RANDLE COTGREAVE (COTGREVE), principal registrar of the diocese of Chester (appointed 1565)

Qualifications: Notary Public

Career: Very little is known about Cotgreave’s qualifications and his life, except that he was the son of William Cotgreve of Christleton, near Chester, as shown in a herald’s visitation of 1580. A man of the same name was acting as registrar under George Wilmesley by 1541, but a study of handwriting suggested that this was not the same man.

He was appointed principal registrar in 1565, probably following the death of John Chetham, and was still acting early in 1581.

Further Notes: He married Ellen Taylor of Chester and had four sons and one daughter. There were several branches of the Cotgreave family in the Chester area at this time.

His signature from EDC 5/1575/13

Sources:

J. Paul Rylands (ed.), The Visitation of Cheshire 1580, (The Harleian Society, 18, 1882), pp. 68-9

Cheshire Sheaf, 3rd Series, iv, pp. 25-6, 88-9

WILLIAM CHADERTON (CHADDERTON), bishop of Chester, d. 1608

Qualifications:  Bachelor of Arts, 1557; Master of Arts, 1561; Bachelor of Theology, 1566; Doctor of Theology, 1568

CCEd person ID: 40034

Career: He attended Queen’s College at Cambridge University, was subsequently elected a Fellow of Christ’s College and later Lady Margaret professor of Divinity in 1567; in 1568 he was appointed archdeacon of York (until 1575) and chaplain to Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, who was also chamberlain of Chester. Prebendary of Fenton (York) from 1574-1579; a Canon of Westminster from 1576-1579. He was consecrated bishop of Chester in November 1579 and moved his establishment to Manchester after his appointment as warden of Manchester College in June 1580, from this base he worked to suppress Catholicism in Lancashire and to correct Puritan clergy. He aimed to improve preaching throughout the diocese and was a regular preacher himself. He was friendly with Henry, earl of Derby, and regularly preached at his houses. He held the wardenship of Manchester College with the see of Chester until 1595 when he was translated to the wealthier diocese of Lincoln which he held until his death. Prior to this move, however, in about 1593 he had returned to Chester, probably because of conflict between his servants and the people of Manchester. He held the parishes of Thornton-le-Moors in Cheshire from 1581 and Bangor in Flintshire from 1584 in addition to his other offices.

Further notes: His family came from Nuthurst, in the parish of Manchester; probably educated at Manchester Grammar School.

He married Katherine Revell, daughter of a London gentleman, who was niece of Dr Cliffe, warden of Manchester College. The couple had one daughter, Joan, who was married at the age of 9 in 1582 in the bishop’s palace. Her husband was Richard Brooke, son of a wealthy local gentleman, who was 11 at the time of the marriage. The marriage was later ratified by Robert Leche after the children had reached the age of consent (at that time 12 for a girl) but the couple were not happy together and lived apart for many years.

Chaderton was described as ‘a learned man, and liberal, given to hospitality, and a more frequent preacher and baptizer then other bishops of his time’ (Hollingworth).

Sources:

‘Archdeacons: York’, in Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541-1857: Volume 4, York Diocese, ed. Joyce M Horn, David M Smith( London, 1975), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/fasti-ecclesiae/1541-1847/vol4/pp13-14

‘Prebendaries: Fenton’, in Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541-1857: Volume 4, York Diocese, ed. Joyce M Horn, David M Smith( London, 1975), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/fasti-ecclesiae/1541-1847/vol4/pp34-35

‘Canons (to 1660): Fourth prebend’, in Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541-1857: Volume 7, Ely, Norwich, Westminster and Worcester Dioceses, ed. Joyce M Horn( London, 1992), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/fasti-ecclesiae/1541-1847/vol7/pp74-75

‘Manchester: The parish and advowson’, in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4, ed. William Farrer, J. Brownbill ( London, 1911), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol4/pp192-204

Christopher Haigh, ‘Chaderton, William (d. 1608)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online edition) https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/5011

R. Hollingworth, Mancuniensis (Manchester, 1839), p. 89

W. H. Price and Canon Morris, ‘Early Marriages in the Diocese of Chester’, Journal of the Architectural, Archaeological and Historic Society of Chester, vol. VI, part II, (1899), pp. 217–230

F. R. Raines, The rectors of Manchester, and the wardens of the collegiate church of that town, Chetham Society, new ser., 5-6 (1885), pp. 89-101