Richard Berkeley (died 1661)

Mural monument to Richard Berkeley (died 1661), St Michael's Church, Stoke Gifford, Gloucestershire

Arms of Berkeley of Stoke Gifford: Gules, a chevron ermine between ten crosses pattée six in chief and four in base argent. These are the arms of the Barons Berkeley of Berkeley Castle with the difference of a chevron ermine in place of a chevron argent

Richard Berkeley (1579–1661) of Stoke Gifford in Gloucestershire, England, served as a Member of Parliament for Gloucestershire in 1614.

Origins

Berkeley was the only son and heir of Sir Henry Berkeley (died 1606) of Stoke Gifford and Rendcomb, Gloucestershire, (son of Sir Richard Berkeley (1531–1604) of Stoke Gifford, whose kneeling effigy survives in the Gaunt's Chapel in Bristol) by his wife Muriel Throckmorton, a daughter of Thomas Throckmorton (1534-1615), of Coughton Court, Warwickshire, twice MP for Warwickshire (in 1558 and 1559) eldest son and heir of Sir Robert Throckmorton (d.1581) of Coughton by his wife Muriel Berkeley, a daughter of Thomas Berkeley, de jure 5th Baron Berkeley (1472-1532). The Berkeley family of Stoke Gifford was descended from Maurice de Berkeley (d.1347), killed at the Siege of Calais, who had acquired the manor of Stoke Gifford in 1337, the second son of Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley (1271–1326) of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire.

Career

He matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford on 4 February 1592 aged 12. In 1614, Berkeley was elected as a Member of Parliament for Gloucestershire. Berkeley supported the King in the Civil War and on 2 February 1647 he compounded and was fined at £370 on 6 February. On 11 April 1649, he was assessed at £150. On 1 August 1649, he was to be discharged on payment of £60 but, on 5 December 1651, he was ordered to pay £80 extra on old rent. Having paid it, on 30 January 1652 his assessment of £100 was discharged and sequestration was taken off his estate. Berkeley died in 1661 aged 83.

Marriages and issue

Berkeley married Mary Roe (1579-1615), a daughter of Robert Roe of the City of London by his wife Elinor Jermy. He survived his wife by 46 years. Berkeley married secondly Jane Meriett, a daughter of Sir Thomas Meriett. His sons included:

• Maurice Berkeley (1599–1654), a Member of Parliament for Gloucestershire;
• Thomas Berkeley (born 1605), 3rd son, matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, on 23 June, 1621, aged 16 and obtained BA in 1624.
• Robert Berkeley (d. post 1661), youngest son, the only one living at his father's death, who erected the mural monument in his memory in Stoke Gifford Church.

Monument

His mural monument survives in St Michael's Church, Stoke Gifford, Gloucestershire, inscribed on a brass tablet as follows:

To Richard Berkeley, Esqr, and Mary his wife (daughter of Robert Roe of London, Esqr) deare father and mother, a clue to their love, of whom Robert Berkeley their youngest son and only now living hath sett up this remembrance of them. Shee when shee had passed neare 36 yeres in the exercise of religioues and morall duties and they boathe had lived together almost halfe a yeare upwards of 17 (without knoweing the other 2 whose comforts they envyed) died the 24th of July in the yeare of our Lord 1615. He lived upwards of 46 yeres after and dyed in the 83d yere of his age the 12th day of May 1661. Theire soules are in Heaven theire bodies lye here. Here hee layd hers and here when death should divide him his will was his bodie should be laid, trusting in God's mercy his soule should soone be with hers, and theire bodies in the meanetime lyinge here together, together from thence at our Saviour's call should arise for ever after bodies and soules to enjoy the all happying vision