Sex

Male

Parish

Bury

Marital Status

Unknown

Remarks

He had built a dwelling house called Cobholes on land called Cray or Cragh in the parish of Bury.

Causes

EDC 5/8/1 – defendant

Sex

Male

Approx Year of Birth

1502

Parish

Shocklach

Marital Status

Unknown

Causes

EDC 5/3/2 – witness for the plaintiff; his deposition may be found at CALS EDC 2/2 f. 457v

Sex

Male

Approx Year of Birth

1489

Parish

Deane

Marital Status

Unknown

Causes

EDC 5/3/2 – witness for the plaintiff; his deposition may be found at CALS EDC 2/2 ff. 456v-457

Sex

Male

Marital Status

Married

Spouse Name

Mary

Occupation Status

Gentleman

Remarks

Career: George Cotton was born about 1495, the second son of John Cotton of Cotton in Shropshire. He became an esquire of the body to Henry VIII and obtained a number of official appointments, being knighted in 1542. By the time of his death, he had been appointed vice-chamberlain to the future Edward VI.

In August 1539 he and his wife, Mary (Onley), were granted the monastery and lands of Combermere Abbey, near Nantwich in Cheshire. The Cotton family built a house there which is thought to incorporate part of the old monastic buildings. The Tudor house survived until the early nineteenth century when it was extensively remodelled in the Gothic style by cladding the existing walls.

Sir George and Lady Mary Cotton were granted the manors of Wilkesley and Poulton in Cheshire by Henry VIII and, as indicated in EDC 5/1/10, other grants from the King included the farm of the parish of Great Budworth.

George Cotton died in 1545 and his will is held by The National Archives.

The images are of Combermere Abbey, the black and white image of the house in the Tudor period is from Ormerod’s Cheshire, courtesy of HathiTrust.

Sources: 

Pedigrees made at the Visitation of Cheshire, 1613, eds. Sir George J. Armytage and J. Paul Rylands (The Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 58, 1909).

George Ormerod, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, vol. 3 (second edition, revised and enlarged by T. Helsby, London, 1882).

Will held by The National Archives, PROB 11/30/417: Will of Sir George Cotton, Vice Chamberlain to the Prince

Victoria County History online:
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/ches/vol3/pp150-156

Causes

EDC 5/1/10 – plaintiff

Sex

Female

Parish

Manchester

Marital Status

Married

Spouse Name

Henry

Remarks

It is probable that Henry and Jane Chetham were the parents of Humphrey Chetham, a very wealthy philanthropist. Humphrey was baptised in the collegiate church in July 1580. The Chetham family were wealthy cloth merchants and lived at Crumpsall Hall in north Manchester.

Causes

EDC 5/1580/11 – plaintiff

Sex

Male

Marital Status

Married

Spouse Name

First wife - Emma; second wife - Alice

Occupation Status

Clerk; fellow of Manchester College

Literacy

Yes - graduate

Remarks

CCEd person ID 22503

Career: Oliver Carter was from Richmondshire, parts of which were in Yorkshire and parts in north Lancashire. He graduated from St John’s College Cambridge with a BA in 1560, MA in 1563 and as a Bachelor of Divinity in 1569, having been appointed one of the College preachers in 1565 and a University preacher in 1567. After parish appointments near Cambridge, he became a Fellow of Manchester College by 1573, where he remained until his death in 1605. In 1578 was appointed by the bishop of Chester as one of the moderators of the Manchester monthly lecture, an institution associated with evangelical Protestantism.

Further notes: 

Manchester College suffered from serious financial problems following its dissolution under Edward VI and restoration under Mary and so was re-founded by Elizabeth in 1578. Carter was, however, himself beset by financial difficulties being obliged to borrow money and to sue the College for unpaid stipend. He thus took on extra work such as tutoring and drawing up wills which distracted from his work as an evangelical.

Henry, earl of Derby was a patron, and he dedicated his 1579 book refuting some Catholic claims to the earl and also preached to the earl and his household. His evangelical views are also evidenced by his presentation to the church authorities for refusing to wear a surplice and his opposition to use of the organ in services. 

Sources:

F. R. Raines, The fellows of the collegiate church of Manchester, ed. F. Renaud, vol. 1, Chetham Society, new series, 21 (1891).

“Carter, Oliver”. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/4795

Causes

EDC 5/1580/10 – commissioned to examine witnesses in Manchester

Sex

Male

Marital Status

Unknown

Remarks

Lived in Churton in the parish of Aldford.

Causes

EDC 5/1580/8 – mentioned in the depositions

Sex

Female

Marital Status

Unknown

Causes

EDC 5/1580/8 – mentioned in the depositions

Sex

Male

Approx Year of Birth

1550

Parish

Aldford

Marital Status

Unknown

Causes

EDC 5/1580/8 – witness for the plaintiff

Sex

Male

Parish

Aldford

Marital Status

Unknown

Remarks

It was alleged that he had been a servant of Alice Hasselwall, the plaintiff.

Causes

EDC 5/1580/8 – witness for the plaintiff