BOOTH, William (c.1539-79), of Dunham, Cheshire.

Until he came of age Booth was under the guardianship of Sir John Holcroft, who paid 400 marks for the wardship. He was related to Edmund Trafford I and his son Edmund Trafford II and regarded as a kinsman by Edward Fitton, who married Holcroft’s daughter. He was knighted at Gorhambury, the home of Sir Nicholas Bacon. He was probably a follower of Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby, who gave employment to his son. His religious sympathies may have been with the radicals. In his will, made 25 Nov. and proved 10 Dec. 1579, he left £4 to Richard Midgeley, chaplain to the 4th Earl of Derby and vicar of Rochdale, who had opposed the wearing of vestments and been summoned before the bishop of Chester in 1573 ‘on account of his non-conformity’. Booth died 8 Nov. 1579.1CPR, 1558-60, pp. 362, 363; Vis. Cheshire (Harl. Soc. xviii), 37; Ormerod, Cheshire, i. 529-30; iii. 867; Lancs. and Cheshire Rec. Soc. xl. 155; PRO Index 10217 (1); Lansd. 9, f. 164; 20, f. 39; CSP Dom. 1547-80, p. 428; CSP For. 1588 (Jan.-June), p. 475; Chetham Soc. xxxi. 178; li. 65-7.