The History of the Church and Manor of Wigan/Gerard Massie

by George Thomas Orlando Bridgeman

Gerard Massie, clerk, Sacræ Theologiæ baccalaureus, presented himself before the bishop on the 9th October, 1604, and sought admission to the rectory and parish church of Wigan, vacant by the death of Edward Fleetwood the late rector, by virtue of the presentation of King James I., given under the great seal on 17th July, 1604. He was accordingly admitted and instituted on the 12th October of that year;^[1] and he paid his first-fruits on 23rd February, 1605.

Gerrard Massie was the son of William Massie, alderman of Chester, by his wife Alice, daughter of Thomas Bavand of Chester, and grandson of Richard Massie of Grafton, in the county of Chester.^[2] He inherited the manor of Grafton, which he sold in 44 Elizabeth to Sir Peter Warburton, Justice of the Queen's Bench, together with Grafton Hall, 16 messuages, 16 gardens, and 940 acres of various kinds of lands in Grafton, Golborne-Belleau, Broxton, Milton, &c.^[3]

Gerard Massie was of Brazen-nose College, Oxford, where he was admitted Bachelor of Arts, 7th February, 1591-2.^[4] He was made proctor 22nd April, 1601,^[5] was styled LL.D. in 1606,^[6] and made Doctor of Divinity 11th March, 6 Jac. I., 1608-9.^[7] He married Eleanor, daughter of Henry Hardware of Peele.^[8]

At the time of the bishop's visitation in 1609, Mr. Doctor Massie was rector of Wigan, and Mr. Reynolds was his curate there, Mr. George Bordman was then master of the Grammar School at Wigan, Mr. Edward Tempest curate at Upholland, and Mr. Richard Bolton reader at Billinge.^[9]

On the death of bishop George Lloyd in 1615, Gerard Massie was nominated by the King to the bishoprick of Chester, but on going up to London to settle matters with respect to his consecration he died there on the 17th^[10] of January, 1615-16, and was buried in the church of St. Mary le Savoy^[11] without any memorial.^[12]

1. Chester Diocesan Register.
2. Ormerod's Cheshire, vol. ii. pp. 387, 388 (vol. ii. p. 706 in Helsby's ed.) Arms of Massie of Grafton: Quarterly gules and Or, in the 1st quarter a lion passant argent, for a difference a trefoil vert (Ormerod's Cheshire).
3. Ibid., p. 386.
4. Fasti Oxonienses, vol. i. p. 254.
5. Ibid., p. 290.
6. Canon Raines' MSS., vol. xxii. p. 66.
7. Fasti Oxonienses, vol. i. p. 327.
8. Ormerod's Cheshire, vol. ii. p. 387.
9. Canon Raines' MSS. vol. xxii.
10. Wigan Parish Register.
11. Ormerod's Cheshire, vol. ii. p. 387. The date of his death is given by Ormerod as the 16th January.
12. Hist. Chester, Lond. Egerton, Whitehall, 1793; and Wigan Parish Register.