Difference between revisions of "MRP: 6th April 1663, Letter from John Stanian to Sir GO, London (poss. 1662/63)"

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6th April 1663, Letter from John Stanian to Sir GO, London (poss. 1662/63)

BL, Add. MS. XX,XXX, ff. 18-19

Editorial history

18/12/11, CSG: Page created
27/12/11, CSG: Added hypertext Table of Content

Abstract & context

John Stanian (alias Stanyan) wrote to Sir George Oxenden in a letter dated April 6th, 1663, sent from London.

In the letter he mentioned that the Committees were becoming very strict in London on private trade, especially "Callicoe & Black Pepper." Ironically Stanian himself was sacked in 1667 for alleged involvement in private trade.

Sir William Ryder reported to Sir George Oxenden in a letter dated Augusr 22nd, 1667, sent from Bethnal Green, that Stanian had been dismissed for:

Houlding correspondence and privatt trading with ye Comp:a Servants, Especially with S:r Edward Winter & also some of y:e factory^[1]

He was replaced by Mr. Robert Blackbourne.

John Stanian (b. ?1634, d. ??1714)^[2] was the Secretary of the English East India Company from June 1654 till his removal in XXX 1667. Prior to his appointment as Secretary he had been servant for six years to the Secretary Richard Swinglehurst.^[3] In February 1658 also acted as keeper of the Exchange Warehouse on an annual salary of £100.

He was the son of Abraham Stanyan, who provided a bond of 1,000 for his son, as did Randall Isaackson, on the appointment of John Stanian as Secretary in succession to the deceased Richard Swinglehurst.^[4]

There is a record of a John Stanyan's admission to the Merchant Taylor's school in September 1644. The admissions register describes him as the "eld. son of Abraham, plaisterer, b. in par. of Katharine Cree Church, 24 June, 1634."^[5] This is a plausible match, given that his known six years as servant to Richard Swinglehurst would have started about 1648.

Suggested links

See 25th August 1662, Letter from John Stanyan to Sir GO
See March 1665/66, Letter from John Stannian to Sir GO

To do

(1) Complete this partial transcription

Transcription

This partial transcription needs to be completed

[BL, Add. MS. XX,XXX, ff. 18-19]

Worp:ll S:r

[X] with you overland in double Copies last August w:ch I hope are come to yo:r hands^[6] wherein I breifly mentioned what in Soe little time after yo:r departure hapnded, & came to mind y:r might concerne you, Since when wee concluded w:th y:e Dutch , Copie of y:e Artciles ...

ADD TEXT

The Comp:a doth allow theire Serv:ts libertie of Trading in India & in theire owne Shipps, if it be not such goods as they have therein y:e same for theire owne Acco:ts, soe you may make good Advantage from y:e Bay to Persia etc. as you best know, & if at any time M:r Goodjer^[7] & M:r Gray^[8] have any remaines of mine I will order them to deliver it to yo:r Worp: to imploy till y:e next yeare if they cannot doe it w:thout Trouble you."

Therewith I send you a Declaration^[9] printed by y:e Comp:a to discover Private Trade in all places, alsoe a Copie of y:e Preamble,^[10] by w:ch you may see y:e conditions of Subscriptions w:ch at Seaven yeares must come & to XXX att w:ch time if this Stock shall not have well XXXXX, I Question whither they will be encouraged to proceed againe in a Stock however if it should soo happen as y:t they leave aby Intermission betweene y:t abd of thus, beginning of y:e Next Stock, Ieave it to y’:r discretion what use to make of such an Opportunity…

Notes

[Mentions highly valuable trade in diamonds for and with Portugal.]

[Thinks Sir William Thompson will be Governor]

Yo: faithfull ffreind & humble Servant John Stanian

Notes

John Stanyan, Esq., Eltham, Kent

"The parish church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, consists of a chancel, nave, and two aisles. At the west end is a spire....

On the floor are the tombs of George Cooke, merchant, 1699; John Stanyan, Esq. 1714; and Mrs. Susan Stanyan, his daughter, aged 93, 1762.

