Paternal Family Tree: Gresham
In 1495 John Gresham was born to John Gresham at Holt, Norfolk.
In 1507 John Gresham [aged 12] admitted as Worshipful Company of Mercers.
In 1512 [his son] William Gresham was born to John Gresham [aged 17] and [his future wife] Mary Ipswell [aged 17]. He married Beatrice Guymon and had issue.
In 1521 John Gresham [aged 26] and Mary Ipswell [aged 26] were married.
On 17th August 1523 [his daughter] Mary Gresham was born to John Gresham [aged 28] and [his wife] Mary Ipswell [aged 28].
In 1524 [his daughter] Catherine Gresham was born to John Gresham [aged 29] and [his wife] Mary Ipswell [aged 29]. She died aged one in 1525.
Around 1525 [his daughter] Catherine Gresham [aged 1] died.
On 18th July 1526 [his son] James Gresham was born to John Gresham [aged 31] and [his wife] Mary Ipswell [aged 31].
On 12th August 1530 [his son] Edmund Gresham was born to John Gresham [aged 35] and [his wife] Mary Ipswell [aged 35].
On 27th January 1531 [his son] Anthony Gresham was born to John Gresham [aged 36] and [his wife] Mary Ipswell [aged 36].
Chronicle of a Bourgeois of Valenciennes
Récits d’un bourgeois de Valenciennes aka The Chronicle of a Bourgeois of Valenciennes is a vivid 14th-century vernacular chronicle written by an anonymous urban chronicler from Valenciennes in the County of Hainaut. It survives in a manuscript that describes local and regional history from about 1253 to 1366, blending chronology, narrative episodes, and eyewitness-style accounts of political, military, and social events in medieval France, Flanders, and the Low Countries. The work begins with a chronological framework of events affecting Valenciennes and its region under rulers such as King Philip VI of France and the shifting allegiances of local nobility. It includes accounts of conflicts, sieges, diplomatic manoeuvres, and the impact of broader struggles like the Hundred Years’ War on urban life in Hainaut. Written from the perspective of a burgher (bourgeois) rather than a monastery or royal court, the chronicle offers a rare lay viewpoint on high politics and warfare, reflecting how merchants, townspeople, and civic institutions experienced the turbulence of the 13th and 14th centuries. Its narrative style combines straightforward reporting of events with moral and civic observations, making it a valuable source for readers interested in medieval urban society, regional politics, and the lived experience of war and governance in pre-modern Europe.
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On 24th May 1533 [his daughter] Ellen Gresham was born to John Gresham [aged 38] and [his wife] Mary Ipswell [aged 38]. She married 8th May 1545 William Uvedale and had issue.
In 1534 [his daughter] Ursula Gresham was born to John Gresham [aged 39] and [his wife] Mary Ipswell [aged 39]. She married before 21st March 1555 Thomas Leveson and had issue.
On 12th February 1535 [his daughter] Cecily Gresham was born to John Gresham [aged 40] and [his wife] Mary Ipswell [aged 40].
In 1537 John Gresham [aged 42] was appointed Sheriff of London and Middlesex.
On 19th November 1537 [his daughter] Elizabeth Gresham was born to John Gresham [aged 42] and [his wife] Mary Ipswell [aged 42].
In 1538 [his son] Richard Gresham was born to John Gresham [aged 43] and [his wife] Mary Ipswell [aged 43].
Before 1539 Edward Dormer and [his future wife] Katherine Sampson [aged 42] were married.
On 13th March 1539 [his son] John Gresham was born to John Gresham [aged 44] and [his wife] Mary Ipswell [aged 44]. He married 17th July 1553 Elizabeth Dormer.
On 21st September 1539 [his wife] Mary Ipswell [aged 44] died.
On 7th November 1541 Catherine Howard [aged 18] was first interrogated by Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury [aged 52] and John Gresham Lord Mayor [aged 46].
On 8th May 1545 [his son-in-law] William Uvedale [aged 17] and [his daughter] Ellen Gresham [aged 11] were married.
In 1547 John Gresham [aged 52] was appointed Lord Mayor of London.
Before 1548 [his son] Anthony Gresham [aged 16] died.
