GERARD, Thomas (1563/4-1617)

Heir to Sir Gilbert Gerard^‡, Elizabeth’s long-serving attorney general and master of the Rolls, Gerard inherited substantial estates in north-west England. Despite his father’s loyalty to the regime, his relatives included the Jesuit John Gerard, while his first wife’s sister married the crypto-Catholic Henry Windsor^*, 5th Lord Windsor. In his youth Gerard pursued a military career: he may have been the Thomas Gerard who served as a volunteer in the Low Countries under Robert Dudley^†, earl of Leicester in 1585-6; he certainly held commands under Robert Devereux^†, 2nd earl of Essex in Normandy (1591) and at Cadiz (1596); and he superintended militia training in three counties in 1597.21 Leicester’s Triumph, 117; SP78/26, ff. 19-20, 302; Salop RO, 3365/2621; APC, 1597, p. 205. From 1595 he held a sinecure as captain (governor) of the Isle of Man, and in 1597 he was appointed knight marshal of the household. Essex presumably recommended him for the latter position, and Gerard briefly accompanied the earl to Ireland in 1599, returning to court with dispatches.22 Dickinson, 40; CPR, 1596-7, p. 126; CSP Ire. 1599-1600, pp. 16, 21, 27. Despite rumours of his involvement with Essexian plotting, he distanced himself from the earl before the rebellion of February 1601, and played an active role in its suppression.23 CSP Dom. 1597-1601, pp. 486-7, 577; HMC Hatfield, x. 141.

In 1603 Gerard was one of a small number of courtiers allowed free access to King James’s privy chamber, and was created a baron at the coronation, surrendering his post as knight marshal to Sir Thomas Vavasour^‡. He also maintained good relations with the king’s chief minister, Robert Cecil^*, Lord Cecil (later 1st earl of Salisbury), who granted him two lucrative wardships.24 HMC Hatfield, xv. 179, 220, 257.

A veteran parliamentarian, having served in the Commons six times under Elizabeth, Gerard attended almost every sitting of the House of Lords in the first parliamentary session of James’s reign, in 1604, although he was not prominent its proceedings. He was ordered to attend the two conferences at which James unveiled his initial plans for the Union, and another at which the Commons pressed the Lords to censure John Thornborough^*, bishop of Bristol, for having criticized their proceedings over the Union.25 LJ, ii. 278a, 284a, 332b. As a courtier, he was naturally included on the delegation sent to discuss composition for purveyance for the Household with the Commons, and also named to consider bills to naturalize four Scottish courtiers and confirm a lease of one of Westminster Abbey’s estates. It was presumably as a former soldier that he was included on the committee for the bill to ban the export of iron ordnance.26 Ibid. 272a-b, 285a, 290b, 311a. In a poorly reported session, he is recorded as having made only one speech, claiming privilege for a servant of William Parker^*, 5th Lord Monteagle; the case was still ongoing at the prorogation.27 Ibid. 315a, 316b-17a, 319b, 327a.

Following the end of the session, Gerard asked to be granted access to Thomas Grey^*, 15th Lord Grey of Wilton, then imprisoned in the Tower for his part in the Bye Plot. Cecil denied his request, but relented in the following year; Gerard may have been worried about links between his brother-in-law, Lord Windsor, and the plotters.28 HMC Hatfield, xvi. 192-3; xvii. 601. Gerard was present in the Lords on 5 Nov. 1605, and for most of the session which followed; his only extended absence was in early May 1606, when he entertained the king at his house at Chippenham, Cambridgeshire; in his absence he left a proxy with the lord chamberlain, Thomas Howard^*, 1st earl of Suffolk, whose country seat at Audley End, Essex, lay within easy distance of Chippenham.29 LJ, ii. 422b, 449b; HMC Hatfield, xviii. 130. In the Lords, Gerard was included on the committee for the bill to attaint the Gunpowder plotters, several of whose estates lay in the Midlands. He was also ordered to attend a conference on fresh recusancy legislation, and named to the committee for two of the bills which resulted from these discussions.30 LJ, ii. 367a-b, 401a, 419b. Furthermore, he was required to attend the conference at which the Lords unsuccessfully attempted to persuade the Commons to abandon their plans to abolish purveyance without compensation, and included on the committee for a bill to confirm all letters patent granted over the next seven years, and another for the free trade bill.31 Ibid. 393b, 399b, 413a; Bowyer Diary, 116-17. Other committee nominations had some relevance to his private interests. These included a bill to settle the Gloucestershire estates of Gray Brydges^*, 5th Lord Chandos, which was probably of interest to his wife, who held property in that county, and a measure to discourage lawsuits over fenland commons. He was also included on the committee for the bill to repeal the clause of the 1536 Act of Union, which allowed the crown to make law for Wales by proclamation, and another to scrutinize two bills to reform the Marshalsea court.32 LJ, ii. 386a, 406b, 436a, 437a.

Gerard was less active in the next parliamentary session (1606-7), largely because he did not return to the House after the Easter recess. At the start of the session, he was named to attend the conference at which the Lords attempted to persuade MPs to begin debating the Union. His only other recorded involvement with this project, which dominated the session, was a nomination to the committee for the bill to abolish hostile laws against the Scots, which he cannot have attended, as it met after he had left Westminster.33 Ibid. 453a, 520a. He was included on committees for the free trade bill, which amended the act passed in the previous session, the usury bill to reduce interest rates, and another measure to confirm the titles of purchasers of former crown lands.34 Ibid. 464b, 471b-2a, 494a. He was also named to the committee to confirm the inheritance of the heirs of Ferdinando Stanley^†, late 4th earl of Derby, which related to his interests in that the crown was then negotiating with the 5th earl (William Stanley^*) for restitution of the lordship of Man; Gerard subsequently expended considerable effort in clearing his accounts as captain of the island.35 Ibid. 480a; HMC Hatfield, xix. 143, 251-2, 423-4, 435; xx. 282.

