MRP: 31st March 1663. Letter from Samuell Barnardiston to Sir GO, London
31st March 1663. Letter from Samuell Barnardiston to Sir GO, London
BL, Add. MS. XX, XXX, f. 70
Editorial history
02/06/09, CSG: Completed transcription
18/12/11, CSG: Page created & pasted transcription to wiki
Contents
Abstract & context
Samuel Barnardiston wrote to Sir George Oxenden in a letter dated March 31st, 1663, sent from London.
In this letter, Barnardiston XXXX
Samuel Barnardiston, together with several of his brothers, was closely connected commercially with the Levant.
Samuel Barnardiston's house is reported to have been "in Bishopsgate Street Within, near Cornhill, and abutted, at the rear, upon Merchant Taylors' Hall, being reached by a passage between two of the houses or shops that occupied the street frontage."[1] In 1666, the eleven hearth house appears in the St. Helen's, Bishopsgate Hearth Tax returns under the name "Barnidisston."[2] His brother, Nathaniel Barnardiston, appears in the same year's hearth tax return in Growe and Well Streete, Hackney, where his house was recorded as having twelve hearths.[3]
Suggested links
See 3rd April 1663, Letter from Samuell Barnardiston to Sir GO, London
See March 1665/66, Letter from Samuel Barnardiston to Sir GO
See 20th April 1667, Letter from Samuel Barnardiston to Sir GO, London
See C6/85/17 f. 1 (Bill of Complaint brought against the brothers and London merchants Nathaniell and Samuell Barnardiston, together with co-defendants James Muddiford (alias Modyford), Anthony Issackson and John Williams, together with confederates unknown, 1654)
To do
(1) Check transcription against physical manuscript at BL
Transcription
This transcription has been completed, but requires checking
[BL, Add. MS. XX, XXX, f. 70]
[f.70]
S:r George Oxinden
Hono:d S:r [XXXXXXX] yo: r departure have not had any from you nor doo I expect them untill y:e arrivall of y:e next Surr:tt Shipps, w:ch hope will acquainte mee w:th y:r safe comeing & settlin there y:e w:ch newes would bee very acceptable to y:e east India Comp:a w:th whome you now Stand in a very good esteeme, & theyare in great expectation to heare you had seized & taken strict acco:t of yo:r prdicessor Andrewes[4] against whome y:e Complaints dayly increase; & are nowise lessened by his sending home y:we truro w:th so pittefull & poore á cargazone; The Surr:tt trade for severall yeares past (through his dishonesty & projects) hath proved a bottomlesse bagge into w:ch they have put greate somes but rcvd small returnes but I will nott inlarge upon y:e discontented subject hopeing yo:r quiate settlem:t will soone expell those Black Cloudes.
My small concernem:t of 500:ll comitted to yo:r care at yo:r departure if bee not retourned by y:e shipping comeing home y:s yeare pray faile not to send y:e same p y:e next shipp & for yo:r Goverm:t therein may note y:t good & cleane Dyamonds well bought and likely to tourne as good acco:t as any thing, but small stones are not soo well requested however if y:t may not bee had on good Tearmes leave it to yo:r discresion to doo for mee as would for yo:r selfe whome I betake to y:e Almighties ptection & remaine.
S:r
Yo:r truely affectionate
ffreind & humble servant
Sam:l Barnardiston
London y:e 31:th March 1663.
Notes
Sir John Morden & Sir Samuel Barnardiston
"On the 31st May 1662, in his 39th year, Sir John married by special licence Susan, daughter of Joseph Brand of Edwardstone in Suffolk. Of his circumstances at this date we have no knowledge, but it seems probable that his marriage, if it was not the outcome of his business relationships, was the means of assisting his commercial career. His brother-in-law, Sir Samuel Barnardiston, Bart., the future deputy Governor of the East India Company, who married Lady Morden's eldest sister Thomasin, came of a family engaged in the Levant trade, and was residing at Smyrna in 1649 as agent for the Turkey Company. Several members of the Brand and Barnardiston families intermarried, and they both came from Suffolk, whence also came Sir John's father and grandfather. Members of both families come into prominence in the history of the administration of Morden College.
At the time of his marriage Sir John is stated to be of the parish of St. Martin Outwich, and he seems to have retained the same business premises during his lifetime. In the Little London Directory of 1677 (fn. 7) occurs the name of John Morden, merchant, Bishopsgate Street, and in his will Sir John Morden left £3 to the poor of the parish of St. Martin Outwich. (fn. 8) The actual position of the premises occupied by him has not yet been discovered, but those of Sir Samuel Barnardiston are shown on Ogilby and Morgan's well-known map of London, published in 1677. (fn. 9) Sir Samuel's house was in Bishopsgate Street Within, near Cornhill, and abutted, at the rear, upon Merchant Taylors' Hall, being reached by a passage between two of the houses or shops that occupied the street frontage. It is possible that Sir John at one time had his counting house in part of his friend's building; but he must subsequently have owned or taken on lease other premises which may have combined residence and business premises, for in his private account books for later years occur receipts of rent from Sir Thomas Rolt for "ye chamber" and from John Wynde for "ye warehouses."
At what date Sir John Morden became a member of the Turkey Company, of which he was at one time a director, has not as yet been ascertained. He was later a member of the East India Company, in whose books his name has been found, from 1667 to 1696, and held the position of a "Committee," i.e., one of the Company's 24 directors, in the years 1667–70, 1672, 1674–77, and 1679–82. (fn. 11) Strype, in his edition of Stow's "Survey of London," (fn. 12) states that Sir John brought with him a fair estate from Aleppo, but although there is ample evidence in his business accounts, of trading voyages carried out on his behalf to Surat, Cadiz, and other places, and also of his ownership of vessels engaged in foreign trade, we do not know that he actually left England himself."[5]
Possible primary sources
- ↑ T. Frank Green, Survey of London Monograph 10: Morden College, Blackheath (London, 1916), p. 27
- ↑ 'Hearth Tax: City of London 1666: St Helen Bishopsgate ', London Hearth Tax: City of London and Middlesex, 1666 (2011). URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=118780 Date accessed: 21 January 2012
- ↑ 'Hackney...Growe and Well Streete: Nathaniell Barnardistone 12 hearths' ('Hearth Tax: Middlesex 1666: Hackney ', London Hearth Tax: City of London and Middlesex, 1666 (2011). URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=118820 Date accessed: 24 January 2012)
- ↑ President Mathew Andrewes was XXX
- ↑ T. Frank Green, Survey of London Monograph 10: Morden College, Blackheath (London, 1916), p. 27