Jean de Waurin's Chronicle of England Volume 6 Books 3-6: The Wars of the Roses
Jean de Waurin was a French Chronicler, from the Artois region, who was born around 1400, and died around 1474. Waurin’s Chronicle of England, Volume 6, covering the period 1450 to 1471, from which we have selected and translated Chapters relating to the Wars of the Roses, provides a vivid, original, contemporary description of key events some of which he witnessed first-hand, some of which he was told by the key people involved with whom Waurin had a personal relationship.
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On 21st February 1549 [his brother] Richard Gresham [aged 64] died.
Diary of Edward VI. 8th March 1551. Sir Jhon Yorke hade great losse, about 2,000 pounde weight of silver, by treason of English men, wich he brought for provision of the mintes. Also Judd [aged 58]1 1,500; also Tresham (Gresham2) 500: so the hole came to 4,000 pound.
Note 1. Sir Andrew Judde, an alderman of London, the founder of Tunbridge school.
Note 2. Sir John Gresham [aged 56], another alderman, uncle of the celebrated sir [his nephew] Thomas [aged 32].
Before 1552 [his son] James Gresham [aged 25] died.
On 15th July 1553 John Gresham [aged 58] and Katherine Sampson [aged 57] were married.
On 17th July 1553 [his son] John Gresham [aged 14] and [his daughter-in-law] Elizabeth Dormer were married.
In 1555 John Gresham [aged 60] founded as Muscovy Company.
In 1555 John Gresham [aged 60] founded at Gresham's School, Holt.
Before 21st March 1555 [his son-in-law] Thomas Leveson [aged 23] and [his daughter] Ursula Gresham [aged 21] were married.
On 23rd October 1556 John Gresham [aged 61] died. He was buried at St Michael Bassishaw.
Henry Machyn's Diary. 30th October 1556. The xxx day of October was bered ser [John] Gressem [deceased], knyght and merser, and marchand of the [staple] of Callys, and marchand venterer, and late mere [and alderman] of London; with a standard and a penon of armes, [cote-] armur of damask, and iiij pennons of armes ... a elmett, a targett and a sword, mantylles, and ys .... and a goodly hersse of wax and x dosen of [pensels] and xij dosen of skochyons; and he gayff a c blake g[owns] unto pore men and powre women of fyne blake [cloth]; iiij dosen of grett stayffe torchys, and a dosen of .. longe torches; and he gayff a C. d. of fyne blake .... ij unto the mare and the old mare, and to ser Rowland Hylle and to ser Andrew Jude and to boyth the chamburlayns, and to master of Blakwelle, and to master the common huntt and ys man, and to the porters that longes to the stapull, and to all ys farmers and ys tenantts; and all the chyrche hangyd and the strett with blake and armes grett store; and morow iij goodly masses song, on of the Trenete, and a-nodur of owre Lade, and the iij of requiem, and a goodly sermon; master Harpfeld dyd pryche; and after as grett a dener as has bene sene for a fysse-day, for alle that cam to dener, for ther laket nothyng dere.
Note. P. 116. Funeral of alderman sir John Gresham. Uncle to the celebrated sir [his nephew] Thomas [aged 37]. Biographical notices of him will be found in Burgon's Life of sir Thomas Gresham, vol. i. pp. 11, et seq. He was sheriff in 1537-8, and lord mayor in 1547-8. He was buried at St. Michael Bassishaw and his epitaph is given by Stowe. Sir Rowland Hill and sir Andrew Judd were made overseers of his will. (Ibid. p. 19.) "He dwelled where sir Leonard Holiday now dwelleth." (Wm. Smith, Rouge-dragon.)
The death of so many old persons at this period is attributed by Stowe to "the hot burning fevers [Note. Possibly a reference to the Sweating Sickness]." Seven aldermen died within ten months, - Hardson, Dobbs, Laxton, Hobblethorne, Champneys, Ayloffe, and Gresham: they have all been noticed in these pages.
Henrici Quinti, Angliæ Regis, Gesta, is a first-hand account of the Agincourt Campaign, and subsequent events to his death in 1422. The author of the first part was a Chaplain in King Henry's retinue who was present from King Henry's departure at Southampton in 1415, at the siege of Harfleur, the battle of Agincourt, and the celebrations on King Henry's return to London. The second part, by another writer, relates the events that took place including the negotiations at Troye, Henry's marriage and his death in 1422.
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On 9th January 1576 [his former wife] Katherine Sampson [aged 80] died.
Grandfather: James Gresham 
father: John Gresham