GLASIER, Hugh (d.1610), of St. John’s Churchyard, Chester and Lea by Backford, Cheshire.

The son of an ill-tempered lawyer and suspected papist, Glasier was educated at the Inner Temple. Although he kept chambers, he was apparently not called to the bar. In 1595, after the death of his elder brother, Glasier inherited most of his family’s lands, including the main estate at Lea near Backford. That same year he petitioned Lord Burghley (Sir William Cecil†) for a place on Cheshire’s commission of the peace, but though Sir Michael Hickes† recommended his suit he was not appointed. Lansd. 82, f. 134; 85, f. 14. In 1596 he was elected an alderman of Chester, and became mayor in 1602-3, when he was also finally admitted to the bench. As mayor he was in regular communication with Robert Cecil† (later 1st earl of Salisbury) regarding the dispatch of troops to Ireland from the city. HMC Hatfield, xv. 18-19, 41; xvii. 102-3. In 1606, and again in 1609, he reported to Salisbury on the ruinous state of Chester Castle as assistant to the chamberlain of Chester, William Stanley, 6th earl of Derby. CSP Dom. 1603-10, pp. 315, 563.

Glasier was elected to his second Parliament for Chester in 1604. During the first session he was appointed to consider bills to confirm the lands of Henry Butler (1 May), provide for the countess of Kildare (30 May), remove obstructions from navigable rivers (23 June) and grant Tunnage and Poundage (30 May). CJ, i. 193b, 228b, 229a, 245b. Glasier’s membership of the committee for Lady Kildare’s bill perhaps hints at a possible Cecil connection, as the Countess was married to Cecil’s brother-in-law, the 11th Lord Cobham (Henry Brooke alias Cobham†). His inclusion on the committee for the Tunnage and Poundage measure was certainly significant, as Chester was then seeking an exemption from the bill’s provisions based on the rights embodied in its charter. During a debate on 6 June Glasier asked that the committee consider the charter, a motion he repeated at the third reading six days later. However, though the measure was accordingly recommitted, neither Glasier nor his fellow Chester Member, Thomas Lawton, persuaded the House to grant the required exemption. Ibid. 987a, 237a.

In the 1605-6 session Glasier was appointed to consider bills concerned with the obstruction of navigable waterways (7 Feb.), a measure with which he had earlier been associated, the statute of sewers (31 Jan.) and a clause in a Henrician Act which gave the king authority to make laws in Wales (15 April). He also participated in the debate on Sir Roger Aston’s* greenwax patent, although his words went unrecorded. Ibid. 262a, 265a, 272b, 298b. In the following session (1606-7) he made no known speeches, but was appointed to consider the bill to assure the transfer of Theobalds from Salisbury to the king (30 May 1607). Ibid. 377a. In the fourth session (1610), Glasier was named to five private bill committees, one of which concerned the Cheshire gentleman Sir George Booth* (24 Mar.) and another the earl of Derby’s rights over the Isle of Man (19 June). Ibid. 414a, 441a. The other bills concerned Sir Henry Crispe (12 Mar.), Jenison (29 Mar.), Stephen Procter (15 June): ibid. 409b, 416b, 440a. Glasier’s interest in the latter reflected his position as assistant to the chamberlain of Chester, and the fact that he paid the profits of the Chester Exchequer court to Derby’s wife. 39th DKR, 133; HMC Hatfield, xvii. 628. Glasier was also appointed to the bill committee concerned with bastard children (16 May) and to the delegation sent to the king concerning the threat posed by papists (26 May). CJ, i. 429a, 433b; Procs. 1610 ed. E.R. Foster, ii. 118-19, 125.

Throughout his time at Westminster, Glasier was busily employed in pursuing Chester’s affairs. In March 1607, when the city was in dispute with the dean and chapter of Chester Cathedral concerning the right of jurisdiction over some land, Glasier was dispatched with letters to the bishop of Chester, (Sir) Peter Warburton† (justice of the Common Pleas and vice-chamberlain of Chester) and his fellow Member, the city’s recorder, Thomas Gamull. Harl. 2173, f. 14v. In February 1610 he and Gamull were instructed to see if they could stop Londoners from claiming the right to buy and sell goods in Chester with the same privileges as Chester merchants. It was suggested that they should consult the Members for Bristol, whose citizens had for some time been engaged in an identical dispute with London. Cheshire Archives, ZML/6/38. Three months later they were directed to approach Prince Henry.Ibid. nos. 39, 51. However, Glasier was unable to assist in removing the impositions on yarn imported from Ireland as the letter instructing him to do so was dated 10 July and he had died of plague in London four days earlier. Cheshire Archives, ZML/2/233.

Glasier was buried at St. Dunstan-in-the-West on 7 July 1610, Coll. Top. et Gen. iv. 127. on the same day that the Commons ordered all those who had access to his bedchamber to ‘forbear the House’. CJ, i. 447a. No will, administration or inquisition post mortem has been found, but an inventory of part of his property in Chester shows that he leased out a house in St. John’s churchyard to Sir John Savage*. Harl. 2082, f. 61. No further member of the family sat in Parliament.