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HUTCHENS, Giles (bef.1556-1624), of Salisbury, Wilts.
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Biography Detail
Related Resources
Family and Education
b. bef 1556, ?s. of Thomas Hutchens of Salisbury. m. twice.
Offices Held
Acting town clerk, Salisbury 1591-2, mayor 1592-3, alderman by 1593, steward of hospital of St. Nicholas by 1593.
Biography
The first reference to Hutchens is his assessment for the 1576 subsidy at £6 as of the Mead Ward of Salisbury. He served as vestryman and churchwarden of St. Thomas’s parish, presenting the accounts in 1587 and acting as an auditor in 1601. In 1591 and 1592 he acted as town clerk after Robert Boston had been dismissed. Hutchens took an active part in the corporation’s dispute with the bishop over the city’s liberties, and signed the letter of complaint to Burghley. In 1593 and 1595 he visited London in defence of Salisbury’s rights. In 1597, when a quo warranto was brought against the city, he again travelled to London in order to lobby the attorney-general. In 1606 he was one of those appointed to confer with the dean and chapter preparatory to securing a new charter.
Returned to Parliament twice for the city, on 10 Mar. 1593 he was licensed to depart because of the illness of Mr. William Blacker, his predecessor as steward of St. Nicholas’s hospital. About 1611 he was involved in a lawsuit over the manor of Little Woodford—presumably Lower Woodford, situated about four miles to the north of Salisbury. He died s.p. on a 21 Feb. 1694. In his will, dated 14 Feb. and proved 6 May of that year, he asked to be buried in St. Thomas’s church, where his first wife had been buried. Legacies ranging from £100 to £50 were given to a large number of nephews, nieces and other relatives. The residue of his estate went to his cousin and sole executor, William.
PCC 43 Byrde; C3 Jac. 1/H21/54; HMC Var. iv. 231-2, 297; Hoare, Wilts. Salisbury, iv. 296-7, 301, 305, 312; Wilts. Arch. Mag. xxv. 148; St. Nicholas’s Hospital, Salisbury (Wilts. Rec. Soc.), 9n, 217; Churchwardens’ Accts. of St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum (Wilts. Rec. Soc.), passim; Two Taxation Lists (Wilts. Arch. Soc. recs. br. x), 67; City of Salisbury mss D(34), f. 136v; Wilts. N. and Q. vi. 455-6; Lansd. 78, f. 180; D’Ewes 497.
