Fl. early 12th-century. Father of Archbishop Thomas Becket, who was martyred in 1170. "Gilbert Becket was a man of considerable wealth; he was appointed Portreeve of London, an office equivalent to that of mayor, in the reign and by desire of King Stephen, in the place of Alberic de Vere, and erected a mortuary chapel in Pardonhaugh churchyard, under St. Paul's Cathedral, where he and his wife were buried. He had several children by his wife, the eldest, Thomas, the future archbishop, having been born in his father's house in the Cheap, between 1116 and 1119. He was said to have been baptised in the parish church of St. Mary Colechurch, which formerly stood at the corner of the Old Jewry. It is probable that there were several other sons of Gilbert and Matilda, but their names have not come down to us. Three of their daughters are known: Mary was abbess of the great nunnery of Barking, in Essex; Roessa had grants of lands from King Henry II; and Agnes was married to Thomas Fitz Theobald de Helles, in Kilkenny. He received large grants of land in Ireland from King Henry II, and was the ancestor of the family of Butler, Earls of Ormond, and through them of the Boleyn family, eminent in the Mercers' annals. The last of the Boleyns was created, by Henry VIII, Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond, and was father of the ill-fated Queen Anne Boleyn, and grandfather of Queen Elizabeth [I], the most distinguished free sister of the Mercers' Company." (Source: Watney, John. Some Account of the Hospital of St. Thomas of Acon, in the Cheap, London, and of the Plate of the Mercers' Company. London: Blades, 1906. 9.)
Fl. early 12th-century. Father of Archbishop Thomas Becket, who was martyred in 1170. "Gilbert Becket was a man of considerable wealth; he was appointed Portreeve of London, an office equivalent to that of mayor, in the reign and by desire of King Stephen, in the place of Alberic de Vere, and erected a mortuary chapel in Pardonhaugh churchyard, under St. Paul's Cathedral, where he and his wife were buried. He had several children by his wife, the eldest, Thomas, the future archbishop, having been born in his father's house in the Cheap, between 1116 and 1119. He was said to have been baptised in the parish church of St. Mary Colechurch, which formerly stood at the corner of the Old Jewry. It is probable that there were several other sons of Gilbert and Matilda, but their names have not come down to us. Three of their daughters are known: Mary was abbess of the great nunnery of Barking, in Essex; Roessa had grants of lands from King Henry II; and Agnes was married to Thomas Fitz Theobald de Helles, in Kilkenny. He received large grants of land in Ireland from King Henry II, and was the ancestor of the family of Butler, Earls of Ormond, and through them of the Boleyn family, eminent in the Mercers' annals. The last of the Boleyns was created, by Henry VIII, Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond, and was father of the ill-fated Queen Anne Boleyn, and grandfather of Queen Elizabeth [I], the most distinguished free sister of the Mercers' Company." (Source: Watney, John. Some Account of the Hospital of St. Thomas of Acon, in the Cheap, London, and of the Plate of the Mercers' Company. London: Blades, 1906. 9.)
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