Family and Education

b. by 1533. m. by 1557, at least 1s.1

Offices Held

Steward, corporation of Totnes by 1585.2

Biography

Although Henry Gildon claimed gentle birth, his origins are obscure. He was not one of the inhabitants of Totnes assessed towards the subsidy in 1550, but as he became the lessee of a garden there during Mary’s reign and was to buy a house for £500 he had perhaps settled in the town by the time of his return to the Queen’s second Parliament. Although he was not to sit again, he made headway in municipal affairs and under Elizabeth became steward to the corporation. In 1587 he brought an action in the Star Chamber, with what result is unknown, against a widow who after lodging in his house for ten years had dispossessed him on the pretext of having bought it from the legal owners. The last trace found of Gildon dates from 1592 when he was a member of the inquisition post mortem on his fellow-townsman Bernard Smith.3

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: A. D.K. Hawkyard

Notes

• 1. Presumed to be of age at election. St.Ch.5/G46/19.
• 2. Devon RO, 1579/receiver’s accts. 1585.
• 3. E179/99/321; Totnes deeds, unclassified; Trans. Dev. Assoc. xxxii. 438; St.Ch.5/G30/13, G46/19; C142/236/59.