 
singular account of this daughter see Stanley Papers^ part 2, 
p. 135, note. In this year he resigned the Lady Margaret's 
Professorship, being succeeded by Cartwright (Le Neve, vol. iii- 
p. 654), and was elected Regius Professor of Divinity, the Vice 
Chancellor (Dr. May), Perne (Master of Peter House), Hawford 
(Master of Christ's College), Harvey (Master of Trinity Hall), 
Ithell (Master of Jesus College), Young (Master of Pembroke 
Hall), and Leeds (Master of Clare Hall), applying to the Chan- 
cellor of the University (Cecil) in his favour in the following 
terms : — " That Master Doctor Whitgift was minded by his 
Honour's licence and grant, for divers and necessary considera- 
tions, to resign and give over his Lecture in Divinity. And for- 
asmuch as it was very expedient in the behalf of their University 

' Edward Revell of Camfield, in the County of Derby, Gent, married Ann, 
daughter of Ralph Cudworth of Wemeth in Oldham, by his wife Jane, daughter of 
Arthur Asheton of Rochdale. {Temp, Queen Eliz.) Mrs. Revell was Aunt of Ralph 
Cudworth, D.D. (Lane, MSS,, voL xil "Cudworth.") 



William Cfiaderton, 1579 — 1595. 91 

and the students in that faculty, to have a learned, godly, and 
painful man to supply the place with like diligence, they thought 
good to recommend unto his Honour Master Doctor Chaderton, 
who had, with commendation, by the space almost of three years, 
read the Lecture founded by the Lady Margaret, as one most 
fit, in their judgments, to succeed in his place : most humbly 
desiring his Honour to certify as well the said Master Doctor 
Whitgift, as also others, the Masters of Colleges there in Cam- 
bridge, of his pleasure and liking therein ; that they might all 
frame themselves accordingly : and thus wishing him health, with 
the aid of Almighty God in all his affairs, took their leaves." 
(Strype's Whitgift, 8vo., vol. i. p. 29.) 

Almost immediately afler his elevation to the Divinity Chair 
he joined with Whitgift, Maye, Hawford, and Feme — the last 
having conformed on the accession of Elizabeth, and retained 
his Mastership — in recommending (unsuccessfully) Dr. Roger 
Fulke to succeed Dr. Richard Longworth, a native of Bolton-le- 
Moors, Master of St John's College, and took part with the 
other heads of houses against Cartwright, the Lady Margaret's 
Reader, who, after his suspension in 1570 for strange doctrines 
and prejudices against the Episcopal government and liturgy 
established at the Reformation, was expelled in the same year 
on a representation to the Chancellor (Cecil), drawn up and 
signed by them for that purpose. 

In December, 1569, he voluntarily provided and sent a horse- 
man to oppose the northern rebels, and offered his " body and 
goods to be spent in the Queen's quarrel " (Peck, lib. iii. p. 4), a 
loyal declaration acknowledged by Leycester, and duly appre- 
ciated by the Queen. 

In the next year he addressed a letter to the Chancellor Cecil, 
pressing the reformation of certain libels, seditions, rebellious 
quarrels, and strifes in the University, representing that they 
endangered not only the good government of the University, 
but the safety of the realm. The schisms of the times were 
deeply deplored by him, and he seems to have considered that 



92 Wardens of Manchester. 

they would be well suppressed by the authority of the Queen's 
Privy Council. At this time Sir John Harrington speaks of him 
as " not affecting any sour or austere fashion either in teaching 
or government," and as he wrote from personal knowledge, being 
his contemporary, and of the same college, his testimony may be 
deemed conclusive, although this merit was probably more con- 
spicuous in Chaderton in the early than in the latter part of his 
life. He was always a dogmatic Puritan, and committed to the 
theology of that school, and not disposed to regard Popery with 
any more favour than it received from the Queen, 

He was installed Prebendary of Fenton, in the Cathedral of 
York, on the i6 Febr., 1573-4, and vacated his Stall in 1579. 
(Le Neve, voL iii. p. 185.) He was appointed Canon of the 
fourth Stall in Westminster by patent 5 Nov., 1576, and installed 
on the 17th December following {ibid, p. 353), which he vacated 
about 1 579. It does not appear that he was ever a Prebendary 
of Southwell. (Baines* Lane,, old ed., vol. ii. p. 358.) 

