Hercules Clay - Mayor of Newark, Notts.

Hercules Clay mayor of Newark during the Civil War was descended from the Clay's of Derbyshire, his parents were Hercules and Margaret Clay of Sutton-in-Ashfield and his grandparents were Thomas and Cecilie Clay of Rowthorne in Ault Hucknall parish, Derbyshire.

Plaque on corner of Newark market place.

(Note: 1644 did not begin until March 25th which at that time was the beginning of the year)

He was mayor of Newark when the Royalist town was under siege by the Parliamentarian army and on the night of March 11th 1644 Hercules Clay had dreamt three times that his house was on fire and unable to stand it any longer he got his family out in the middle of the night just as a siege machine sent a fireball over the towns defences and burnt down his house. The story is well documented in the history books of Newark.

Memorial to Hercules Clay in the church at Newark.

Hercules Clay died just ten months after the siege and in his Will of 1644 he left £100 to the church of Newark for a sermon to be said “Upon the 11th day of March yearly forever upon which day it pleased God of his infinite mercy wonderfully to preserve me and my wife from a fearful destruction by a terrible blow of a granado in the time of the last siege” He also left another £100 for bread to be given to the poor of Newark yearly on the same date. A memorandum written in the Newark Parish Register by Henry Fouler.Curate in the year 1753 states -"Hercules Clay sermon preached on the 11th day of March yearly". The ceremony dedicated to Hercules Clay still takes place today nearly 400 years later on the nearest Sunday to March 11th when his family bible is carried in a procession from the town hall to the church where his sermon is recited and bread is duly given out. There is a reception in the Town Hall afterwards,(Inquiries for tickets . - post@newark.gov.uk or telephone 01636 680333).

There is a monument to him inside the church where he is buried which displays the coat of arms which was originally granted to John Clay of Crich in Derbyshire in 1588, there is also a plaque on a building on the corner of Newark market place to show where Hercules Clay had lived before the present building was there.

After the Civil War was over and Hercules Clay had died, his brothers, John Clay of Kelham and William Clay of Sutton, had to answer charges in 1648 that Hercules had loaned £600 for the maintenance of the Royalist garrison at Newark during the siege, the charge was proved and the money was declared to be forfeited to the state.

Hercules Clay was a Mercer by trade and he was married twice, first to Mary Lante in 1631 and secondly to Elizabeth Saunders in 1641, he had 8 children, John, Hercules, William, Timothy, Thomas, Elizabeth, Frances and Mary, all to whom he left substantial amounts of money.

David Clay pictured with the family bible of Hercules Clay a man who was descended from the Derbyshire Clays of Rowthorne in Ault Hucknall. He was Mayor of Newark during the Civil War siege of 1643-44. He made several entries in the bible relating to his family in the early 1600s. The bible is kept in the Town Hall Museum at Newark.

The entries by Hercules Clay inside the bible.

David Clay and Christine Dabbs (Nee Clay) at the annual Hercules Clay event at Newark Church with the bread which is to be distributed to the poor as decreed in the Will of Hercules.

"Clay Tavern" in Newark dedicated to Hercules Clay mayor of the town in 1643.

John Clay - Mayor of Leicester

John Clay, mayor of Leicester, was related to the Clay's of Derbyshire (most likely the Rowthorne branch in Ault Hucknall). He was apprenticed to his kinsman Rowland Pusey who had settled in Leicester and ran a brewery business, it is interesting to note that Rowland Pusey was brother to Timothy Pusey who was married to Mary the daughter of John Clay of Crich in Derbyshire.

John Clay of Leicester finished his apprenticeship in 1623 and married Katherine Hunt in 1624 with whom he had ten children, John, Jonathan, Samuel, Francis, David, Daniel, Esther, Anne, Joseph and Abigail. He entered public life around 1630 and became mayor of Leicester in 1659. In the year 1660 a collection was made in Leicester for the Restoration of King Charles the second and John Clay with several aldermen took £300 in gold to London.

John Clay died in 1680 and in his Will he left various lands, cattle, implements of husbandry and money to his children, a number of tenements, cottages and malting rooms, he also mentioned Anne Pusey in his Will.

Hercules Clay - Mayor of Chesterfield

Hercules Clay mayor of Chesterfield was the son of Richard and Joan Clay of Rowthorne in the parish of Ault Hucknall he was born around the year 1615 and he was cousin to Hercules Clay mayor of Newark who was born at Sutton in Ashfield. He married Alice Watkinson of Brampton in about 1638 and had several children from 1639 onwards baptised at Chesterfield to where he had moved and took up the trade of tanner, most of his children died young but John and Alice were still alive in 1662 when they were left bequests in the Will of a relative.

Hercules Clay acquired land and took up public office becoming an alderman and he was elected mayor of Chesterfield in 1654. In 1661 he was again elected mayor and he sent a letter to the surveyor based at Welbeck Abbey thanking him for work done in the Chesterfield area but on September 25th 1662 he was removed from office along with several aldermen for refusing to sign the “Oath of Allegiance” which was designed to exclude Catholics and nonconformists from holding official positions. In 1670 he was taxed on five hearths which meant he was living in quite a large house at Whitecoats in Chesterfield. His wife Alice died in 1705 and Hercules Clay died in 1685 and was buried at Chesterfield.