William Cordell

Sir William Cordell (1522–1581) was Solicitor General and Master of the Rolls during the reign of Queen Mary I and Speaker of the House of Commons during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

Following the dissolution of the Monasteries, Henry VIII granted the manor of Long Melford to Cordell.^[1] Knighted in 1558, a member of Lincoln's Inn 1538, called to the Bar 1544, bencher 1553, reader 1554, a founding member of the Russia Company, received a grant of arms for his father in 1548 and one for himself (quartering Webb) in 1549, Solicitor General to Mary I 1553, Master of the Rolls and a member of the privy council 1557, sat in five parliaments between 1545 and 1571, Speaker of the House of Commons 1558, executor to Queen Mary I, Cardinal Pole, and Archbishop Parker, founded a hospital; the Holy Trinity at Long Melford,^[2] first visitor and supporter of the foundation of St John's College, Oxford,

By his will it is found that he left charitable bequests to Cambridge and Oxford including £20 to be distributed among the poor scholars of the universities ‘unto suche as be moste towardes in vertewe and learninge’.

Cordell married Mary Clopton (d. 1584), the daughter of Richard Clopton of Groton.

References

Sources

• J. H. Baker, ‘Cordell, Sir William (1522-1581)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 11 May 2005
• T. C., Original date of publication: 1887, © Oxford University Press 2004–5
• Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, vol. 25, pp. 1–47 (1920)
• STAFFORDSHIRE RECORD OFFICE D615/D 45 (1)1, STAFFORDSHIRE RECORD OFFICE D615/D 45 (1) 2, STAFFORDSHIRE RECORD OFFICE D615/D 45 (1) 3, STAFFORDSHIRE RECORD OFFICE D615/D 45 (1) 5, SRO D615/D48(8-24)10
• (Glover and Flower's Visitations).
• The 1567 will of HENRY SAVILE, Esq., of Lupset and Barrowby, will 5 Jan., 1568-9, proved 16 May 1569 (Reg. Test., xviii, 11 York, and Sheffield 2, P.C.C.); Inq. p. m. 7 Sept., 12 Eliz. (1570).