Sir Thomas Myddelton, Lord Mayor of London, MP

Family and Education

b. c.1556, 4th s. of Richard Myddelton† (d.1577/8) of Galch Hill, nr. Denbigh, Denb. and Jane da. of Hugh Dryhurst, alderman of Denbigh; bro. of Hugh* and Robert*. educ. appr. Grocer, London to 1582; factor, Flushing 1578, Antwerp 1583. m. (1) 18 Feb. 1584 (with £400), Hester (bur. 21 July 1586), da. of Sir Richard Saltonstall†, Skinner and alderman of London and South Ockendon, Essex, 2s. (1 d.v.p.); (2) by 25 Mar. 1588 (with £400), Elizabeth, wid. of John Olmstead of Ingatestone, Essex, 2s. (1 d.v.p.) 2da. (1 d.v.p.); (3) 1604 (with at least £3,200) Elizabeth (d.1619/20), da. of Richard Brooke, Goldsmith of London, wid. of Richard Thorpe (d.1591), Vintner of London and Miles Hobart (d.1604), Clothworker of London, s.p.; (4) Anna, da. of one Vanaker of Antwerp, wid. of Jacob Wittewronge, Brewer of London, s.p. suc. bro. Richard by 1586; kntd. 24/26 July 1603. d. 12 Aug. 1631. sig. Thomas Myddelton.

Biography

History of Parliament Online

Links

wikipedia.org

GEDCOM Note

Life Sketch

Sir Thomas Myddelton (1550 – 12 August 1631) was the fourth son of Richard Myddelton, Governor of Denbigh, and Jane Dryhurst. As a youth, he was apprenticed to a grocer in London, and made his fortune in trade. He divided his time between London and Wales, and purchased Chirk Castle in 1595 for £5,000. He was a member of the Grocers' Company, a Member of Parliament for the City of London and a founder member of the East India Company, Sheriff of London in 1604 and Lord Mayor of London in 1613. His brother, Sir Hugh Myddleton, was instrumental in the creation of the New River which supplied London with fresh water from 1613.

He married four times. By his first wife Hester, a daughter of Sir Richard Saltonstall, he was the father of Thomas Myddelton of Chirk Castle. His younger son, Timothy, inherited his estates in Essex. By his third marriage he gained a stepson, Miles Hobart.

Along with Rowland Heylyn, Myddelton financed the publication of a Welsh language Bible suitable for everyday use.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Myddelton_(Lord_Mayor_of_London)

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Sir Thomas Myddelton was born in 1550 at Denbighshire, Wales. He was the son of Richard Myddelton and Jane Dryhurst. He married, firstly, Hester Saltonstall, daughter of Sir Richard Saltonstall, circa 1586. He married, secondly, Elizabeth (?) circa 1590. He married, thirdly, Elizabeth Brooke, daughter of Richard Brooke. He married, fourthly, Anna Vanaker, daughter of Garrard Vanaker. He died on 12 August 1631. He was also known as Thomas Middleton. He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Merionethshire from 1597 to 1598. He held the office of Lord-Lieutenant of Merionethshire in 1599. He was appointed Knight in 1603. He held the office of Lord Mayor of London in 1613. He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for London between 1624 and 1626.

Children of Sir Thomas Myddelton and Hester Saltonstall

• 1. Richard Myddelton
• 2. General Sir Thomas Myddelton b. 1586, d. 1666

Children of Sir Thomas Myddelton and Elizabeth (?)

• 3. Henry Myddelton
• 4. Timothy Myddelton
• 5. Hester Myddelton
• 6. Mary Myddelton

