MRP: 1st March 1662/63, Letter from John Jacobs to Sir GO, London

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1st March 1662/63, Letter from John Jacobs to Sir GO, London

BL, Add. MS. XX,XXXX, f. 34

Editorial history

04/06/09, CSG: Completed transcription
15/12/11, CSG: Created page & posted transcription to wiki






Abstract & context


John Jacobs wrote to Sir George Oxenden on March 1st 1662/63 from London.

In his letter, John Jacobs mourned the death of his son, Francis Jacobs, but congratulated Sir George Oxenden on his safe arrival in Surat.

The letter also indicates that Mr. (John) Goodyer travelled out to Surat at the same time as Sir George Oxenden. John Goodyer (alias Goodyeare) had been in the East Indies since at least 1651, when he was confirmed in Persia as the number four with John (later Sir John) Lewis as the number two.[1]

The letter writer was probably Sir John Jacobs (b. ca. 1597, d. 1666), London customs farmer, who, together with Dr Richard Ball, had asked the Court of the EEIC to confirm their sons' entertainment at Surat before the departure of the ships.[2]

John Jacobs was knighted in 1633, and created a baronet on January 11th, 1665.[3] Burke's Baronetcies confirms that Sir John Jacob had a son, Francis, who died without issue. Francis was his second son by his second wife Alice Clowes, daughter of Thomas Clowes.[4]

Francis Jacobs may have been in Surat prior to Sir George Oxenden's arrival. Dr Richard Ball, the father of the above mentioned Richard Ball, stated in a letter to Sir George Oxenden dated March 16th, 1662/63 and sent from Ely House, that his son has been in Surat for some years:

My Suite unto you is for my Sonn: to yo:r care he had y:e happiness to be comitted Seaven yeares Since, he was then A Child: A man, I heare he is now, in his Body, I hope Alsoe in his Braine: At least yo:r encouradgement will make him Soo, I am flatterd if he doth not doo well, A line or two from yo:r Penn will sett me a bove Doubts, as he shall be found to deserve, soe lett him find you his Freind, & for him to know Soe much would highly engage him; The fourth yeare is now begunn, & I have not heard of any Wages he gets Recvdd from y:e Comp:a[5]

Sir George Smith reported Sir John Jacobs' own death three years later in a letter to Sir George Oxenden dated March 14th, 1665/66, sent from London:

S:r Nich:o Crispe[6] and S:r John Jacob died lately Madam Dalyson continues ill the God of heaven restore Her to health[7]

Sir John Jacob purchased an estate in St. Leonard Bromley in 1634, which he retained until his death in 1666. An anonymous pen and wash study exists of the building dated 1692. The study shows an L-shaped building, seven bays wide , with a central archway, and two short wings. The building was three stories high, together with a basement, and had a slate or possibly tiled roof.[8]

The building was assessed in 1666 as having thirty-two hearths. This put it on the same scale as the St John's, Clerkenwell house of George, Lord Berkeley (thirty-two hearths), and the Yorkshire home of Sir John Lewis (thirty-one hearths), both men being correspondents of Sir George Oxenden, the latter having amassed considerable capital in Persia as the English East India Company's Persian agent.[9] Another merchant's house of similar extent was the Edmonton home of John Bathurst, a London merchant engaged in trade with the East Indies and XXXX.[10]

Two further correspondents, both London merchants, had houses in the same parish of St. Leonard Bromley as Sir John Jacobs. However, their homes were significantly smaller: Christopher Boone had a Bromley home of nine hearths and Thomas Tomlins had a Bromley home of thirteen hearths.[11]



Suggested links


See Sir John Jacob will



To do


(1) Check transcription against physical manuscript at BL



View of Sir John Jacobs' residence at Bromley St Leonard


Anon., 'View of Sir John Jacobs' residence at Bromley St Leonard, now at Bromley-by-Bow, Tower Hamlets' (London, 1792)
- Image viewable of Sir John Jacobs residence at City of London Corporation Collage website



Image credits & copyright information


Anon., 'View of Sir John Jacobs' residence at Bromley St Leonard, now at Bromley-by-Bow, Tower Hamlets', in XXXX (London, 1792)
- Pen/wash, paper, longest dimension 20 cm.
- Held at London Metropolitan Archives, cat. no. p.68, p5434944
Pub. in Daniel Lysons' Environs of London, vol.II, pt.i



