FLEETWOOD, Sir Gerrard (c.1582-c.1657), of Crawley, Hants and Woodstock Park, Oxon.

Fleetwood was provided for by his marriage, when ‘not full 18 years old’, to the concubine of the recently deceased 3rd marquess of Winchester (William Paulet†). Chamberlain Letters, i. 64. The match brought him an interest in substantial estates, said to be worth nearly £4,000 a year, which the marquess had let on long lease to the lady, involving him in litigation with the legitimate heirs. VCH Wilts. x. 23; VCH Hants, iii 54; HMC Hatfield, ix. 197; N and Q (ser. 8), i. 141-2; C2/Jas.I/W30/28. He subsequently settled in Hampshire, taking over the lease of Crawley by 1609. STAC 8/128/20; N and Q (ser. 11), vi. 331; F.W. Pledge, Crawley (1907), pp. 107, 131-2. On the death in 1611 of his kinsman Sir Henry Lee† he was appointed ranger of Woodstock Park. As such he resided at Woodstock, receiving gifts of cakes from the corporation on several occasions; Woodstock Chamberlain’s Accts. 1609-50, pp. 72, 78, 83, 94, 99, 102, 106, 111, 116. he was also elected for the borough to the first and second Caroline parliaments. In 1625 he was named to a single committee, for the subscription bill (27 June). In 1626 his only appointment was to hear another puritan measure, to increase the penalties for adultery and fornication (1 June). Procs. 1625, p. 253; Procs. 1626. iii. 339. Fleetwood did not stand again, but in 1628 secured the first seat at Woodstock for his brother Miles.

Fleetwood was appointed a gentleman of the privy chamber in extraordinary in 1629. In 1638 he was listed as refusing to pay Ship Money in Hampshire. PC2/47, p. 419; CSP Dom. 1637-8, p. 186. During the Civil War he tried to remain neutral and was accordingly plundered by both sides. In 1645 he was fined £637 for acting as a royalist commissioner while (Sir) Ralph Hopton* controlled Hampshire. In all he put his losses at £1,700. CCC, 1095-6; SP23/178, ff. 69-99; CCAM, 757. In 1646 he informed the committee for compounding that his estates were worth only £250 p.a., but this may have been a deliberate under-assessment, as two years later he valued his lands at £580 p.a. Either way, his debts of £4,476 greatly exceeded his annual income. SP19/110/51-55. ‘Weak in body’ when he drew up his will on 26 Nov. 1657, he left annuities both to the Cromwellian George Fleetwood† and to the royalist Sir William Fleetwood†, upon whom Crawley was entailed in remainder. PROB 11/284, f. 292. The will was proved by his widow on 26 Feb. 1658. No later member of this branch of the family entered Parliament.