Hospital and Library, Manchester, December 16, 1651; but he appears to have died before that foundation was sanctioned by royal charter, November 10, 1665. His successor was Benjamin Wrigley, Esq., probably his son. This gentleman purchased considerable property in Oldham, of the family of Prestwich, and was uncle of Henry Wrigley, of Langley, near Middleton, living in 1677. By his will, dated May 20, 1671, he devised all his property, in Oldham and elsewhere, to Martha, his eldest daughter, and her issue, and to his six other daughters, bequests of £200 each. Martha transferred the property by marriage to Joseph Gregge, Esq., of Chester, prior to 1682. Mr. Gregge was brother of Edward Gregge, Esq., whom an eminent writer, Matthew Henry, speaks of as "a worthy gentleman eminently active and useful in his generation." Joseph and Edward were sons of Robert Gregge, Esq., barrister-at-law, who died 1673. He was son of Edward Gregge, Esq., of Hapsford, near Chester, a descendant of the Gregges, of Bradley, in Cheshire. Joseph Gregge, Esq., died 1705, was father of Benjamin Gregge, Esq., who served as High Sheriff of Lancashire, in 1722, at the time he resided at Chamber Hall, and died 1740. His son and successor, Edward Gregge, Esq., born 1721, becoming an intimate friend of Robert Hopwood, Esq., the last of the original local family of the Hopwoods, of Hopwood, is said to have served as a substitute for him in the army during the critical times of 1745, and in consideration of this service, Mr. Hopwood being entirely without heirs, devised the estate of Hopwood to Mr. Gregge and his family, after the death of his lady. Mr. Hopwood died July 19, 1762, and Mrs. Hopwood in 1773. Mr. Gregge, on acquiring the estates of Hopwood, took the name of Hopwood in addition to Gregge, in accordance with an act of Parliament passed for that purpose in 1773 (13 George III.), and became Edward Gregge Hopwood, Esq. At his death, August 31, 1798, the property at Hopwood passed by will to his son

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