Transcription


This transcription has been completed, but required checking

[BL, Add. MS. XX,XXXX, f. 34]

Hon:d S:r

Though my Grief e be great for y:e loss of my Poore boy Francis Jacob,[12] yet I cannot but take this Opportunity to Congratulate w:th hopes of yo:r Safe Arrivall at Surr:tt. W:ch I Suppose will be y:e more Acceptable to you because it ?preeds now from my pure Affection w:thout any Interest of Obligation in his Respect I hope M:r Goodjer[13] is Safe & well w:th you, to whome I delivered ffifty Pounds to furnish him if alive towards some little Improvem:t there, but y:t being Frustratd; I hereby Intreat at yo:r Noble ffav:r to take Notice of it, y:t if M:r Goodjer be alive he may please According to my directions att his depture to Invest it in Something of y:t countrey y:t may be usefull here, y:t Since y:e Principall be gonn, I may not neglect y:e Interest in Soe small á matter; I have written to M:r Goodjer to y:e same effect, who if alive I know will fathly follow my orders, but if dead, (w:ch in Such á voyadge is an even lay, I humbly pray yo:r Enquiry; And if theire be any thing here wherein I may Serve you I pray hon:r me w:th yo:r desires w:ch Shalbe as comm:ds to

S:r
Yo:r most humble Serv:t
Jn:o Jacobs



Notes

Sir John Jacobs


"[March 6, 1661] The Court promises to consider the request of Dr. Ball and Sir John Jacobs for their sons at Surat to be confirmed in their respective entertainments before the departure of the ships"[14]

"[March 27, 1661] Messrs. Bolle [Ball?], Jacob, and Bernard, lately entertained as factors, to be each allowed a salary of 20/. a year."[15]

"[December 11, 1663] Spice to be presented to Sir John Wolstenholme, Sir John Harrison, Sir Nicholas Crispe, Sir John Jacob, and Sir John Shaw, Farmers of the Customs ; also to Messrs. Dawes, Rumbolt, Turner, Seamer, and Kenniston, officers of the Custom-house."[16]



Sir John Jacob, 1st Baronet, Wikipedia


"Sir John Jacob, 1st Baronet (c1597-1666) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1640 and 1641. He supported the Royalist side in the English Civil War.

Jacob was the son of Abraham Jacob of Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire and his wife Mary Rogers daughter of Francis Rogers of Dartford.[1] He matriculated at Merton College, Oxford on 17 January 1617, aged 19 and was awarded BA on 6 February 1617. He became a farmer of customs in the Port of London .[2] He was knighted on 8 May 1633 and in 1634 purchased an estate at Bromley St Leonards.[3]

In April 1640, Jacob was elected Member of Parliament for Harwich in the Short Parliament. He was elected MP for Rye for the Long Parliament in November 1640.[4] However he was expelled in 1641 as a tobacco monopolist. He supported the Royalist cause and his lands were sequestered.[1]

On the restoration he regained his office and was created a baronet of Bromley in the County of Middlesex on 11 January 1665.[2]

Jacob died in 1666 at the age of 62. He built almshouses at Gaminglay and left money to the parish to support them.[1]

Jacob married firstly Elizabeth Halliday, daughter of John Halliday and had two sons who died before him and a daughter Susanna who married Sir Richard WIngfield Bt. He married secondly Alice Eaglesfield, widow of John Eaglesfield of London and daughter of Thomas Clowes of London and their son John succeeded in the baronetcy. He married thirdly Elizabeth Ashburnham, daughter of Sir John Ashburnham.[1]"[17]



John Goodyer, 1650, 1661, 1670-73, 1674-76


"[February 25, 1650] In Persia: George Tash, John Lewis, Thomas Best, and John Goodyeare."[18]

"[December 18, 1661] The following men are entertained for Surat: John Spiller at 100/. a year to go as second to the President ; John Goodyear at 100 marks a year ; Gerard Aungeir, Charles Smeaton and Strensham Maisters, ' now at Suratt ', at 30/. each a year; Caesar Chamberlen, John Pettit, Charles Bendish, and Richard Francis at 25/. a year ; William Jones, William Blackman, Henry Chune, and Henry Oxinden at 20/. a year."[19]

"[March 21, 1662] John Goodyear is given 10/. for fresh provisions, and Thomas Thomlings is accepted in 1,000/. as his security"[20]

Note: John Goodier, together with Captain Henry Young and Streynsham Master, were sent by Sir George Oxenden to Bombay to take control of the settlement from Sir Gervase Lucas, in accordance with the King's warrant. They reached Bombay on the Constantinople Merchant.

