NOURSE, Luke (c.1590-1673), of Gloucester and St Michael, Cornhill, London.

The family of Nourse or Nurse had been settled in Gloucester since the end of the sixteenth century at least, although the Gloucestershire parish of Twyning may have been their earlier habitation.31Glos. RO, GBR10/1, p 119. Walter Nourse, Luke’s father, was a mercer, and took his son as apprentice in 1603.32Glos. RO, GBR/10/1, p. 55. Luke (who spelled his name ‘Nurse’ until 1649, and ‘Nourse’ thereafter) became free of the city after the seven year apprenticeship in that trade.33Glos. RO, GBR/G3/SO2. By April 1624, he was in high enough esteem among the councillors to be entrusted with taking the charter of 1483 to London, where two of the aldermen were negotiating a replacement. He was in London until at least June, carrying letters between the city and Henry Gibb, an officer of the king’s bedchamber. 34Glos. RO, GBR/B3/1, ff. 498, 499v. Nourse was sheriff in 1630, and after serving the city in that important office, subsequently began to benefit from leases of city property in the accustomed way.

In the months between the outbreak of the Irish rebellion in October 1641, and the commencement of the English civil war, Nourse was an enthusiast for the propositions of Parliament for bringing Ireland to order. He served on a city committee to supervise the collection of loans for the cause, and like Thomas Pury I*, contributed £50 of his own money.35Glos. RO, GBR/B3/2, pp. 213-4. In September 1642, a few months after he had been made an alderman, he put in his expenses claim for another trip to London on city business, this time connected with Gloucester’s lieutenancy.36Glos. RO, GBR/B3/2, p. 236. During the civil war, he was commissioned in the parliamentarian city regiment of Henry Stephens, as were Thomas Pury I and William Singleton*.37Glos. RO, GBR/B3/2, p. 254. On 2 June 1645, he and Singleton were appointed by Parliament to command the Gloucester garrison in the interim period between the departure of Edward Massie* and his successor.38CJ iv. 159b. On October 1645, the town clerk, John Dorney, gave the customary address at the annual change-over of civic officers, on the occasion of Nourse’s retirement from the office of mayor. In the circumstances, when Gloucester was garrisoned for Parliament, Dorney’s comments were heartfelt

There is a dignity I must acknowledge in bearing public offices, yet there is a difficulty also in the right performance of duties, especially concerning government, which is called an art of arts, as hard as excellent.39Dorney, Certain Speeches, 15.

Noting that it did not fall to the coroner to hold inquests on those killed in the civil war, he declared that God, ‘the supreme judge, the God of vengeance’, would ‘make inquisition for their blood, which cries aloud against the authors and fomenters of this destructive war’.40Dorney, Certain Speeches, 17. Commenting on Nourse’s performance as mayor, Dorney drew attention to his calling a minister to the city to replace the bishop, dean and chapter; his work in the city markets and on the quays and bridges: ‘and of the rest I might tell you many things praiseworthy, but I forbear’.41Dorney, Certain Speeches, 19. He concluded his speech with a denunciation of ‘two dangerous malignants that are not to be tolerated in any Parliament garrison: these are impiety and iniquity’; and with a plea to the city’s officers to inaugurate ‘a real reformation’.42Dorney, Certain Speeches, 20.

In July 1648 Nourse served on a city committee for fitting out the church of St Mary Crypt – now renamed ‘Crypt Church’ so as not to offend puritan sensibilities – to receive a preaching minister.43Glos. RO, GBR/B3/2, p. 459. Like the other city leaders, he envisaged a role for the cathedral building, viewing it as an ornament to the city rather than as a relic of popery, and in 1659 was in charge of repairs to one of the cathedral bells.44Glos. RO, GBR/B3/3, p. 94. He had no difficulty in adapting to the government of the commonwealth, or indeed that of the protectorate, and was mayor for a second time, in 1656. Doubtless this office recommended him to the council of state as a commissioner under the direction of Major-general John Disbrowe*.45Glos. RO, Smyth of Nibley vol. III, f. 71. It was also as one of Gloucester’s most senior councillors that he was elected for the Parliament of Richard Cromwell* in 1659. He seems to have made little or no impact on the assembly, however, not being named to any committees, let alone being recorded as a contributor to debate on the floor of the House. The city was his natural environment, and back in Gloucester his tenure of office survived the restoration of the monarchy. In April 1661 he was one of a group of Gloucester citizens who persisted in their attempts to recover what they were owed from the city’s participation in the Irish Adventure of 20 years previously.46Glos. RO, GBR/B3/3, p. 179.

Under the restored monarchy, if left undisturbed, Nourse would doubtless have continued to serve the city as he had done for over 30 years. The visit to Gloucester of the commissioners for regulating corporations, in the summer of 1662, put paid to that possibility, however, and on 21 July Nourse and 20 other councillors were ejected from their places.47Glos. RO, GBR/B3/3, pp. 235-6. In a tacit commentary of disapproval of these ejections, in February 1663 the corporation offered to renew Nourse’s lease of one of the city properties, on terms identical to those he had accepted in 1631, except for an entry fine of £150. Nourse refused the offer, probably not because of any quarrel with the corporation, but in all probability because of his intention to remove to London.48Glos. RO, GBR/B3/3, pp. 246, 251. His son, Edward, was settled in St Michael, Cornhill, by 1665, where he traded as a girdler. Luke joined him in the metropolis, and died there in April 1673. He was buried in the upper end of the north aisle of his parish church.49Regs. of St Michael, Cornhill, 145, 259; PROB11/342/33. None of his descendants sat in Parliament.