In 1574 Dr. Chaderton preached a Sermon at St Paul's Cross 
against a pernicious sect then prevailing, called the Family of 
Love, and was supposed to reflect upon Cox, Bishop of Ely, at 
that time under a cloud at Court in consequence of his steady 
refusal to give up part of his revenues to certain favourites of 
the Queen. It is said that the Bishop's firmness was supposed 
to involve his deprivation, and that Chaderton hoped to succeed 
him at Ely. He was, however, doomed to disappointment, and 
his imprudent, if not dishonourable conduct, will always remain 
a blot on his memory. 

Archbishop Parker, in his account of this business to Grindall, 
Archbishop of York, said " That he had searched out this report 
so confidently told in the pulpit concerning the sectaries in 
that diocese, and had found the news enviously uttered, and 
that Chaderton talked his pleasure of the Bishoprick of^ Ely 
which he looked to enjoy, and had laid wagers of the present 
Bishop's deprivation as he was informed, and that he would give 
Somersham House (a seat of that Bishop's) to him who sued for 



William Chaderton, 1579 — 1595. 93 

it (i>., the Lord North, if I mistake not), which this man, the 
present Bishop, would not do, and, therefore, it had brought him 
much displeasant report." (Parker's Corresp., p. 474,) It does not 
appear from Parker's letter to Grindall that he who " chattered 
at the Cross openly " was Chadertotiy although Strype fixes upon 
him, and the Abp. had been informed that "this Chatterer" 
had reported "very ill words" of himself. (/5., p. 475.) Parker 
had a special regard for the Bishop of Ely, and his son had 
married the Bishop's daughter, so that the prevalence of "a 
mighty deformity " in the shape of schism in the diocese of Ely 
was not unlikely to have been known to the Archbishop had 
it existed. Nor is it improbable, but on the contrary exceedingly 
probable, that the allegations against Chaderton's sermon, his 
injurious reflections upon Cox, and his own selfish projects, were 
nothing more than " displeasant reports " which had been con- 
veyed to the too ready ear of the Archbishop by some enemy of 
Chaderton. In an age of spies and informers he must have been 
a most indiscreet man to have committed himself in a manner 
so gross and objectionable, as the Archbishop supposed him to 
be, at least, capable of doing. 

Chaderton was the valued friend of Archbishop Sandys, who 
was the principal mourner at Archbishop Parker's funeral (Life 
of Sandys, Parker Society), and his merits were recognized and 
honoured by Henry, Earl of Derby, and by Dudley, Earl of 
Leicester. (See Peck's Desid, Curiosa, vol. i. lib. iii. passim,) He 
was also much beloved by the students in the University for his 
conciliatory disposition and general courtesy. 

In 1576, the Queen wishing to promote Thomas Hughes to 
a Fellowship of Queen's College, commanded Chaderton, the 
Master, and the Senior Fellows, to elect him, her Majesty dis- 
pensing with the Statutes, and if they murmured requiring them 
to inform her of their reasons, i.e, for resisting the will of an 
almost absolute Monarch. (Peck's Desid. Curiosa, lib. iii. p. 5.) 
This was doubtless an eficctual argument in favour of the election 
of the Queen s nominee. 



94 Wardens of Manchester. 

Hisdevoted adherence to the Court and the Earl of Leicester 
was at length rewarded with the dignity which appears to have 
been an object of his ambition. On the 8 Nov. 1579 he was 
consecrated Bishop of Chester in the Church of St Gregory, near 
St. Paul's, London (Le Neve, vol. iii. p. 259), the see having been 
vacant since the death of Bishop Downham in November, 1577.^ 
Edwin (Sandys), Archbishop of York, confirmed him in the 
see, and " Letters of Assistance " were granted by the Arch- 
bishop to Chaderton, confirming him in the temporalities, 14 
Dec. 22 EHz. (1579). (Chaderton's Ldger^ Chester.) In the same 
year he had accepted the Wardenship of Manchester (Dr. Hib- 
bert-Ware, vol. i. p. 10 1), and his dispensation to hold it in 
commendam bears date (according to Baines, voL ii. p. 359) the 
5th June, 1579. This date is not exact, as Wolton was Warden 
at that time. (See ante) 

