Sir Nigel Gresley, 6th Baronet

Sir Nigel Gresley, 6th Baronet (c. 1727 - 7 April 1787) was an English land-owner, mine-owner and the builder of Sir Nigel Gresley's Canal.

Gresley was the son of Sir Thomas Gresley, 4th Baronet and his first wife Dorothy Bowyer, daughter of Sir William Bowyer, 4th Baronet. He succeeded his brother who died of smallpox without issue in 1753. As well as Drakelow in Derbyshire, Gresley inherited from his mother's family Knypersley Hall at Biddulph, Staffordshire. He became High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1759.

Gresley owned coal mines at Apedale in Staffordshire. In 1773 an Act of Parliament was passed allowing him to build a canal from Apedale to Newcastle-under-Lyme.^[1] The canal opened in 1776 was called the Sir Nigel Gresley's Canal.^[2]

Family

Gresley married in 1753 Elizabeth Wynn, daughter of the Rev. Wynn, of Cheshire and had a son, Nigel Bowyer Gresley, and six daughters. He was succeeded by his son. His daughter Anne married industrialist John Edensor Heathcote.

References

Sources

Debrett's Baronetage of England 7th Edition (1839) pp 34/5 (Google Books)
Leigh Rayment's list of baronets

Baronetage of Great Britain
Preceded by Sir Thomas Gresley, 5th Baronet	Baronet (of Drakelowe) 1753–1787	Succeeded by Sir Nigel Bowyer Gresley, 7th Baronet
Honorary titles
Preceded by Sir Richard Whitworth	High Sheriff of Staffordshire 1759–1760	Succeeded by John Dolphin

[1] Joseph Priestley Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals, and Railways, of Great Britain Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, 1831

[2] Jim Shead - Sir Nigel Gresley's Canal

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