John Merry

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John Merry
Person John Meery
Title
First name John
Middle name(s)
Last name Merry
Suffix
Spouse of
Widow of
Occupation Leatherseller
Secondary shorebased occupation
Mariner occupation
Associated with ship(s)
Training Not apprentice
Is apprentice of
Was apprentice of
Had apprentice(s)
Citizen Unknown
Literacy Signature
Has opening text
Has signoff text John Merry
Signoff image (Invalid transcription image)
Language skills English language
Has interpreter
Birth street
Birth parish
Birth town
Birth county
Birth province
Birth country
Res street Precinct of Saint Martin Le Grand
Res parish
Res town London
Res county
Res province
Res country England
Birth year 1599
Marriage year
Death year
Probate date
First deposition age
Primary sources
Act book start page(s)
Personal answer start page(s)
Allegation start page(s)
Interrogatories page(s)
Deposition start page(s) HCA 13/70 f.61v Annotate, HCA 13/70 f.252v Annotate
Chancery start page(s)
Letter start page(s)
Miscellaneous start page(s)
Act book date(s)
Personal answer date(s)
Allegation date(s)
Interrogatories date(s)
Deposition date(s) Feb 13 1655, Jan 31 1655
How complete is this biography?
Has infobox completed Yes
Has synthesis completed No
Has HCA evidence completed No
Has source comment completed No
Ship classification
Type of ship Shore based trade
Silver Ship litigation in 1650s
Role in Silver Ship litigation None


Biographical synthesis

John Merry (b.ca.1599; d.?1684). Citizen of London and leatherseller.

Possibly resident in 1655 in the parish of Saint Ann Aldersgate.[1] An inhabitant listed as "Merrey" appears in the list of Inhabitants of London in 1638 for St. Ann, Aldersgate, with a rental value of £14.[2]

In his deposition of February 13th 1655 John Merry is stated to live in the precinct of Saint Martin le Grand.[3]

At the time of his deposition in 1655 he was a "labourer to the office of the Ordnance in the Tower of London."[4]

It is just possible that the will of John Merry, "leatherseller of London", proven on December 2nd 1684, is for the subject of this biography, though the implied age of eighty four or eighty-five is at the very top end of plausible longevity.[5]

Evidence from High Court of Admiralty

John Merry, a fifty-six year old leatherseller, but working as a labourer at the Office of the Ordnance in the Tower of London", deposed in the High Court of Admiralty on February 13th 1655.[6] He was examined upon an allegation made in the Admiralty Court on February 7th 1655 in the case of "Pope Burges and Houghton against Orton."[7]

A deposition had been made by John Merry two weeks earlier, on January 31st 1655, but the deposition is crossed out in the bound volume of Admiralty Court depositions. In that invalid deposition John Merry gives his residence as "Saint Anns Aldersgate" and his age as fifty-five. He is consistent in describing himself as a citizen and leatherseller.[8]

Comment on sources

PROB 11/378/257 Will of John Merry, Leatherseller of London 02 December 1684
  1. HCA 13/70 f.252v
  2. MS. p. 62., in T C Dale, 'Inhabitants of London in 1638: St. Ann, Aldersgate', in The Inhabitants of London in 1638 (London, 1931), pp. 30-31. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/london-inhabitants/1638/pp30-31, viewed 24/10/2016].
  3. HCA 13/70 f.61v
  4. HCA 13/70 f.61v
  5. PROB 11/378/257 Will of John Merry, Leatherseller of London 02 December 1684
  6. HCA 13/70 f.61v
  7. HCA 13/70 f.61r
  8. HCA 13/70 f.252v