The year following his consecration he was appointed a mem- 
ber of the Great Ecclesiastical Commission for the North of 
England, and his powers were chiefly exercised in Lancashire 
and Cheshire. As his personal friend and counsellor, Henry, 
Earl of Derby, resided at his house, Alport Park, near Man- 
chester, the Bishop also fixed his residence in the town, and 
their mutual object appears to have been to advance the doctrines 
and principles of the Reformation in conjunction with the Queen 

* On the 14 July, 1578, David Yate wrote to Burghley (?) requesting that the free 
election of Master of Queen's College, Cambridge, might be permitted to the Fellows 
if Dr. Chaderton, the present Master, is made Bishop of Chester. The letter is in 
Latin. {.Dom, State Pap. ^ vol. cxxv. p. 26; Cal., 1547, 1580.) On the 28 Sept, in 
the same year, Dean Nowell appears to have thought that Dr. Bullingham would be 
preferred to the Bishoprick, and asked Burghley for the living of Wythingdon, in 
Gloucestershire, for Mr. William Whytaker, of Trinity Collie, Cambridge, should it 
be vacated by such promotion. {^Ibtd,^ p. 74.) 

■ Aug. 9, 1579, Dr. Thos. Byng, Vice Chancellor of Cambridge wrote to Burghley 
stating that Mr. Bennett and Mr. Chaderton had been selected to preach before him 
and the Sheriff at the Northampton Assizes. ( VoL cxxxL p. 58 ; Ibid^ p. 629. ) 

After Chaderton's consecration he wrote from Prescot Oct. 4, 1580, to Sir Francis 
Walsingham, requesting the release of his first fruits, and commending the Elarl of 
Derby. {Ibid^ voL cxliii. p. 7 ; Co/., p. 600.) 



William Chaderton, 1579 — 1595. 95 

and her Privy Council This was a labour of love to Chaderton, 
although the recusants did not so regard it They were appre- 
hended, examined, fined, and imprisoned ; the children of some 
of the more distinguished and wealthy Roman Catholics were 
removed from the parental protection, and placed under the 
immediate care and instruction of Chaderton, and all efforts, wise 
and unwise, were made to inculcate loyalty to the Queen and 
devotedness to the English Church. Fines and imprisonments 
were not the arguments which prevailed with these stout adhe- 
rents of Rome. At this very juncture Fathers Campian and 
Parsons, two of the most learned and active of their number, 
selected Lancashire as the scene of their labours, and in 1580 
these Jesuits were entertained at the houses of several eminent 
Roman Catholics in the county, amongst others at Blackrod by 
Mr. Laurence Vaux, the late Warden of Manchester, and at or 
near Rossall by Mrs. Allen, the widow of the Cardinal's brother. 
The labours of the Bishop of Chester grew so onerous that Mr. 
Holland of Denton, and Mr. Hopwood of Hopwood, two earnest 
Puritans, were associated with him and Lord Derby in the State 
prosecutions, and they exercised the duties which devolved upon 
them with so much rigour that the Earl and Bishop received the 
Royal thanks, and on 13 Jan., 1580, the Queen issued her Warrant 
to discharge the latter from attending his Parliamentary duties 
in order that he might be more at leisure to rule his diocese. 
(Peck, vol. i. lib. iii. p. 26.) 

