WEEKES, Christopher (d.1596), of Salisbury, Wilts.

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Family and Education

s. and h. of Anthony Weekes of Salisbury by Margery, da. of John Bartholomew of Salisbury. m. Agnes, wid. of John Kent of Salisbury, 4s. 2da. suc. fa. 1573.1

Offices Held

Clerk of the seal for the recognizance of statute merchant, Salisbury; mayor 1578-9.2


Christopher Weekes’s father Anthony was a prosperous brewer who sat in the House of Commons in 1563-6. He bequeathed the utensils in his brewhouse to his son, but there is no evidence that Christopher made use of them or that he needed to engage in any other trade. The office which he held of the city yielded a considerable income, and he was highly assessed for taxation. Besides the property which came to him as an only son—several tenements in Salisbury, including the Crane which was to remain in the family for 150 years, and copyholds in Milford and Whiteparish—he acquired land for himself, notably in Harnham, where he held of the Earl of Northumberland. The widow whom he married was administering goods valued at £400; but the winding up of this estate led Weekes into litigation with the overseers and later with his stepdaughter’s husband about the portion.3

As a leading citizen Weekes joined with the mayor and seven others to conclude for the erection of the new council house and to obtain contributions from the citizens towards it in February 1574, and in 1592 was among those named by the Privy Council to make an inquiry in the city. He was active in the city’s long drawn out dispute with Bishop Coldwell, being one of eight named in July 1593 to accompany the mayor on a delegation to the bishop and in 1595 among those chosen to represent the city against him before the Privy Council. His is the first signature to a letter of that year to Burghley protesting against the bishop’s interference with the city’s liberties. He was returned to three successive Parliaments for Salisbury, and was appointed to the subsidy committee, 11 Feb. 1589. On 1 Mar. of that year he was licensed to depart.4

In a brief will made three days before his death, which occurred on 13 Jan. 1596, Weekes committed his soul to God trusting that it would be received through his Son’s passion, and directed that his body should be buried in the family’s parish church of St. Thomas, and gave mourning to 12 aged men and 40s. to the poor. He bequeathed £100 each to his two surviving younger sons, Thomas and John, the profits of his Milford property to his wife, and the residue to his 29 year-old heir Anthony, whom he made his executor.5

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: S. T. Bindoff


  • 1. PCC 14 Peter, 11 Drake; Wilts. Arch. Mag. xlix. 478; C3/198/52.
  • 2. VCH Wilts. vi. 99 n, 104; Wilts. Arch. Mag. xxxvii. 34; xli. 243.
  • 3. VCH Wilts. vi. 128; C142/247/66; Wilts. Arch. Mag. xlix. 460-5; Req. 2/56/34 Eliz.; C3/24/78, 46/124, 198/52.
  • 4. HMC Var. iv. 226, 230-1, 232; APC, xxii. 178; Lansd. 78/180/165; D’Ewes, 431.
  • 5. PCC 11 Drake; C142/247/66.