The north aisle was built in 1667, by Sir John Shaw, Bart. who had a faculty for that purpose. Whilst the vault was digging under this aisle, the roof of the nave fell in, June 24, 1667; after this accident, it was rebuilt, new pewed, and a new pulpit was given, all at the expence of Sir John Shaw."^[11]

John Stanyan, Merchant Taylors

"[1644] September.

John Stanyan, eld. son of Abraham, plaisterer, b. in par. of Katharine Cree Church, 24 June, 1634."^[12]

Abraham Stanyan, plaisterer, St. Katharine Kree Church

http://www.archive.org/stream/MN40162ucmf_2#page/n35/mode/2up

"Shortly after acquiring the Corner House in Creechurch Lane, William Whitbey, the cloth-worker, appears to have demolished it and to have erected in its stead to quote from a Guildhall mortgage 1213/3 of March 23, 1648 " those two greate bricke messuages or tenements lately new built." The principal house he occupied himself until the date of his death (unascertainable, but some time prior to 1640), when he was succeeded there by his son James Whitbey. The second or corner house (called in the Bevis Marks lease of July 20, 36 See Appendix V. c. 1, p. 92. 40 This is borne out by the endorsement on the conveyance of September 20, 1672 (Guildhall document No. 1213/8) " of two messuages in Creechurch Lane " which reads " the reciting deed inrolled in the hustings of London the {blank} day of April, 1622, when it was in one house." There is a similar reference in a much later deed, No. 1213/27. 1703, " a lesser house adjoyneing eastwards ") was tenanted until 1648 or 1649 by the firm of Hill and Whittingham, and was then taken over by James Whitbey, probably for the use of his son William Whitbey, junior. The main residence of the Whitbey family was surrounded on two sides by a balcony. It was substantially built and fairly lofty, and it stood three storeys high. It occupied an " island site," and had ample yard space on the southern side, where there was open ground occupied partly by gardens and by big trees tt extending as far as the backs of the houses in Leadenhall Street. No doubt the three generations of the Whitbey family found excellent facilities in this pair of houses for exercising their hereditary trade as cloth- workers. James Whitbey, however, seems to have got into financial difficulties, as in 1648 we find him borrowing 200 for six months from James Fletcher, the haberdasher, on the security of the two buildings. Four years later he repays Fletcher by borrowing 300 on mortgage from Widow Aspley. It is on record, too, that he was then also owing 191 to a very prominent citizen and parishioner of Creechurch, Captain Abraham Stanyan, a plaisterer (whom we should to-day describe as a builder and architect), a comrade with whom he had served in the Artillery Company, 42 and a man whose nephew and namesake was later bo attain eminence in the public life of this country. 43 Soon Stanyan was to obtain control of the Whitbeys' two mansions, and on April 20, 1653 being doubtless in need of his 191 we find him mortgaging the houses to four of his leading fellow-parishioners. The consideration that passed was an amount of 500, of which Widow Aspley received 309 and Stanyan 191. This sum was not repaid, and it is to be inferred that from the summer of 1655 onwards the interest was allowed to fall into arrears. 44 Nevertheless, in December 1656 we find Abraham Stanyan suddenly possessed of the substantial sum of 550 coming forward to redeem the property. I have more than a suspicion where that money came from, because on December 19, 1656 which was the day following, James Whitbey and he granted a twenty-one years' lease " of th' one of the messuages," not the corner-house but the larger one, to " Antonyo fiernando Carawayall of London Merchant." 45 On the next day viz., December 20, 1656, James Whitbey, the cloth worker, Ellen his wife, and William Whitbey, also a cloth-worker, described as " heir apparant of the said James," did at the request of Abraham Stanyan transfer the family interest in the property to a barber-chirurgeon named Boone and a citizen and draper called Richard Mills. 46 These two individuals were not parishioners of St. Katherine Creechurch, nor do they play any further part in these dealings. I
cannot help thinking that they were acting as " cover " for Carvajal, who had probably financed Stanyan's purchase. Carvajal and his brethren doubtless assumed that as Jews they were unable to hold property in England, and preferred to figure as leaseholders rather than as freeholders. Subsequently the Whitbeys appeared before the Lord Mayor and acknowledged the deed, which was enrolled in the Hustings of Pleas of Land, from which roll, I may add, I was able to obtain a fairer copy of the deed than would have been possible had I been obliged to depend on the somewhat battered counterpart that has been handed down in St. Katherine Creechurch's archives.The Churchwardens' Accounts for the years 1650 to 1656 contain many references to Carvajal. As Mr. Wolf has shown, he occupied a large house in Leadenhall Street at the foot of Creechurch Lane, 48 and it is now clear from the " receiptes of tithes " that he was one of the largest ratepayers in the parish, for the comparatively large tithe- payment of 1 is entered up each year against "Mr. fiardinando," or "Antonio Ferdinando." It is perhaps well to recall at this stage that

