Gilbert Gerard of Crewood

Gilbert Gerard (1604–1673) of Crewood Hall, Frodsham, Cheshire, was a colonel in the Parliamentary army during the First English Civil War and a justice of the peace during the Interregnum. He was active in local administration and around the county of Cheshire.^[1][2]

Biography

In the 1630s Gerard realised that his estate of Crewood was well located to take advantage of the salt trade. He organised the transportation of salt in flat bottomed barges from Pickering ford down the river Weaver to Liverpool (this business must have been successful because in 1678 he built a salt house beside the river and his son Benjamin became a "citizen and Salter of London").^[1]

In the early 1640s a significant portion of Gerard's local parish congregation were puritans and Gerard was their lay spokesman.^[3] He was also served as a head constable.^{[4][lower-alpha 1]}

At the outbreak of the Civil War Gerard joined the Parliamentary army. He was governor of the garrison at Northwich, fought in the Battle of Tarvin in 1643, and he successful Parliamentary siege of Chester under the command of Sir William Brereton.^[1] Gerard, like several other minor gentry in the region, seems to have flourished under the patronage of Sir William,^[5]He proved not only to be a competent military officer, but also an administrator and was successful in raising Proposition money from the parishes of Bucklow, Edisbury and the Northwich hundreds.^[1][6]

After the First Civil War and through the Interregnum (England) Gerard was a justice of the peace (JP). It was as a JP that he helped in suppressing the Booth's Rebellion in 1659.^[1][7]

At the restoration of the monarchy Gerard lost his position as JP.^[1] In 1665 he was arrested for treason, but no records survive of his involvement in a plot.^[8]

Family

Married and had seven sons and six daughters.^[1]

See also

• Bunbury Agreement

Notes

1. John Morrill observes that head constable was far below the position of in 17th century society of a Justice of the Peace, that Gerard held after the First Civil War and during the Interregnum.^[4]

1. Birchall 2013 quotes Gibson & Waterworth 1975
2. Bolton 1983.
3. Morrill 1974, p. 36.
4. Morrill 1974, p. 225.
5. Morrill 1974, p. 81.
6. Morrill 1974, pp. 101–102.
7. Morrill 1974, pp. 311, 313, 235–326.
8. Morrill 1974, p. 328.

References

• Birchall, John P. (29 January 2013). "Crewood Hall & Cheshire Farming". Retrieved October 2013. quotes:
  • Gibson, William; Waterworth, Alan William (1975). Kingsley - the Story of a Cheshire Village. ISBN 9780950453606.

Bolton, P. A. (1983). "Gerard, Gilbert II (d.1687), of Fiskerton, Lincs. and Pall Mall, Westminster.". The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning. Boydell and Brewer.

• Morrill, John Stephen (1974). "Index". Cheshire 1630-1660: County Government and Society During the English Revolution (Reprint ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 351. ISBN 9780198218555. "Gerard of Crewood, Gilbert, 269; as JP., 185, 187, 224, 259; as collector of Proposition Money, 101–2; commissioned officer 81; and Puritan petitioning (1641), 36; and sectarians, 275; and the suppression of Booth Rebellion 311, 313, 325–6; and Restoration, 328"