John Gerard Lord of Kingsley and Bryn

  General Notes:

Ormerod's History of Cheshire, Gerard Pedigree, Vol. II, p. 131 ⁷¹³, seized of Kingsley, of the feoffment of the trustees of Sir Thomas Gerard, 3 Henry IV, Inquisition took place after daeth on 1 Henry VI.

The Visitation of Lancashire and a Part of Cheshire, A.D. 1533, part II, p. 183 ⁷⁶³, John Gerard, son and heir (of Sir Thomas Gerard), aged 30 years and upwards in 1416.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information: ⁸²¹
~Richardson's Magna Carta Ancestry, p. 367, married Alice Boteler, 2nd daughter of John le Boteler, Knight of Bewsey, and Alice de Plumpton. John Gerard, of Bryn, Lancashire, Kingsley, Cheshire, Knight of the Shire of Lancashire, Justice of the Peace for the county, son of Thomas Gerard, Knight, of Kingsley & Bryn, by his wife Isabel. John and Alice had one son, Sir Peter, Knight. and one daughter Constance who married Alexander Standish, Knight of Standish. In 1416, he and others were granted custody of the Lancashire estates of his brother-in-law, William Boteler.

• Background Information: ⁸²⁶
Sir Peter Gerard died in 1380, and was succeeded by his son Sir Thomas Gerard, who like others of the family is traditionally said to have been engaged in the wars of the time. [Ormerod, ii, 96; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvi, App. 195. In 1402 he made provision for the marriage of his son John with Alice daughter of Sir John Boteler; ibid. 196] At his death in 1416 he was found to have held the two-thirds of the manor of Ashton of Henry de Langton, baron of Newton, in socage by the service of 20s. a year, besides many other manors and lands in Lancashire. [Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc.), i, 123] His son and heir John, aged thirty at his father's death, succeeded. He died 6 November 1431, leaving a son and heir Peter, then twenty-four years of age. [Ormerod, loc. cit. The writ of Diem cl. extr. was issued 10 Dec. 1431, and writ of livery 14 Mar. 1431-2; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvii, App. 301.] This son, afterwards Sir Peter Gerard, had a comparatively short life, dying on 26 March 1447, when the manors devolved on a minor, his son Thomas being but sixteen years of age. [Ormerod, loc. cit. The Lancashire inquisition taken after his death is preserved in Towneley MS. DD, no. 1465. ]

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

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

John married Alice Boteler, daughter of Sir John le Boteler Knight, Lord of Warrington and Alice de Plumpton ⁸²¹.^,713 (Alice Boteler was born about 1375 in Bewsey Hall, Warrington, Lancashire, England and died before 27 Feb 1441-1442 in Lancashire, England ⁸²¹.)