Lawrence Sheriff

Who was Lawrence Sheriff?

Lawrence Sheriff was an Elizabethan gentleman and grocer to Elizabeth I who endowed Rugby School.

Not much is known about Lawrence Sheriff's early life, but it thought that he was born near St. Andrew's Church in Rugby, Warwickshire. Sheriff was apprenticed by his father to a London grocer named William Walcott, at which point he went to London. His apprenticeship ended in 1541, and he became a London grocer during the reign of King Henry VIII. In 1554 he was elected to the 'Worshipful Company of Grocers'.

Sheriff became grocer to many of the great and good of the day including Princess Elizabeth. He became trusted by the Queen and rose to the rank of gentleman, whereupon he was granted a coat of arms, the main feature of which is a griffin, the traditional guardian of treasures. He bought extensive property near London and in the area of Rugby and Brownsover.

He earned a great fortune through his life, but remained childless, and upon his death in 1567, he stipulated in his will that his fortune should be used to found almshouses and a school "to serve chiefly for the children of Rugby and Brownsover... and next for such as be of other places hereunto adjoyneing." This endowment was not fully realized, however, for some time, due to a challenge over the provisions of the will from the Howkins family, to whom Sheriff was related through his sister, Bridget.