Mayors of The Staple

The Mayors of The Right Worshipful Company of Merchants of the Staple of England

Historically. before the early 19^th century, the Mayor would serve for several years; he was chosen from Aldermen of the City of London and was often Lord Mayor.  In London, the Company was based in the original Leadenhall building in the City of London and the Wool Staple was at Westminster.

---

At Bruges from before 1270

English merchants in wool. [ref The Mercery of London, Anne F Sutton, p78]

---

St Omer  in Artois 1314-1323

The first compulsory wool staple. [ref The Mercery of London, Anne F Sutton, p78, p142]

1318 John de Cherleton (Charleton) - Mercer, Alderman of London 1315-27

several years: Richard de Betoyne (Bethune) - Mercer  [ref: Sutton p142; Baker, English Wool Staple of 1313, pp 444-453]

---

Antwerp

1318 William de la Poole

---

Bruges

1341-2 Hugh Ulseby

---

Calais 1347-1558  & London

1392 John Hadley, also Warden of the Grocers. [d 1410]

1394 Robert Savage of York [d 1399]

John Onley  Mayor of Coventry 1396, Standard Bearer of Edward III, twice Mayor of Calais

1405-1423 Sir Richard Whittington [d 1423]  Mayor of the Staple at London (Westminster)  & Calais 1406-1413; Collector of the customs and subsidy in both ports; Warden of the Mercer’s Company 1395-6; Lord Mayor of London 1397-8;

1425 - 1427 Richard Russell, Sheriff of York and Parliamentary representative 1415; member of the Council of 12. [d 1435]

1428-1431 John Reynwell [d 1445] The Ambassador negotiating a treaty with Holland, Flanders & Brabant in November 1438. Sheriff of London 1411-12;

1433 - 1453 Hamon Sutton [1392-1462] of Lincoln

1439 Sir Robert Whittingham [d 1452] also Treasurer of Calais 10 Feb. 1436-25 Dec. 1441, keeper of the mint at Calais 18 Feb 1436-25 Dec 1441; also Warden of the Drapers 1416, Sheriff of London 1419.

Robert White [d 1461]

1466 Sir Richard Yorke Kt [d 498]  Mayor of the Staple at York & Calais. Mayor of York in 1469 & 1482; Elected to Parliament 1472; Knighted by Henry VII 31 July 1487;

1469 John Wigston

c 1472 Sir John Crosby [d 1475] He was one of the commissioners for settling the differences between Edward IV and the Duke of Burgundy; built Crosby Hall in Bishopsgate; a Freeman of the Grocers' Company; buried St Helen's church Bishopsgate

William Browne [1410 - 1489]

1505 & 1509 Sir John Tate [c 1444 - d 1515] Warden of the Mercers; Lord Mayor of London 1496/7

1514 William Wigston Junior (of Leicester)  [1467-1536]  4 times Mayor of the Calais Staple [ref Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology  Vol 4 Appendix A p26 pub G Thompson, Bury St Edmunds 1774]

1523 Sir Thomas Seymour [c 1476 -1535] also Merchant Adventurer; Master Mercer 1517; Lord Mayor of London 1526

c 1556-7 Sir Thomas Offley [1505- 29 Aug 1582]; buried St Andrew Undershaft; also Master Merchant Taylors 1547; Lord Mayor 1556

---

Bruges 1558-1614, Hamburg 1569-1573 and London

1559 Sir Thomas Leigh Lord Mayor of London 1558-9 [ref: Staple Register of Grants-sheet/folio 78 - first regnal year of Queen Elizabeth]

1560 Sir Thomas Offley [ref: Staple Register of Grants-sheets/folio 80-81]

-  to 1588 Sir Andrew Judd  [d 1588]

1590 Rt Hon John Allot Fishmongers' Company, Lord Mayor of London,

---

London 1614 - present day

c 1590 -1619 Sir Steven Soame [1544 - 23 May 1619] Lord Mayor of London 1598; Girdlers company  then Grocers company; Eastland company merchant; Lord of the Manor of Little Thurlow.  [Ref: Sheet 86 of Staple Minute book 1; Mayor of the Staple for c 20 years per inscription on his tombstone - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/54186304/stephen-soame ; history of parliament http://www.histparl.ac.uk/volume/1558-1603/member/soame-sir-stephen-1544-1619
Geni - https://www.geni.com/people/Sir-Stephen-Soame-Lord-Mayor-of-London/6000000014393702552
Thurlow history https://www.thethurlows.org.uk/cms/publications/history-of-great-and-little-thurlow/91-the-soame-family]

1619 - May 1621 Sir John Jolles, Draper; Lord Mayor 1615, d 31 May
[ref: Metropolis Coronata 'The Triumphs of Ancient Drapery' on his becoming Lord Mayor 30 October 1615,  https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/METR1.htm#JOLL1 ]

1621 - Jan 1642 Sir James Cambell Master of the Ironmongers Company 3 times; Lord Mayor 1629-30; Governor of the French Company, on the East India Company committee.

