In a vault in the chapel of St John the Baptist in Westminster Abbey lie Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, his daughter Elizabeth and his son Charles, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield. The names and dates of burial were inscribed on a black marble stone over the vault in the 19th century, there previously being no markers for them. This is in front of the large monument to Lord Hunsdon in this chapel.
Charles was the son of Sir Charles Gerard of Lancaster and his wife Penelope (Fitton). He was created Lord Gerard of Brandon and in 1679 Earl of Macclesfield. He had been in the Royalist army during the English Civil War and was Lt. General of the King's Horse. At the Restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660 he returned from Holland and was Envoy to Paris in 1662. A sentence of outlawry was passed against him because of his intrigue with the Duke of Monmouth and he fled abroad. He returned in 1688 with the army of the Prince of Orange (William III) and the sentence was reversed. He was a Privy Councillor and Lord President of the Council of Wales. He was buried on 18th January 1694.
His daughter Elizabeth, by his wife Jeanne de Civelle, married Digby, 5th Lord Gerard of Gerard's Bromley (Staffordshire) and their daughter Elizabeth married James, Duke of Hamilton. She was buried on 19th March 1700.
His son Charles was born in Paris and later naturalised British. He was convicted of high treason in 1685 for complicity in the Rye House plot but was released by the King. He was colonel of a regiment of horse and Lord Lieutenant of North Wales. He married twice but had no legitimate children. He was ambassador to Hanover on the subject of the royal succession and became 2nd Earl of Macclesfield. He died of fever and was buried on 14th November 1701.
The first Earl's sister Charlotte married Colonel Roger Whitley of Chester. and was buried on 18th October 1662. Her daughter Mary married Michael Biddulph, who became 2nd Baronet of Westcombe in Kent. She was buried in the north ambulatory of the Abbey in 1689.
Further information
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography for Charles Gerard (1st Earl of Macclesfield) and his son Charles (2nd Earl of Macclesfield)
This image can be purchased from Westminster Abbey Library
Image © 2024 Dean and Chapter of Westminster
