MRP: 27th March 1663, Letter from Robert Cranmer, London

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27th March 1663, Letter from Robert Cranmer, London

BL, Add. MS. XX, XXX, f. 59

Editorial history

02/06/09, CSG: Completed transcription
14/12/11, CSG: Created page & posted transcription to wiki




Abstract & context


Robert Cranmer (b. ?, d. ?1666) was a London merchant and a subscriber to the Smirna Venture Joint Stock. Earlier he had been factor of the English East India Company in Surat, probably returning to London in 1647 or 1648.[1]

In this letter to Sir George Oxenden, Robert Cranmer asked Sir George to look out for Benjamin England, the eldest son of his sister. Another relative, Thomas Carver, who had been in Surat, was dead.

He also warned Sir George about the planned travel out to Surat of the London merchant, John Swift. Swift's commercial affairs were in disarray, and he was seeking to recover his fortunes.

Robert Cranmer was probably involved in a commercial relationship with John Swift. No detailed commercial records have survived, and the two men may not have been partners. John Swift also appears to have been associated commercially with his brother-in-law Benjamin Glanville. Both men were brother-in-laws of Sir George Smith, through Smith's marriage to Martha Swift.[2]

Robert Cranmer, a resident of Mitcham, trusted John Swift sufficiently in 1659 for the advowson of the Mitcham church to be conveyed in trust to John Swift and the London scrivener John Morris for Robert Cranmer.[3] Cranmer and Swift were still collaborating commercially in 1661, when on May 31st they both stood security together for 379/."[4] However, the relationship appears to have broken down post 1661, prior to Cranmer's letter of March 27th, 1663, to Sir George Oxenden.

Cranmer stated in his letter to Sir George Oxenden that he had paid Swift's debts after reluctantly concluding that "y:e law vexations & costs being worse then payeing." Cranmer had been burned by his experience of Swift, and doubted not "but his Tourky Tongue will Complem:t some kinde heart or other, out of w:t they have beene reapeing this severall yeares."

Sir George Smith' Swift's brother-in-law, was more of an optimist. In addition to personally recommending Swift to Sir George Oxenden, he intervened later, once Swift was out in Surat. A Court Minute from 166X records

Sir George Smith asking that John Swift, who is now in India and has shown himself ready to defend the Company's interest against Sivaji, may, at the arrival of Foxcroft at the Coast, be entertained into the Company's service; the Court consents, and Sir George promises to stand as security for Swift in 1,000/.[5]

Sir George's faith in his brother-in-law was subsequently disappointed, as he admitted in a letter to Sir George Oxenden dated XXXX:

XXXX.[6]

Robert Cranmer had a substantial house in Mitcham, Surrey, which he purchased in 16XX. It was assessed at fifteen hearths in the 1664 Lady Day hearth tax returns for Surrey.[7] John Swift may have been resident in 1662 in the parish of St Peter le Poore, London, where a house under the name of John Swift was assessed at ten hearths.[8] However, this has not been confirmed. Benjamin Glanville, with whom Swift was associated commercially, was resident in East Greenwich on Duck and Taverne Rowe, in a house of twelve hearths.[9]


Suggested links


See Robert Cranmer will
See Ann Cranmer will (mother-in-law)

See PROB 5/2160 Inventory of Robert Cranmere, 1665, ff. 1-5+

See 3rd April 1663, Letter from Elizabeth Dalyson to Sir GO, London Frogmorton Street
(asks Sir George Oxenden to help John Swift, the brother of Sir George Smith's wife)
See 20th August 1663, Letter from Gamaliel Nightingale to Sir GO, Aleppo (Nightingale mentions John Swift, who had decided to travel to India overland through Aleppo, rather than by sea)
See 5th March 1662/63, Letter from Charles Porter to Sir GO (Porter asks Sir George Oxenden to assist John Swift)
See March 1665/66, Letter from George Smith to Sir GO (George Smith writes to Sir GO expressing deep diappointment with his brother-in-law's behaviour in Surat)


To do


(1) Check transcription against physical manuscript in BL


Transcription


This transcription has been completed, but needs to be checked

[BL, Add. MS. XX,XXX, f. 59]

Right Worp:ll S:r Geo: Oxinden

S:r I hope these will finde you in good health at Surratt prayeing it may soo Continew till you retourne safe to yo:r freinds againe

S:r at yo:r parting from y:e Downes, I left 2: or 3: lines w:th M:r Jn:o Goodyeare[10] for you to prse at sea in y:e Behalfe of my Bro: Carver,[11] & Benj: England.[12] as for y:e first I findd hee is deceased & soo cared for. But for Benj:m who is my Sisters[13] eldest sonne I must Earnestly Begg yo:r care of him for w:th you will much & Ever Ingage mee

S:r I am very loath to hinder yo:r More serious affaires, by my tedious lines for indeed my trouble of late for my freind Swift[14] have beene such y:t it hath taken mee off much busienesse my owne to follow. his, & pay his debts, y:e law vexations & costs being worse then payeing , w:ch is Badd enough, I heare y:t hee is comeing towards you - & I doubt not but his Tourky Tongue will Complem:t some kinde heart or other, out of w:t they have beene reapeing this severall yeares. I shall not further trouble you w:th this subject, but concluded w:th my hearty prayers for yo:r health & prosperity I rest. S:r

Yo:r ?reall serv:t to Command
Rob:t Cranmer

Lond:o 27:th March 1663:


Notes

Benjamin Glanville & John Swift


"[August 15, 1660] Charles Moriscoe and John Dickons accepted as security for cotton yarn, and John Swift and John Dickons for pepper."[15]


