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Lawrence Sheriff (c1510-1567) was an Elizabethan gentleman and grocer to Elizabeth I who founded Rugby School.
Not much is known about his early life, but it is known that he was born in Brownsover, (then a village, but now a part of Rugby in Warwickshire). Sheriff went to London at some point in his life, and became a full member of the Worshipful Company of Grocers, and became a grocer to many of the great and good of the day including Queen Elizabeth.
He became trusted by the Queen, and rose to the level of a gentleman, he was granted a crest and coat of arms the main feature of which is a griffin. He bought extensive property near London and in the area of Rugby.
He earned a great fortune through his life, but remained childless, and upon his death in 1567, he stipulated in his will that his fortune should be used to found a school "to serve chiefly for the children of Rugby and Brownsover ... and next for such as be of other places hereunto adjoyneing."
He was buried at the old Grey Friars Church in Newgate Street, London. However no trace remains. The church and all its monuments were destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. His birthplace still stands in Brownsover, and he is remembered today by the Lawrence Sheriff School in Rugby.
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