The calumnious charge that Chaderton had clandestinely with- 
held and appropriated to his own use the sum of ;£^3,ooo of the 
Fines levied on recusants, was examined by the Privy Council, 
and declared to be entirely false, and there seems to have been 
no foundation for the suspicions of the Government, or for the 
shyness of the Earl of Derby towards him. The fines had been 
small, and did not amount in value to the expectation of the 
Queen's Council. The Bishop received the thanks of the Queen 
for his past conduct, accompanied with a request to persevere 
in the same course. The political views and practices of the 



96 Wardens of Manchester. 

recusants excited the alarm of the Government, who instructed 
the Commissioners to handle Popery roughly, which they were 
well disposed to do, although we hope that some at least of them 
were not averse to the Roman Catholics, and it must not be 
forgotten that these Commissioners employed able men to bear 
the intellectual fatigue of wrestling with error. Force, however, 
was employed. This was a grave error; but such was the spirit 
of the age, and no man suspected his own opinions or questioned 
his own judgment when they were brought to bear against his 
fellow men. The Roman Catholics had taken the initiative, and 
were quite ready to persecute all who differed from them. Dodd, 
the Roman Catholic historian, says that "Dr. Chaderton gave 
orders to the Clergy of Manchester to read prayers in the apart- 
ments where the prisoners are lodged, especially at meal times. 
The more scrupulous chose rather to be deprived of their food 
than endanger the health of their souls by taking in a nourish- 
ment, as they conjectured, to poison their better part." This 
simple act, which seems to have been merely a sort of grace or 
thanksgiving before and after meals, and a* proof of Chaderton's 
benevolence and kindness, was construed to disguise mere special 
objects, and to indicate a design to undermine the faith of the 
Roman Catholic prisoners. That he sought and desired their 
conversion from Popery is indisputable, but that there was any 
such attempt in this act seems questionable. He was, however, 
indefatigable in his devotion and single-hearted in the service of 
his Divine Master, but he had, and knew that he had, subtle 
opponents and keen rivals to combat, and there seems to be no 
reason to doubt that he met them generally with forbearance, 
and overcame, if he did overcome them, with the lawful weapons 
of truth and charity. It is certain that his proceedings were 
appreciated in high quarters, so that we do not wonder to find 
him falling under the Horatian principle, " laudatur ab his, cul- 
patur ab illis." Bell, one of the sturdy Jesuits priests who was 
executed for treason at Lancaster, 20 April, 1584, and who ought 
perhaps to have been removed from his cell to an asylum, but 



William Chaderton, 1579 — 1595. 97 I 



certainly not to the scaffold, complained bitterly of Chaderton as 
a theologian more than as a politician, and described him as "a 
false and cruel Bishop, and a Calvinist," an assertion in character 
with the man who afterwards conspired with Campian and others 
to dethrone the Queen on the plea of her illegitimacy, and to 
effect her murder as an excommunicated heretic. Although 
Hume is just in his remark that all these proceedings were 
" suited to the severe character of the Queen, and to the perse- 
cuting spirit of the age," it is obvious that many of the recusants 
were themselves humble imitators of the intolerant persecutors 
of the last reign, and that some of their acts smelt strongly of 
the faggot, whilst their multifarious plots against the Queen, and 
seditious practices, will account for many of the State prosecu- 
tions. Their conduct was bad, and their principles were inde- 
fensible, but we must award them the credit of being in earnest, 
and of feeling the importance of the great subjects which they 
maintained with so much fervour and constancy. 

Chaderton was a great patron of a species of religious worship 
in private houses, known as Prophesyings, introduced by the 
Puritans, and having for their principal object the refutation of 
Popery by zealous and learned ministers. There is no reason 
to suppose that these were "academies of fanaticism," as they 
are superciliously termed by Hume, but on the contrary useful 
and sound " schools of the prophets," and much needed at that 
time in Lancashire. Public opinion was, however, divided on 
the subject of their utility, and on the 2 May, 1581, Archbishop 
Sandys writing to Chaderton observed, "My Lorde, yow are noted 
to yeldc to much to general fastings, all the Daie preachinge and 

prayingc there lurketh matter under that pretended 

Pietie. The Devil is craftie, and the younge Ministers of these 
oure tymes grow madde." (Peck, vol. i. lib. iii. p. 29.) The 
Archbishop calls this "private advice," but it could hardly be 
agreeable to Chaderton, surrounded by Papists and Puritans, 
the former profanely saying that the "heathen raged, and the 
Protestant people took counsel against Catholics to root them 

O