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 the 'Historia Policratica.' Roger's work ends in 1339, while Ranulf's, according to different copies, ends with the year 1327, or extends to various later dates. Ranulf died in 1363. It seems an irresistible conclusion that the name of the author of this chronicle, who is generally cited simply as 'Cestrensis' (e.g. by, De Civili Dominio, i. 40, p. 308), being omitted, the name 'Roger' was supplied by a later scribe in error for 'Ranulf.'



CHESTER, WILLIAM (1509?–1595?), lord mayor and merchant of London, second son of John Chester, citizen and draper of London, by his wife Joan, was born about 1509. His father died in 1513, and two years afterwards his mother took for her third husband Sir John Milborne, who was lord mayor in 1521, and under whose care young Chester was brought up. Lady Milborne survived to 1545, outliving her husband, who died in 1536. She was buried in the church of St. Edmund, Lombard Street, where a monument was erected by her son in 1563.

Chester was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, but did not proceed to a degree. On leaving the university he entered at once into trade as a draper and merchant of the staple, and' rapidly attained a position of eminence. In 1532 he appears in the 'State Papers' as a merchant suing for judgment against one John Palmer of Leamington for non-delivery of certain wools, and in the following year the ransom of Simon Rogerson, taken prisoner by the Scots, was to be paid in Bristol before Easter eve to William Chester, merchant.

Under his mother's will in 1545 he received a considerable addition to his fortune, which probably enabled him to weather the storm which befell the English merchant adventurers in that year, when the emperor Charles V placed an embargo on English merchandise. Secretary Paget, writing from Brussels 3 March 1544–5, says: 'Some in dede shall wynne by it, who owe more than they have here, but Mr. Warren, Mr. Hill, Chester, and dyvers others a greats nombre are like to have a great swoope by it, having much here, and owing nothing or little' (, Chesters of Chicheley, i. 33). Chester, like his father, was a prominent member of the Drapers' Company. In 1541, when warden, he took possession for the company of Cromwell's house in Throgmorton Street, which, on the attainder of the Earl of Essex, was purchased by the Drapers for their hall. He became master of the company in 1553. In 1544 the art of refining sugar was first practised in England by Bussine and four partners, of whom Chester was one. These adventurers set up two sugar bakeries, which continued without rivals for twenty years, and brought great profit to the proprietors (, Lond. Rediv. iv. 512).

Chester was elected an alderman of London for Farringdon ward without, 17 Jan. 1552–3, but appears to have been previously connected with the corporation, as he was appointed in 1552 one of twelve persons to petition the king on behalf of the city for the grant of Bridewell palace for the reception of vagrants and mendicants. He served the office of sheriff of London in 1653–4 with one David Woodroffe as his colleague. Under the Marian persecution the sheriffs had to carry out the executions at Smithfield. Chester has been highly praised by Foxe and other writers for his humanity towards the sufferers, which is contrasted with the harshness of his fellow-sheriff Woodroffe. His sympathy with the reformers is further attested by his kindness to his apprentice Lawrence Saunders, who, mainly through his encouragement, was enabled to enter the ministry, and became rector of All-hallows, Bread Street; Saunders was condemned at St. Mary Overie for his religious opinions and put to death this same year, 1553, at Coventry.

On 7 Feb. 1556–7 Chester was knighted, together with Sir Thomas Offley, lord mayor, by Queen Mary at Greenwich. In December 1557 [q. v.], his wife's nephew, dedicated to him a translation of Isocrates. In the first year of Elizabeth's reign he was appointed on the royal commission for putting into execution the two acts of parliament lately passed for uniformity of prayer and for restoring the ecclesiastical supremacy of the crown. He was elected lord mayor in 1560, the year in which Merchant Taylors' School was founded. He was one of the earliest benefactors of Christ's Hospital; he also instituted public disputations among the scholars on St. Bartholomew's Day, and the sheriffs' prizes of gold and silver pens were first given during nis shrievalty in 1554.

In Elizabeth's second parliament, which met 11 Jan. 1562–3, Chester sat as one of the representatives of the city of London, but did not seek re-election in the next parliament (April 1571). He was appointed by the city in 1560 one of the commissioners to purchase the site of Gresham's Royal Exchange, and contributed 10l. towards the purchase-money. On 2 May 1567 the university of Cambridge by a special grace of the senate conferred upon him the degree of