MRP: Customs
Customs
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23/01/12, CSG: Created page
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Evading customs duty, 16XX
Add extract from EEIC Court Minutes
Thomas Sprigg, husband
Thomas Sprigg replaced Richard Seaborne in 1661 as husband for the EEIC. He was still in this role in the late 1670s. His will may have been proved in January 1679, in which he described himself as "Merchant of London."[1]
"[November 25, 1661] A petition and two certificates from Richard Seaborne about the entries of the musk and copper plate are read ; but as nothing is found in these to defer the election of a new Husband, the Court chooses Thomas Sprigg for that post, at a salary of 80/. a year, he to give security in 1,000/., and Francis Thompson to be his assistant at 40/. a year, he to give security in 500/. William Marston is entertained as Auditor at 80/. a year"[2]
- Thomas Sprigg's salary was raised to 100/. a year as per a Court of Committees, May 15, 1663
"[November 27, 1661] The following securities are accepted : Thomas Green and Thomas Townsend for Gabriel Townsend ; John Pory and Henry Hampson for Charles Smeaton ; Sir William Thomson and M. Thomson for Thomas Sprigg ; Thomas Agg and Benjamin Coles for Francis Thomson.... Sprigg and Thomson are sworn and directed to proceed in the performance of their duties. Order is also given for all porters employed by Seaborne to be dismissed and for Sprigg to engage others in their stead, having regard to old servants of the Company who are suitable"[3]
"[December 23, 1661] As it would be a great expense and inconvenience to have the saltpetre received this year examined before it is taken over from Mr. Seaborne, and Francis Thomson having seen it all landed and also what was taken away, the Court gives direction for all the saltpetre brought home this year and still in the warehouses to be taken over as it is from the charge of Richard Seaborne, who is to deliver the key of the great warehouse at the Customhouse to Mr. Sprigg."[4]
- It appears that Thomas Sprigg took over as husband from Richard Seaborne
"[December 12, 1662] Thomas Sprigg, the Husband, is awarded a gratuity of 50/. for discovery of private trade and 'other extraordinary service'.[5]
"...Aston, Keeper of the Pepper Warehouse, 80/. ;David Aston, assistant, 30/. ; Thomas Spriggs, Husband, 200/. ; Francis Thomson, assistant, 100/. ; George Papillon, Keeper of the Blue Warehouse, 160/. ; and for setting up the candle, 10/. ; Thomas Lewis, Paymaster of the Mariners, 30/. ; William Moses, Solicitor, 20/. ; Captain John Prowd, Surveyor, 80/. ; Robert Johnson, Doorkeeper, 40/. ; Michael Prescot, Surveyor of ..."[6]
Possible primary sources
TNA
- ↑ Possibly PROB 11/359 King 1-65 Will of Thomas Sprigg, Merchant of London 14 January 1679
- ↑ 'A Court of Committees, November 25, 1661' (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 429), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury, A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), p. 160
- ↑ 'A Court of Committees, November 27, 1661' (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 430), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury, A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), p. 161)
- ↑ 'A Court of Committees, December 23, 1661' (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 441), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury, A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), p. 168
- ↑ 'A Court of Committees, December 12, 1662' (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 561), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury, A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), p. 280
- ↑ Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1677-1679 (Oxford, 1938), p. 177