While more assiduous in his attendance during the two parliamentary sessions of 1610, Gerard was not prominent in the proceedings of either: he played no recorded part in the debates over the financial reforms, known to posterity as the Great Contract, which dominated the spring session. He was, however, named to attend a conference about the sole item of Union legislation considered during the session, the bill to establish procedures for remanding criminals across the Anglo-Scottish border.36 LJ, ii. 634b; Procs. 1610 ed. E.R. Foster, i. 123. He was involved with two procedural matters during the spring session: on 9 Feb. he introduced Suffolk’s heir, Theophilus Howard^* (later 2nd earl of Suffolk), who had been summoned by writ of acceleration to the Lords as Lord Howard de Walden, while on 23 May he successfully claimed privilege for a servant of Francis Norris^*, 2nd Lord Norreys (later earl of Berkshire).37 LJ, ii. 549b, 597b-8a. He was also included on several committees appointed to scrutinize legislation relating to the north-west: a fresh draft of the earl of Derby’s estate bill; another to annex the lordship of Man to the earldom; a bill to confirm the enfranchisement of copyholders on the crown manor of Clitheroe, Lancashire, where he held some property; and a bill to regulate moor-burning in the north of England.38 Ibid. 553b, 592b, 601a, 616b.

During the autumn session, Gerard was one of the large number of peers ordered to attend a conference to press the Commons to decide whether to proceed with the Great Contract. When this was answered in the negative, he was sent to another conference to inquire about other means to supply the crown’s financial needs.39 Ibid. 671a, 678a; HMC Hastings, iv. 222-6. He was also named to a handful of bill committees, including one to prevent the export of iron ordnance, and another to enable the duchy of Cornwall to make leases lasting beyond the lifetime of the current prince.40 LJ, ii. 670a, 677a.

In 1614, Gerard attended the first half of the Addled Parliament, leaving his proxy with the earl of Suffolk at his departure from the House on 9 May. At the beginning of the session, he was one of the large delegation sent to confer with the Commons about the bill to confirm the rights of Princess Elizabeth’s children to the succession of the English crown; he was thereafter named to two committees, one for a bill to avoid litigation over bequests of land in wills, and another for the preservation of timber trees on crown estates.41 Ibid. 692b, 694a, 697b. After the angry dissolution, he emulated most other peers by giving £50 to the benevolence collected in lieu of parliamentary supply.42 E351/1950.

After his surrender of the captaincy of the Isle of Man in 1608/9, Gerard is not known to have had any further aspirations to public office until the summer of 1616, when he entered into negotiations to purchase the presidency of the council in the marches from Ralph Eure^*, 3rd Lord Eure. The latter had initially planned to sell his post to Gray Brydges^*, 5th Lord Chandos, a relative by marriage, but Gerard’s bid was backed by the new royal favourite, George Villiers^* (later 1st duke of Buckingham), and by the groom of the stole, Thomas Erskine, Viscount Fentoun [S]. Chandos quickly stood aside, but another contender then emerged in the person of John Egerton^* (later 1st earl of Bridgwater), whose father the lord chancellor (Thomas Egerton^*, Lord Ellesmere, later 1st Viscount Brackley) wanted to advance him before his own retirement. In March 1617, Gerard won the day with the support of Villiers, the ‘principal verb’ at court, and a payment of £4,500 to Eure, which he apparently borrowed from John Overall^*, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield.43 SP14/87/57; 14/90/18; Chamberlain Letters, ii. 10, 59; SP84/76, f. 264; HMC Downshire, vi. 129. It was presumably also with the favourite’s support that Gerard’s eldest son, Gilbert Gerard^* (later 2nd Lord Gerard) secured a post in the household of Prince Charles (Stuart^*, prince of Wales).44 NLW, 9056E/786.

Gerard arrived in Ludlow, Shropshire, the headquarters of the council in the marches, in May 1617. He clearly intended to be an active president, adding several of his own relatives to the council,45 Eg. 2882, ff. 82v, 93v. The relatives he added to the council were his son Gilbert, his nephew Charles Gerard, his brother-in-law Sir Peter Legh and his daughter-in-law’s relation William Dutton. See Ormerod, i. 653. inaugurating militia reforms, and pressing the Ludlow corporation to supply carts for carrying goods purchased by the council’s purveyors.46 Add. 10609, f. 43; HMC 10th Rep. iv. 365; Salop RO, LB2/1/1, f. 117v. He also helped to broker a marriage alliance between Sir Richard Wynn^‡, heir to large estates in north-west Wales, and the heiress of the Middlesex landowner Sir Francis Darcy^‡, which was finalized at his Staffordshire seat in September.47 NLW, 9056E/792, 795, 806; NLW, Panton Deeds 78. However, he died suddenly on 7 Oct. 1617. In his will, completed the day before, he asked to be buried next to his parents at Ashley, Staffordshire, and confirmed the settlement of £400 a year on his second wife (whom he had married only the previous autumn), and other provisions for his heir, the latter’s wife, and his two younger sons. He also bequeathed one of his best horses to Fentoun.48 C142/368/119; Chamberlain Letters, ii. 99; PROB 11/131, ff. 358-61v.