http://www.thepeerage.com/p70150.htm#i701496

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Sir THOMAS MYDDELTON (1550 - 1631), entrepreneur. The fourth son of the above Richard Myddelton. Apprenticed to a London grocer, he became a freeman of the Grocers’ Company (1582), surveyor of the outports (c. 1580), and from c. 1595 was constantly employed on such public business as the valuation of prize cargoes, the raising of emergency military and naval supplies by means of his extensive credit, and expert advice on currency problems. The scope of his private transactions, and his deep underlying piety, come out clearly in his ledger for 1583-1603 (N.L.W., Chirk castle MSS.). He was an original shareholder in the East India Company, a partner in the chief buccaneering expeditions of the reign, and under James I in the New River enterprise of his brother Hugh (below) and in the Virginia Company, and a universal banker and moneylender, often in association with James I's Welsh goldsmith John Williams. He remained in close touch with Wales, interceding on behalf of his fellow-burgesses of Denbigh against the ‘encroachments’ of the Salusbury's of Lleweni in 1593, arbitrating in other local disputes in 1595, serving Merionethshire (where he had property) in parliament in 1597 and as lord lieutenant in 1599, and advising the government on the choice of sheriffs there in 1602 (Hist. MSS. Comm., Cecil, iv, 375-6, v. 379, xii, 482-3). He farmed his Denbighshire lands in association with Lincolnshire properties, and drew on them for supplies for Ireland during a crisis of Bagnall's campaign (1595); he advanced money (on mortgage or unsecured) to many of his neighbours in North Wales and to Welshmen of the South and in London, thereby often playing a decisive part in the evolution of the county families (N.L.W., Journal, i, 85-6; N.L.W., Plymouth deeds 822, 913-14, 916; U.C.N.W., Nannau-Hengwrt MSS. 189, 207, 229, 240, 273, 287, 339-40, 357; Cal. Wynn Papers, 1017; Cal. Clenennau Letters and Papers, letter 293, 453). He bought in 1595 (from lord St. John of Bletsloe) the castle and lordship of Chirk [for about £5,000], and in 1628-9 the Crown lordship of Arwystli and Cyfeiliog, which he later resold. [He was accused of extensive felling of timber and other depredations and extortions in the lordship of Chirk and encountered much local opposition as a ‘usurer’ stepping into a former Crown lordship.] After 1603, when (after long evading civic office) he was made alderman and sheriff of London (21 June) and a knight (26 July), his interests became more exclusively centred in the metropolitan area; he became lord mayor in 1613, acquired in 1615 an Essex manor as a country seat nearer than Chirk to his place of business in Tower Street, and other properties in the home counties in 1623, and represented the city in the three parliaments of 1624-6. Yet at the very end of his life he co-operated with Rowland Heylyn in financing the publication of the first portable Welsh Bible and other Welsh devotional works (1630). He died on 12 August 1631, leaving his Welsh estates to his eldest surviving son Thomas Myddelton and those in Essex to a younger son, TIMOTHY MYDDELTON, founder of another wealthy stock which played a considerable part in the public life of Essex. His strong Puritanism did not prevent him from sheltering and befriending his Roman Catholic brother WILLIAM MYDDELTON (sometimes confused with his cousin and namesake the bard WILLIAM MIDLETON ), who had settled in Flanders, with a Flemish wife, and become an associate of Hugh Owen of Plas-du, the Catholic conspirator. Another brother, ROBERT MYDDELTON, a city glover, was as Member of Parliament for Weymouth, an outspoken critic of commerical policy in James I's parliaments, but beyond the freemanship of Denbigh (1615) took no part in Welsh affairs, nor did his nephew RICHARD MYDDELTON, a fellow- freeman of the Grocers’ Company and adventurer in the New River Company, who traded in skins in the Levant, served as consul under the Levant Company (c. 1651-3) [and traded in Welsh cloth in Portugal, Leghorn, and the Canaries c. 1622 (T. Mendenhall, Shrewsbury, Drapers and the Welsh Wool Trade, 1953, 64)]. Another nephew (possibly the one who endowed a ‘lectureship’ at Haverfordwest — see under Dolben) fell into the hands of the Spaniards on Drake's last voyage (1595-6).

Dictionary of Welsh Biography https://biography.wales/article/s-MYDD-ELT-1207

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A founder member of the East India Company, and a benefactor of the lucrative expeditions by Drake, Raleigh and Hawkins. His wealth enabled him to buy the castle and lordship of Chirk for £5,000 from St John of Bletsloe in 1595. Sir Thomas had been apprenticed to a London grocer, and became a freeman of Grocers' Company in 1582, surveyor of the outports c.1580 and by 1595 was employed on public business such as the valuing prize cargoes, raising emergency military and naval supplies, and giving advice on currency problems. Sir Thomas was MP for Merionethshire 1597 and lord lieutenant 1599, lord mayor of London 1613, and MP for the city of London 1624-1626. In 1615 he acquired an Essex manor as a country seat nearer to his place of business in Tower Street, and also bought other properties in the Home counties. In 1628-1629 he purchased the crown lordship of Arwystli and Cyfeiliog, which he later resold.

https://archives.library.wales/index.php/chirk-castle-estate-records