John Goodier returned to England in ?167X, and was elected a committee of the EEIC in ?1674.

"John Goodier, a London merchant, and Theophilus Childe, a London haberdasher, are accepted as security in 500/. for Jeremy Goodier, writer."[21]

"A report concerning the salary of John Goodier is read, and the Surat Committee desired to consider the several capacities in which he has served, and certify how long he acted in each, also to examine the errors and mistakes in the Surat books of accounts drawn up by the XXXX"[22]

"[January 7, 1675] Requesting that, as he is able to speak particularly about the Company's demands on Sir George Oxenden now under the consideration XXXX"[23]

"The account of John Goodier to be examined in order to ascertain whether his covenants and security may be given up as desired."[24]

"17 Oct [?YEAR] John Goodier to Sir James Edwards, 1,000/."[25]

"John Child was the son of a Theophilus Child who was a clerk of the stock market in London. His mother had been a Miss Goodier. John Goodier, a former member of the Surat XXXX"[26]

"John Goodier, after retirement, returned to England and was elected to one of the Committees, from which position he must have looked after John Child's interests in India. But it was to Josiah Child that John really owed his rise and power rather than to his uncle. XXXX"[27]



Sir John Child, 1st Bt., son of Theophilus Child & Francis Goodyear


"Sir John Child, 1st Bt. was the son of Theophilus Child and Francis Goodyear.1 He married Susanna Shackstone, daughter of John Shackstone, before 1678 at India.1 He died circa 1690, on board ship near Bombay. His will (dated 25 January 1689/90) was probated on 25 February 1700/1, with a fortune of £100,000. He was an East India merchant.1 He was president of the Council at Surat. He was created 1st Baronet Child, of the City of London [England] on 4 February 1684/85.[28]

- The same above source states that Theophilus Child was the son of John Child and Margaret Reade, and lived at Newton, Northamptonshire. He was living on Jan. 1689/90

- The same above source states that John Goodyear (sic) (the later Deputy Governor of Bombay) was the son of Francis Goodyear of Herefordshire. She supposedly had two children: Francis Goodyear, who married Theophilus Child, and the above mentioned John Goodyear[29]



Possible primary sources

TNA


PROB 4/9632 Jacob, John, Sir, Kt. & Bt., of St. Leonard, Bromley, Middx. 1669 29 Mar.

PROB 11/320 Mico 47-91 Will of Sir John Jacob of Bromley, Middlesex 02 April 1666
PROB 11/441 Pyne 219-266 Will of John Goodeere, Merchant of Barking, Essex 14 December 1697
PROB 11/451 Pott 68-128 Will of Sir Josiah Child of Wanstead, Essex 06 July 1699, pp. 26
PROB 11/459 Dyer 1-45 Will of Sir John Child, General for the East India Company's Affairs in India and now on board the Ship New Blessing in Bombay Road 25 February 1701
- Written on 25 January 1689/90, died 1690, but only proved Feb 1701. His father, Theophilus Child, was aged, but alive, at time of writing the will



