William Ryley

William Ryley, archivist and herald, was buried in the east cloister of Westminster Abbey on 25th July 1667 but he had no monument or gravestone. He was a native of Lancashire, a son of William (died 1634) and was for several years a deputy keeper of the records at the Tower of London. In 1630 he held a post at the College of Arms in London, as Rouge-Rose Pursuivant extraordinary, then Blue Mantle Pursuivant and in 1641 Lancaster Herald. During the Cromwellian period he was Norroy and then Clarenceux King of Arms.

His son William was also an archivist and was wounded at the battle of Worcester on the Royalist side. He married Elizabeth Chester and was buried in 1675 in a chapel within the Tower of London. William senior had two other sons and two daughters.

Further reading for the family

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

'The troubles of William Ryley...and of his son..." by J.E. Bailey, 1879