Feb 1642 - July 1649 Sir Thomas Soame Kt and Alderman; followed in his father's footsteps as Mayor.  In 1640 Soame, a Parliamentarian, had been proposed to replace royalist Sir William Acton as Lord Mayor; but Edmund Wright was elected. [Ref: Walter H Godfrey, 'Appendix B: Sir Edmund Wright's election as Lord Mayor', in Survey of London Monograph 13, Swakeleys, Ickenham (London, 1933), pp. 39-42. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/bk13/pp39-42  https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/bk13/pp39-42#highlight-first ]

July 1649 - March 1650 Alderman John Cotton

March 1650 - Feb 1661  Alderman Kendrick [Kenwrick] [d 1661] Lord Mayor 1652

Feb 1661 - 1668 Sir Thomas Adams [1586 -1668], Draper,  Lord Mayor 1645, MP for the City of London 1654-8. Brought Charles II back from exile.

Apr 1668 - 1685 Sir John Frederick [d 1685] Grocers' Company; MP for the City; Lord Mayor 1661

Apr 1685 - 9 May 1700 Sir Peter Daniel [d 9 May 1700] Alderman; Sherriff 1683; Master of the Haberdashers' Company 1683; MP for Southwark [ https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/daniel-sir-peter-1700 ]

28 Aug 1700 - 1711 Sir Charles Duncombe 1648-1711. Banker. Prime Warden Goldsmiths company 1684; Lord Mayor 1708-9. [Ref:  https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/duncombe-charles-1648-1711 ]

11 May 1711  - May 1721 Sir William Withers Kt & Alderman.  Chosen as Mayor from within the Company.

May 1721-1727  Sir Francis Forbes, Kt & Alderman d 26 Sep 1727, Governor Irish Society 1721-7; President Christ's Hospital 1723-7; Director Bank of England 1724-7; Master Haberdashers 1713-4.

Feb 1727 -Mar 1741 Humphrey Parsons Esquire (1676- 21 March 1741); of Red Lion Brewery London and of Reigate Priory, Surrey.  Member of the Wax Chandlers Company then 1725 Grocers Company; Alderman; 1721 Tory MP for Harwich; 1727 MP for City of London;  1723 Sherriff; 1730-31 & 1740-41 Lord Mayor.  A wealthy brewer, and the owner of a ‘brilliant stable’, Parsons distinguished himself by being first at the kill in a royal hunt at Versailles in 1729 and, on being asked the price of his horse by Louis XV, by answering that it was beyond any price other than his Majesty’s acceptance. Louis XV shortly afterwards granted him a patent allowing him to export his beer to France duty-free, and sent him his portrait set in diamonds.  Thereafter he paid frequent visits to Versailles, where ‘the King of France distinguished him more than ... any prince or ambassador, inviting him every day to hunt with him or ordering his hunting equipages for him’. Parsons took an active part in the opposition to Walpole’s excise bill both in the city and in Parliament.  Re-elected for London at the top of the poll in 1734, he was chosen lord mayor a second time on 22 Oct. 1740. He was the first lord mayor to ride in a coach and six in his procession, and the only man to serve that office twice in the 18th century. [Ref: https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/parsons-humphry-1676-1741 ]

April 1741 -1750 The Rt Hon Sir Daniel Lambert Esq (7 Sep 1685-13 May 1750); Master of the Vintners Co 1741; Lord Mayor 1741; The family seat was at Perrott's Manor, Banstead, Surrey since the 16th century. A 'Portugal merchant', he was active in London politics, serving on committees set up by the common council to prepare the petitions against the excise bill, and the Spanish convention, and to press the merchants’ complaints against Spanish depredations. On the death of Humphry Parsons in March 1741 he served as Lord Mayor for the remainder of the year. Tory MP for London. On 6 Feb. 1745 he spoke against Pelham’s additional duty on wines fearing, as a merchant engaged in the Portuguese trade, that the King of Portugal would, in return for the new duty on his wines, lay a further imposition on English manufactures. He died 13 May 1750 of gaol fever caught from the prisoners as he sat on the bench at the Old Bailey. [Ref:  https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/lambert-daniel-1685-1750 ]

3 Oct 1750 -1771 Thomas Rawlinson, Grocers Company, Lord Mayor 1753-4

10 April 1771 - 1775 Barlow Trecothick,  Lord Mayor 1770 ( Resigned ill January 1775)

12 January 1775 -1779 Benjamin Hopkins [1734-1779] Lived 58 Old Broad Street; Director Bank of England, insurance underwriter, Alderman, MP for Great Bedwyn 1771,   Chamberlain of London 1776-79 [Ref: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/hopkins-benjamin-1734-79

National Portrait Gallery: https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp65891/benjamin-hopkins ]

30 Nov 1780 -1781 George Hayley Esq 1722 - 30 Aug 1781.     MP for London 1774-1781.  Alderman of London 1774, Sheriff 1775-6.   In January 1775 Hayley took a leading part in a petition to Parliament from the merchants trading with America against the Government’s American measures. In 1778 Hayley was one of the committee appointed by the common council to petition the King to make peace with America.  He was returned again in 1780, standing jointly with Bull, John Sawbridge and John Kirkman as a declared opponent of the Government. Hayley married the widow Mary Stock(nee Wilkes); her brother was the radical John Wilkes; she was later famous in the USA. [Ref: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/hayley-george-1781  &   http://commonplace.online/article/a-radical-shrew-in-america/ ]

23 April 1782 - Dec 1809 Nathaniel Newnham Esq  [c 1742 - 26 Dec 1809] Merchant and banker. Lord Mayor 1782-3. Master Mercers Company 1786. MP for London 1780-90 & for Ludgershall 1793-6.[Ref:  https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/newnham-nathaniel-1742-1809 ]

1 May 1810 - 1821 Daniel Lambert Esq [d 1821]

---