Sir William Gee , Secretary to the Council in the North. Of Bishop Burton and of York Minster Yard. first moved to Hull as a master mariner. He acquired great wealth as a Merchant of the Staple [wool] and through public office. He was sheriff of Hull in 1560 and mayor in 1562, 1573 and 1582 and benefactor of Hull Grammar School. He was secretary of the Council of the North and Keeper of the Signet from 1604. (Wildridge, Old and New Hull, pp.41, 171-2; Foster, Pedigrees, iii; English, The great landowners of East Yorkshire, p.25).
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