GERARD, Gilbert (by 1596-1623)

Heir to substantial estates in north-west England, both by descent from his father and by marriage, Gerard was a courtier of longstanding. One of Prince Henry’s retinue at the latter’s creation as prince of Wales in 1610, he served from 1617 as a gentleman of the privy chamber to Prince Charles (Stuart^*, prince of Wales), and participated in at least three accession day tilts.10 HMC Downshire, ii. 316; NLW, 9056E/786; Chamberlain Letters ed. N.E. McClure, ii. 152, 298; HEHL, EL7973. Even after inheriting his patrimony in Staffordshire and Lancashire, he rented a house in Chester, near the property his wife inherited in 1614.11 C2/Chas.I/G33/18. However, his estate was encumbered with a jointure of £400 a year to his stepmother, and a mortgage of £4,500 owing to John Overall^*, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield (later bishop of Norwich) – probably the sum his father had paid to acquire the presidency of the council in the marches of Wales shortly before his death. After Bishop Overall’s death in 1619, the mortgage was acquired by the Navy Treasurer Sir William Russell^‡, who offset it against the £10,800 he paid to purchase Gerard’s manor of Chippenham, Cambridgeshire.12 C142/401/119/1; PROB 11/131, f. 361.

With a large number of Catholics among his family, it is not surprising that Gerard was identified with the Spanish party at court: in March 1620 he was hurt when a floor collapsed as he accompanied the Spanish ambassador to an audience with the king.13 Chamberlain Letters, ii. 296; CSP Dom. 1619-23, p. 133. However, only three months later, he was said to have secured a captaincy in the army of English volunteers being raised to relieve the Palatinate. The accounts of this expedition do not record Gerard as having held any command, which may explain why he was recorded to have quarrelled with its second-in-command, Robert Devereux^*, 3rd earl of Essex, in the spring of 1621.14 CSP Dom, 1619-23, p. 152; E101/612/73; Chamberlain Letters, ii. 364. He still retained hopes of a foreign command as late as July 1621, when he made arrangements to leave two of his best horses to Prince Charles, whom he asked, in the event of his death in action, to ensure that the wardship of his heir, Dutton Gerard^†, should be committed to his cousin Thomas Windsor^*, 5th Lord Windsor rather than his wife and her relatives, ‘of whose malice I have had too much experience’.15 CSP Dom. 1619-23, p. 205; PROB 11/143, ff. 109v-10.

Gerard’s failure to secure a command on the Rhine allowed him to attend the 1621 Parliament, during the course of which he is recorded as having attended 60 per cent of its sittings. He played a modest role in his only session, being named to the committee for the bill to prevent the unlicensed export of bullion by Catholics, and another to consider the proposal of the favourite, George Villiers^*, marquess (later 1st duke) of Buckingham to establish an academy for the sons of gentlemen. He was also included on three committees for local measures: a bill to confirm a Chancery decree about a Staffordshire manor, another to establish a staple for Welsh cloth at Oswestry, Shropshire and a third to regulate the export of Welsh butter.16 LJ, iii. 26b, 28a, 37a, 101b, 185b. In the autumn, he successfully claimed privilege for three of his servants who had been arrested over a property dispute.17 Ibid. 174a, 188a, 196a-b; Add. 40086, f. 27v.

Gerard’s death, on 11 May 1623, was presumably unexpected: he died at Coventry, while travelling to London, and made no alterations to his will of 1621.18 C142/401/119/1; C2/Chas.I/G38/25. Its most significant provisions were, in fact, ignored: when probate was granted on 3 Feb. 1624, his designated executors, Matthew Cradock^‡ and Edward Short, fearing that his goods would not cover his debts, resigned their interest to his widow and her new husband, Robert Needham^‡ (later 2nd Viscount Kilmorey [I]); while Lord Windsor failed in his bid to secure the wardship of Dutton Gerard, which was awarded to his mother and her new husband for £1,700.19 PROB 11/143, ff. 109v-10v; C2/Chas.I/G38/25; CSP Dom. 1619-23, p. 590; WARD 9/207, f. 38.