45 The Vestry Minute last referred to indicates that Whitbey and Stanyan
were already at that date negotiating with Carvajal, since it fixes a basis for
the redemption of the mortgage of April 1653 " upon ye request of Mr. James
Whitbey."

46 Boone is mentioned again in the Churchwardens' Account Book under the
payments for 1678. (Appendix V. a, p. 82.) Eichard Mills was an Alderman and
a Treasurer of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. (A. B. Beaven, The Aldermen of the
City of London, 1908.)

pp. 19-20

"In the summer of 1657 the freehold of the two brick messuages
in Creechurch Lane as well as the remainder of a ninety-nine years'
lease were acquired by the parish, and the conveyance of the latter was

71 Trans, of Jewish Hist. Soc., vol. ii. p. 20. " Ibid. vol. i. p. 55.

73 L. Wolf, Menasseh Sen Israel's Mission, Intro, pp. Ixvi and Ixvii.
7 * Subsequently these particulars were transferred to a separate volume,
which is not now available at any rate, in the Guildhall Library.

30 THE FIRST LONDON SYNAGOGUE OF THE RESETTLEMENT.

signed on July 28, 1657 (MS. 1213/5), and is in existence to-day. 75
From this and the other documents it seems reasonable to conclude
that the parish authorities, knowing that the Jews had installed a
Synagogue in Mr. Whitbey's former mansion, decided to purchase the
property out of church funds, and thus become the Jews' superior
landlords. Mills and Boone, the nominal owners, would seem to have
conveyed their interest the freehold in a deed of the same date which
has not been preserved. The vendors who figure in the sale of the
lease are again Abraham Stanyan, the plaisterer, together with James
Whitbey and his son William, and the purchase-consideration is 840,
of which Stanyan receives 650 and the Whitbeys 190. The parish
of St. Katherine Creechurch as purchaser is represented by eleven
citizens, the first trustees appointed to hold the property. By the
other conveyance of even date not now available a second group
of eleven citizens and trustees, whose names have been preserved in
a later deed (No. 1213/7 of September 20, 1672) appear to have derived
their title from Mills and Boone. 76 A proportion of the purchase-money
was provided by a loan from Alderman Bond. The parish was not
granted " vacant possession " of the larger messuage, and the twenty-
one years' lease which Carvajal had secured seven months earlier is
expressly " reserved." In point of fact the Churchwardens' Account
Book shows later that the Jews must have surrendered this lease in
1663, when they already began to pay rent to the parish, and from that
year until 1691, when the Account Book was closed, there is an almost
unbroken series of entries " one yeares rent of the Sinagogue."

As has been mentioned, the will of Sir John Gayer was the motive
which had led the parish to buy this property, and that knight's
bequest of 200 was utilised for the purchase, together with sundry
accumulated legacies from earlier benefactors. Sir John Gayer had
been a famous Lord Mayor of London and a prominent member of
the East India Company. "

Wilfred S. Samuel, The first London synagogue of the resettlement (founded in 1657),enlarged in 1674) (XXXX, 1924)

p. 30

The Worshipful Company of Plaisterers

"Past Masters...

