LONDON MERCHANTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 4 May 1934, Page 3

LONDON MERCHANTS

RESPECT PAID TO COMMERCE The peerage, as well as the baronetage of England, exhibits numerous proofs of voluntary respect paid to commerce by British sovereigns. The noble house of Osborne bad for its founder Edward Osborne apprentice to Sir William Ilewet, a merchant who lived in London, and was lord mayor in 1559. Sir William had only one daughter, Anne, who when a child, was, by the carelessness of her nurse, dropped in the Thames. The apprentice, Edward Osborne, jumped into the river and saved her life. When the child grew up to womanhood, as she was rich, she had many suitors, among whom was the Ear] of Shrewsbury, but the father refused them all, saying, that as Osborne had saved her, lie should have her. They were married, and their descendant is Duke of Leeds. The noble house of Wentworth was founded by Sir W, Fitzwilliam, who was an alderman of London, and sheriff in 1506; lie was % retainer ol Cardinal Wolsey, and knighted by Heniv VIII for his attachment to that prelate in his misfortunes. He built the greater part of the present church of St. Andrew, Undershaft.. The Earl cf Coventry is descended from John Coventry, mercer, and lord mayor in.the year 1425 ; lie was one of the executors of the celebrated Whittington. Laurence dos Bouverjes married a daughter of a silk mercer at Frankfort-on-the Maine, and, returning to England, laid the foundation of the house of Radnor. The ancestor of the Earl of Essex was Sir William Cape], lord mayor of London in 1503. The ancestor of the Earl of Dartmouth —T. Lemm. or Legget. a skinner—was twice lord mayor, in 1347 and 1354, and lent King Edward 111 no less a sum than L. 300 for his French war. Sir William Craven, merchant tailor, and lord mayor of London, was ancestor of the Earl of Craven : and the Earl of Warwick is lineally descended from William Groville, a citizen of London, and “flower of the woolstaplers. ” Thomas Bennett', mercer, sheriff in 15°A and lord mavor hi 1603. laid the foundation of tlie fortunes of the earls of Tanlcorville. who are lineally descended from him. Tile ancestor of the Earls of Pomfret was Richard Fermour. who, having amassed a splendid fortune as a citizen of Calais, came to England, and suffered attaint under Henry VTTT. and did not recover his property till' the fourth of Edward VI. Tile Earl of Darnley owes the first elevation of His family to John Bligli, a London citizen, who was employed as agent to the speculators in the Irish estates forfeited in the rebellion in 1641. Tlie Earl of Romnev is descended from Thomas Marshani, alderman, who died in .1624. Lord Dacre’s ancestor, Sir Robert Dacre, was banker to Charles