PRESTON, John (c.1578-c.1642), of Furness, Lancs. and Preston Patrick, Westmld.

Though from a local family, Preston may have owed his return for Lancaster in 1593 to another Gray’s Inn man, very much his senior, Sir Gilbert Gerard, vice-chancellor of the duchy. Though he may later have practiced as a lawyer, virtually nothing is known about Preston except that he became a recusant, and was a benefactor of the poor of three Lancashire parishes. His will has not been found, but in 1638 he settled the manors of Preston Patrick, Nether Levins and Holme, Westmorland, on the children of his second son and heir, John. He died about 1642.1Burke, Extinct Baronetage, 427; Al. Cant.iii. 393; Lansd. 153, f. 52; Hist. Garstang (Chetham Soc. cv), 151; Lancs. Social Institutions (Chetham Soc. ser. 3, xi), 16; Nicolson and Burn, Hist. Cumb. and Westmld. i. 240.