Lawrence Sheriff

Lawrence Sheriff was an Elizabethan gentleman and grocer to Elizabeth I who endowed Rugby School.

Little is known about his life. Born near St. Andrew's Church in Rugby, Warwickshire, Sheriff was sent on apprenticeship to William Walcott, a London grocer and joined “The Worshipful Company of Grocers” in 1554. Later in his life Sheriff was appointed one of the tradesmen of the Royal Family and was elevated to the rank of gentlemen with the griffin, the traditional guardian of treasurers on his coat of arms, by the Queen Elizabeth.

Amassing a large wealth during his life enabled him to buy extensive property near London and in the area of Rugby and Brownsover. Since he died childless in his will he stipulated that his fortune should be used to found almshouses and a school "to serve chiefly for the children of Rugby and Brownsover... and next for such as be of other places hereunto adjoyneing."