1656-1657 Edward Goodenough
1657-1659 Abraham Stanyon"^[13]

"During the Civil War Abraham Stanyon, holder of the posts of City and Bridgehouse Plasterer, successfully petitioned the court of aldermen that, during his absence his wife ‘by her servants may be permitted to execute his place’ and receive payment of wages for himself and his men."^[14]

IGI

"MARRIAGE Abraham Stanyan; spouse: Elizab Goodenough, 14 Nov. 1671, Saint Giles Cripplegate, London"^[15]
- An Edward Goodenough was master of the worshipful company of plaisterers prior to Abraham Stanyon

EEIC, 1644-1649

EEIC, 1650-1654

"[June 14, 1654] The Court is informed that the Secretary, Richard Swinglehurst, is lately dead and that the business of his office is at a standstill, the keys of his office and the warehouses having been given up to Mr. Thomas Andrew, Messrs. Cokayne and Riccard being then out of town ; also that John Stanyan, who has been servant to the late Secretary for six years, now petitions to be employed by the Company. The Committees give him one of the keys of the said office, and direct him to perform the business connected with it, and to deliver to Mr. Cokayne what papers concerning the Dutch business he shall require, taking a receipt for them. Stanyan is also given the keys of the Exchange Cellar and told to performe the daily busines there ', to make a full abstract of all that is in the cellar and present it with his security next Friday, and to apply to the proper Committees for directions concerning that warehouse."^[16]

"[June 21, 1654] John Stanyan presents the desired abstract of the goods remaining in the Exchange Cellar, and nominates as his security his father Abraham Stanyan and Randall Isaackson ; they are accepted and directed to seal two bonds of 1,000/. each."^[17]

EEIC, 1655-1659

"[February 27, 1657] A list of debts owing is read, and Spiller is directed to sue Prickman. John Stanyan is desired to go to John Arnold at Doctors' Commons and try to obtain an administration of the late John Day's affairs for recovery of his debt to the Company. Spiller is also directed to repair to the other debtors and endeavour to obtain satisfaction from them."^[18]

"[February 10, 1658] The following men are chosen as officers for this Stock : Michael Dunkin, to keep the cash book and do his usual work at the Treasury, at a salary of 150/. a year ; Richard Harris, as his assistant, at 80/. a year ; Samuel Sambrooke, to write letters and keep the calico warehouse, at 100/. a year ; John Herbert, to assist him at 30/. a year ; James Acton, as solicitor and attorney, at 20/. a year ; John Stanyan, as secretary and keeper of the Exchange Warehouse, at 100/. a year ; Percival Aungier, to pay the mariners and do such other work as shall be required of him, at 30/. a year, ' to be bourne equally betweene this Stock and the United Stock for this present yeere ' ; John Spiller, to be beadle and porter, at 30/. a year ; Bartholomew Holloway, to assist him at 30/. a year ; Jeremy Sambrooke, to be general-accountant and keep the books in such a way as certain Committees (now appointed) shall determine, upon whose report his salary shall be settled and an assistant chosen if necessary."^[19]

EEIC, 1660-1663

Possible primary sources

British Library

George Oxenden (Surat) to John Stanian, 24 November 1666, IOL, E/3/29, ff. 276v-277r (cited Steven C.A. Pincus, Protestantism and Patriotism: Ideologies and the Making of English Foreign Policy, 1650-1668 (Cambridge, 2002), f. 20, p. 292)

London Metropolitan Archives

London Metropolitan Archives: British Records Association (Q/UL/G - Q/UL/O): Property Records: Box L Q/UL/L 1667-1894: Assignments, Conveyance, Deeds and leases Q/UL/L1 1667-1894: Assignment in trust. (no ref.) 1674 28 April
- Contents:
Elizabeth Whiting
Abraham Stanyon The Master and Keeper of the Plaisterers' Company, to Thomas Offley, in trust for John Honeywood.
Woodstreete, London.
1930. B. S. & G. 1842

London Metropolitan Archives: British Records Association (Q/UL/G - Q/UL/O): Property Records: Box L Q/UL/L 1667-1894: Assignments, Conveyance, Deeds and leases Q/UL/L1 1667-1894: Receipt for purchase money. (no ref.) 1674 28 April
Contents:
Abraham Stanyon
Elizabeth Stanyon The Master and Keepers of the Plaisterers' Company, -to John Honywood.
London.
1930. B. S. & G. 1842

