in 1558 by Thomas Harvey, a partisan of Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon who would later defect to Philip II of Spain. When Holcroft made his will on 25 July 1558, he was in Wenham, Suffolk, at the home of Michael Wentworth, a Yorkshire politician and courtier who seems to have been loyal to the regime. It is possible, therefore that Holcroft had been arrested and placed in Wentworth's custody. He named his wife executrix and gave her all his goods and leases. His brother, John Holcroft, and his nephew, Gilbert Gerard (albeit described as his cousin – a common usage in the 16th century), were appointed supervisors. Thomas Holcroft died on 31 July 1558. Marriage and family Thomas Holcroft married Juliane or Juliana Jennings, the daughter and sole heiress of Nicholas Jennings, a business man and small landowner of Preston, Lancashire and London. She seems to have been much younger than him, and long survived him, dying in 1595. Both their offspring were still children when Thomas died in 1558 and he commended their upbringing to Juliana, "as she will answer to God on the day of judgment." The children were : Thomas Holcroft (1557–1620), who struggled financially for much of his life, as his mother had control of all the family property. Disputatious and violent, he was involved in a number of duels and died by falling down stairs. He first married Elizabeth Fitton, daughter of Edward Fitton. After her death in 1595, he married Elizabeth Rayner, widow of Henry Talbot. By Elizabeth Fitton he had a son: Thomas Holcroft, who married Mary Talbot, Elizabeth Rayner's daughter. Isabel, who married Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland. They had a daughter: Elizabeth Manners, who married William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter, a grandson of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley. See also List of monastic houses in Lancashire List of monastic houses in Cheshire References 1505 births 1558 deaths People from Culcheth Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Lancashire High Sheriffs of Lancashire English knights English MPs 1545–1547 English MPs 1553 (Edward VI) English MPs 1553 (Mary I) English MPs 1554 English people of the Rough Wooing English landowners People associated with the Dissolution of the Monasteries Esquires of the Body