Cherry, Francis (1665 -1713)

Francis Cherry was the son of William and Anne Cherry of Shottesbrooke in Berkshire. Soon after his twentieth year he married Eliza, daughter of John Finch, of Fiennes Court. They lived with his parents, his father surviving to the great age of seventy two or eighty two according to different sources. His father allowed him £2,500 a year to go to Bath or use in his many benefactions. Among those he helped was the young Thomas Hearne. A nonjuror, he collected books, manuscripts, coins and other antiquities. His manuscripts were presented by his widow to the Bodleian Library, in Oxford. He and his wife had two sons, both of whom died in infancy, and three daughters.