Possible secondary sources


Grace Goodyear Kirkman, Genealogy of the Goodyear family (San Francisco, 1899)
  1. 'A Court of Committees for the Fourth Joint Stock, February 25, 1650' (Court Book, vol. xx, p. 494), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1650-1654 (Oxford, 1913), p. 24
  2. 'A Court of Committees, March 6, 1661 (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 349), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), p. 97
  3. This is the footnote text
  4. 'Jacob, of Bromley', "He m. first, Elizabeth, daughter of John, grandson of Sir Leonard Halliday, knt. lord mayor of London, and by her had two sons, Abraham and Henry, who both died before him issueless, and a daughter, Susanna, the wife of Sir Richard Wingfield, bart. of Letheringham, in Suffolk. Sir John m. secondly, Alice, daughter of Thomas Clowes, of London, and relicit of John Eaglesfield, also of London, merchant, by whom he had: John, his heir; Francis, d.s.p.; Robert, killed in Scotland, d.s.p.; Alice, m. to Henry West, esq. of Wooham Court, in Sussex; Mary, m. to Walter, son and heir of Sir Arnold Beams, knt. of Bridge Court, in Kent; Helen, m. to John, son of Sir John Hebdon. He wedded. thirdly, Elizabeth, eldest daughter and co-heir of Sir John Ashburnham, knt. by whom he had a daughter, Margaret, m. to (N/A) Muschamp, esq. of Row Barnes, in Surrey." (John Burke, John Bernard Burke, A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies of England (London, 1838), p. 279, viewed 16/02/12
  5. 16th March 1662/63, Letter from Richard Ball to Sir GO, Holborn
  6. In his entry for 'Jacob, of Bromley', Burke's Baronetcies writes: "Lloyd, in his memoirs of eminent persons who suffered for their allegiance, thus mentions him: 'We must not separate Sir Nicholas Crisp from the worshipful Sir John Jacob, his partner, both in the farming of the Custom House, and his sufferings" (John Burke, John Bernard Burke, A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies of England (London, 1838), p. 279
  7. 14th March 1665/66, Letter from George Smith to SirGO, London
  8. Anon., 'View of Sir John Jacobs' residence at Bromley St Leonard, now at Bromley-by-Bow, Tower Hamlets' (London, 1792), viewed 16/02/12
  9. See Hearth Tax; 'St. James, Clerkenwell...Lord Barckley 32 hearths', 'Hearth Tax: Middlesex 1666: Clerkenwell (1 of 2)', London Hearth Tax: City of London and Middlesex, 1666 (2011), viewed 22 January 2012; David Hey, 'Introduction: the West Riding in the Late Seventeenth century', p. 26, viewed 24/01/24
  10. 'Edmundton...Jno. Bathurst Esqr. 31 hearths', 'Hearth Tax: Middlesex 1666: Edmonton ', London Hearth Tax: City of London and Middlesex, 1666 (2011), viewed 06 February 2012
  11. 'Hearth Tax: Middlesex 1666: Bromley ', London Hearth Tax: City of London and Middlesex, 1666 (2011), viewed25 January 2012; See also Hearth Tax
  12. Francis Jacob, son of John Jacobs, was XXXX. See Missing faces
  13. John Goodyer was entertained as a factor in Surat in February 1662, and went out to Surat in XXXX
  14. 'A Court of Committees, March 6, 1661 (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 349), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), p. 97
  15. 'A Court of Committees, March 27, 1661' (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 359), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), p. 104
  16. 'A Court of Committees, December 11, 1663 (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 712), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), p. 366
  17. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_John_Jacob,_1st_Baronet, viewed 22/01/12; Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details.
  18. 'A Court of Committees for the Fourth Joint Stock, February 25, 1650' (Court Book, vol. xx, p. 494), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1650-1654 (Oxford, 1913), p. 24
  19. 'A Court of Committees, December 18, 1661' (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 439), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), pp. 167-168
  20. 'A Court of Committees, March 21, 1662' (Court Book, vol. xxiv, p. 473), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A Calendar of the Court Minutes of the East India Company, 1660-1663 (Oxford, 1922), p. 192
  21. 'XXXX', in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A calendar of the court minutes etc., of the East India company, 1671-1673 (Oxford, 1932), p. 3
  22. 'XXXX', in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A calendar of the court minutes etc., of the East India company, 1671-1673 (Oxford, 1932), p. 19
  23. 'Peter Cozens to John Goodier, January 7, 1675' (Home Miscellaneous, vol. xxxvi., p. 47), in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A calendar of the court minutes etc., of the East India company, 1674-1676 (Oxford, 1935), p. 136
  24. 'XXXX', in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A calendar of the court minutes etc., of the East India company, 1674-1676 (Oxford, 1935), p. 184
  25. 'XXXX', in Ethel Bruce Sainsbury (ed.), A calendar of the court minutes etc., of the East India company, 1674-1676 (Oxford, 1935), p. 401
  26. M. D. David, History of Bombay, 1661-1708 (Bombay, 1973), p. 152
  27. M. D. David, History of Bombay, 1661-1708 (Bombay, 1973), p. 153
  28. George Edward Cokayne (ed.), The Complete Baronetage, 5 vols., (XXXX, XXXX), vol. 4, pp. 135-136, cited at 'Sir John Child, 1st Bt.', http://thepeerage.com/p21906.htm, viewed 10/02/12
  29. George Edward Cokayne (ed.), The Complete Baronetage, 5 vols., (XXXX, XXXX), vol. 4, p. 135, citing 'Francis Goodyear', at http://thepeerage.com/p21907.htm#i219061, 10/02/12