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Sir William Herrick orHericke (1562 – 2 March 1653) was an English jeweller, courtier, diplomat and politician who sat in theHouse of Commons at various times between 1601 and 1622.
Herrick was the son of John Heyrick of Leicester and was baptised on 9 December 1562. His father was an ironmonger at Leicester. He was sent to London in about 1574 to be apprenticed to his elder brother Nicholas Herrick, a goldsmith in Cheapside. After six years he set up a business on his own in Wood Street on premises leased from theGoldsmith's Company.[1][2] Clients included theKytson family.[3]
Herrick was also a moneylender and in a few years he had made himself a fortune and was able to purchaseBeau Manor Park from theEarl of Essex, and obtained a right to arms. He came to the notice ofQueen Elizabeth, who sent him on a mission to the Ottoman Porte and on his return he was rewarded with a lucrative appointment in the Exchequer. He was made a freeman of Leicester in 1601 when he presented the corporation with a dozen silver spoons in lieu of a fee.[1]
In 1601, Herrick was electedMember of Parliament forLeicester.[1] He became principal jeweller toKing James,Anne of Denmark andPrince Henry in 1603,[4] and held the post until 1625. Herrick andJohn Spilman repaired some of the crown jewels for the coronation of James and Anne of Denmark. They also worked withArnold Lulls.[5]
On 12 January 1604 Herrick and Spilman were asked to assess and make an inventory of jewels that had belonged to Queen Elizabeth. James had already given many pieces to the queen,Princess Elizabeth, andArbella Stuart and others. The remaining jewels had been transferred from the keeping ofMrs Mary Radcliffe, former gentlewoman to Queen Elizabeth, to theCountess of Suffolk.[6] Other pieces of Elizabeth's jewellery were delivered byThomas Knyvet. He had kept them atWestminster Palace on the instructions of Queen Elizabeth, and James and his courtiers sent some to Spilman and Herrick for valuation, with an ivory coffer, and a "great rich glass set with diamonds rubies emeralds and pearls, made in the form of a woman upon a pillar or case holding a clock with diverse motions" worth £2,739 brought from theTower of London.[7]
He became a freeman of the City of London in May 1605 and was knighted in the same year. It was said that the King knighted him for the difficult task of making a hole in a great diamond that he wore.[8]
In July 1606 Herrick and John Spilman supplied pearls for the King's embroiderer William Broderick at the time of the visit ofChristian IV of Denmark, the brother of Anne of Denmark. The pearls were intended for the king's saddle and the furniture of his horse, and the panes of the kings hose or stockings.[9]
He served as MP for Leicester for part of the 1604–1611 parliament. He was prime warden of the Goldsmiths’ Company from 1605 to 1606. In 1607 he took as apprentice his nephewRobert the future poet. In 1621 he was elected MP for Leicester again.[1]
In 1612 Herrick lent £2 to the painterNicholas Hilliard, a fellow member of the Goldsmith's Company, and Hilliard had to pawn a miniature portrait of King James to repay this debt.[10]
In 1624Lionel Cranfield, theLord Treasurer, appointedPhilip Jacobson as a goldsmith to the king, noting thatGeorge Heriot was dead and Spilman and Herrick rarely did any work.[11]
Herrick, with the other royal jewellersAbraham Harderet,George Heriot andJohn Spilman, joined the funeral procession of Anna of Denmark in 1619.[12]
Herrick died at the age of about 90 and was buried atSt Martin's Church, Leicester.[1][13]
Herrick married Joan May, daughter of Richard May of London and ofMayfield Place, Sussex on 6 May 1596, and had at least one son,Henry Herrick, born 1604. His brotherRobert was also an MP.[1]
Herrick was the uncle, and laterguardian, of the poetRobert Herrick and supported him financially during his time atCambridge.[14]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.| Parliament of England | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forLeicester 1601 With:George Belgrave | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forLeicester 1621–1622 With:Sir Richard Moryson | Succeeded by |