Manuscripts and Special Collections

Biography of John Mellish (1597-1677)

John was the eldest son of Edward Mellish, a merchant tailor of London, and his wife Alice, née Reason, and was baptised in the parish of All Hallows, Bread Street, London.

He bought the Blyth estate in north Nottinghamshire from the Saunderson family (the family of his sister-in-law Mary, wife of his brother Robert Mellish of Ragnall), in 1635. However, he did not move to Nottinghamshire, remaining in London with his drapery and mercantile business.

He was an Alderman of the City of London in 1667.

Family

He married Elizabeth Dade, daughter of John Dade of London, at St Dunstan-in-the-East church in London, in 1628, and had:

  • Edward (bap. 9 May 1633-1703)
  • Elizabeth (1628-), married William Sherrington (1623-), in 1656, and had:
    • William Sherrington (1659-)
    • Mary Sherrington (1663-1749), married William Luckyn of Messing Hall, Essex, 1681
    • Elizabeth (Betty) Sherrington
  • Mary (bap. 3 March 1632), married John Gardner (d c.1690), merchant, of Fenchurch Street, London, c.1653, and had:
    • Edward Gardner (1656-)
    • Mary Gardner (1658-), married Thomas Newland, 1682
    • Elizabeth Gardner (1661-)
    • John Gardner, junior
    • Joseph Gardner
    • William Gardner
    • Samuel Gardner (d 1684)
    • Phillip Gardner (d 1684)
  • Sarah (bap. 29 Jan. 1646/7), married 1stly in 1667, Colonel John Mews; and married 2ndly in 1680, Sir John Matthewes (c.1630-1694), of London and Evesham, Warwickshire, merchant and consul in Cadiz. Son of her first marriage:
    • Sir Peter Mews (1672-1727), of Hinton Admiral, Hampshire. M.P. for Christchurch 1710-27, and Chancellor of the Diocese of Winchester. Knighted 1712. Married Lydia (1676-1751), daughter of George Jarvis of Islington, in 1719

Archive Collections

  • Papers relating to John Mellish, and to the Sherrington, Gardner, Newland, Mews and Matthewes families are part of the Mellish Collection held in Manuscripts and Special Collections at the University of Nottingham
 

Manuscripts and Special Collections

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