Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

William Dauntesey (or Dauntsey) was a London

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

and Master of the Worshipful Company of Mercers. A merchant of the Staple at Calais, he was the son of John Dauntesey of West Lavington in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. He died in April 1542. By a

Will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

dated 10 March 1542, Dauntesey gave land in London to the Mercers' Company so that they could build a schoolhouse for a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

at West Lavington, and support seven poor people in an

almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain ...

. The school continues today as the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Dauntsey's School. Part of the bequest reads:

I William Dauntesey Citizen and Alderman of the Cities of London ... will that in West Lavington a house called a church house and a house for a schole be kept ... and that Ambrose Dauntesey shall name and appoint one apt and convenient person to teach gramer in the Schole house...

Notes

Year of birth missing 1542 deaths Councilmen and Aldermen of the City of London Founders of English schools and colleges People from Wiltshire English merchants Merchants of the Staple 16th-century English businesspeople {{UK-business-bio-stub