Robert Cranmer & John Swift


"[May 31, 1661] William Williams, one of the Committee of the Treasury, desiring to be excused from that service on account of private business, Sir William Ryder is entreated to take his place. John Swift and Robert Cranmer are accepted as security for 379/."[16]


Sir Thomas Bludworth & Robert Cranmer


"[January 3, 1662] Certain Committees are desired to settle with Sir Thomas Bludworth and Mr. Cranmer, owners of the Merchant Adventure"[17]

- Robert Cranmer mentions his part-ownership of the East India Merchant" in his will, written:

"my shares and interests in the Shippes hereafter mentioned vizt in tthat all my the Coast frigatt the Lady frigatt the Resignation the Eagle the East India merchant and the William and John"[18]


The ship the Merchant Adventure


"[November 18, 1656] On the petition of Nathaniel Temes, Martin Noell, Thomas Winter, Robert Cranmor and other merchants of London, it is ordered that letters of marque against the enemies of this Commonwealth be issued under the seal of the Admiralty Court to the ships King Ferdinand, Christopher Oxenden commander. East India Merchant, Anthony Newport commander, and Merchant Adventure, Captain Robert Tindal commander, each of about 300 tons burden, freighted by the petitioners and ready to sail to the Indies, security being first given as is usual ; and that a warrant be issued to the Judges of the Admiralty on that behalf."[19]


Benjamin England


"[December 31, 1663] Examination and report to be made of the petition of Benjamin England"[20]


Possible primary sources

TNA


PROB 4/1950 Inventory of Anne Cranmer, 1673

PROB 5/2160 Inventory of Robert Cranmere, 1665, ff. 1-5

PROB 11/320 Mico 47-91 Will of Robert Cranmore of Mitcham, Surrey 12 April 1666
PROB 11/359 King 1-65 Will of Thomas Tindall, Mariner of Stepney, Middlesex 11 February 1679
- ?Related to Captain Robert Tindall, commander of the Merchant Adventure, 1656
PROB 11/397 Ent 139-189 Will of Benjamin England, Mariner of Wapping, Middlesex 13 November 1689


Possible secondary sources


Challen, William Harold, Transcripts of parish registers of London, St. Peter le Poer, London, England, 1561-1837 (XXXX, XXXX)
  1. ↑ Robert Waters (1877) reports a letter dated January 21st 1646/47 from Robert Cranmer in Surat to 'Mrs. Anne Cranmer, at the Blew Bell, at the Upper End of Cheapside, near St. Paul's Gate' in which he announces his intended return from Surat next year. See Robert Edmond Chester Waters, Genealogical memoirs of the kindred families of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Thomas Wood, Bishop of Lichfield (London, 1877), p. 57
  2. ↑ 'A Court of Committees, August 15, 1660' (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 281), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), p. 29
  3. ↑ 'Parishes: Mitcham' in H. E. Malden (ed.), A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4 (?London, 1912), pp. 229-234, viewed 16/02/12, citing Manning and Bray, Hist. of Surr. ii, 497
  4. ↑ 'A Court of Committees, May 31, 1661' (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 374), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A calendar of court minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), pp. 114-115)
  5. ↑ XXXX, A calendar of court minutes, etc. of the East India company 1664-1667 (Oxford, 1925), p. 110
  6. ↑ This is the footnote text
  7. ↑ Surrey hearth Tax transcript, Lady Day, 1664; PROB 5/2160 Inventory of Robert Cranmere, 1665, ff. 1-5)
  8. ↑ This is the footnote text
  9. ↑ This is the footnote text
  10. ↑ John Goodyer
  11. ↑ Brother Carver was Robert Cranmer's brother-in-law, Thomas Carver, who was married to Robert's sister, Anne. In May 1658 Thomas Carver was living at Surat, when he petitioned the English East India Company for employment, supported by the nominations of Nathaniel Temms, Martin Noell and Robert Cranmer (alias Cranmore). He was already deceased by March 1663, as Robert Cranmer writes in his letter of March 27th 1663. See 'A Court of Committees for the New General Stock, February 1, 1658 (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 68) Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A calendar of court minutes of the East India Company, 1655-1659 (Oxford, 1916), pp. 223-224. A court minute from October 23rd 1663 authorised the payment of the deceased Thomas Carver's salary to his wife (identified as Anne in an earlier court minute), and confirms that he was a factor in Surat. See 'A Court of Committees, October 23, 1663 (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 691, in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A calendar of court minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), p. 348. Anne Carver received a legacy in her brother's will written three years later, as did her son, the eponymous Robert Cranmer. See Robert Cranmer will
  12. ↑ Benjamin England was the eldest son of Robert Cranmer's sister, and presumably in the East Indies. See Missing faces
  13. ↑ Robert Cranmer's sister was XXXX. See Missing faces
  14. ↑ John Swift, a London merchant; brother-in-law of Sir George Smith
  15. ↑ 'A Court of Committees, August 15, 1660' (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 281), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), p. 29
  16. ↑ 'A Court of Committees, May 31, 1661' (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 374), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A calendar of court minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), pp. 114-115)
  17. ↑ 'A Court of Committees, January 3, 1662 (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 444), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A calendar of court minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), pp. 170-171)
  18. ↑ Robert Cranmer will
  19. ↑ 'Proceedings of the Council of State, November 18, 1656' in Public Record Office, S.P. Dom.: Interregnum, I. 77, p. 505), quoted in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A calendar of court minutes of the East India Company, 1655-1659 (Oxford, 1916), p. 134
  20. ↑ 'A Court of Committees, December 31, 1663 (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 718), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A calendar of court minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), p. 369)

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