TNA

C 6/179/48 Short title: Stanian v Squire. Plaintiffs: John Stanian. Defendants: Hugh Squire, Henry Dacres and John Cholmley. Subject: money matters, Middlesex. Document type: answer only. 1667
C 6/556/27 Short title: Stanyan v [unknown]. First plaintiff: John Stanyan. Defendants: [unknown]. Document type: bill only. 1690

PROB 11/329 Coke 1-56 Will of Mary Stanyan, Wife of London 10 February 1669
PROB 11/540 Aston 89-130 Will of John Stanyan, Gentleman of Eltham, Kent 17 June 1714

Oxford University, Bodleian Library, Special Collections and Western Manuscripts

Oxford University, Bodleian Library, Special Collections and Western Manuscripts: Carte Papers [MS. Carte 37 - MS. Carte 40: Petition of Thomas Sheridan, and John Wilson to the King MS. Carte 40, fol(s). 31 [March?] 1683]
- Contents: Recite that Laurence Stanyan [In MS.: "Stannion"], esquire, late one of the Farmers of his Majesty's Revenue in Ireland, is indebted to Petitioners in large sums of money, and on pretence of making up his accounts has obtained from the Barons of the Exchequer freedom from arrest, whereby Petitioners lose the benefit of having bail to their actions against him.

1. ↑ 22nd August 1667, Letter from William Ryder to Sir GO, Bethnal Green
2. ↑ Possibly PROB 11/540 Aston 89-130 Will of John Stanyan, Gentleman of Eltham, Kent 17 June 1714
3. ↑ 'A Court of Committees, June 14, 1654' (Court Book, vol. xxiii, p. 366), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1650-1654 (Oxford, 1913), p. 325
4. ↑ 'A Court of Committees, June 21, 1654' (Court Book, vol. xxiii, p. 368), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1650-1654 (Oxford, 1913), p. 325
5. ↑ Charles J. Robinson, A register of the scholars admitted into Merchant Taylors' school from A.D. 1562 to 1874, vol. 1 (Lewes, 1882), p. 163
6. ↑ John Stanian is referring to his previous letter, dated August 25th, 1662, in which he had suggested that war with the Dutch was unlikely. See March 1665/66, Letter from John Stannian to Sir GO
7. ↑ John Goodyer
8. ↑ Mathew Gray
9. ↑ This is the footnote text
10. ↑ This is the footnote text
11. ↑ Daniel Lysons, 'Eltham', The Environs of London: volume 4: Counties of Herts, Essex & Kent (1796), pp. 394-421. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45484 Date accessed: 27 January 2012
12. ↑ Charles J. Robinson, A register of the scholars admitted into Merchant Taylors' school from A.D. 1562 to 1874, vol. 1 (Lewes, 1882), p. 163
13. ↑ http://www.plaistererslivery.co.uk/past-masters.aspx, viewed 27/01/12
14. ↑ Clare Gapper, 'Ch. 3: The Plasterers’ Company of the City of London', web publication, based on Clare Gapper, 'Decorative Plasterwork in City, Court and Country 1530-1660', doctoral thesis, http://clairegapper.info/4.html, viewed 27/01/12. Dr Gapper's observation on Abraham Stanyon cites CLRO Rep 57, f 223
15. ↑ http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/IGI/individual_record.asp?recid=500035940182&lds=1&region=2&regionfriendly=British+Isles&frompage=99, viewed 27/01/12
16. ↑ 'A Court of Committees, June 14, 1654' (Court Book, vol. xxiii, p. 366), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1650-1654 (Oxford, 1913), p. 325
17. ↑ 'A Court of Committees, June 21, 1654' (Court Book, vol. xxiii, p. 368), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1650-1654 (Oxford, 1913), p. 325
18. ↑ 'A Court of Committees for the United Joint Stock, February 27, 1657' (Court Book, vol. xxiii, p. 563) in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1655-1659 (Oxford, 1916), p. 146
19. ↑ 'A Court of Committees for the New General Stock, February 10, 1658 (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 71), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1655-1659 (Oxford, 1916), pp. 225-226