Abbot, Sir Maurice (1565–1642), merchant and politician, was born on 2 November 1565 and baptized three days later at Holy Trinity Church, Guildford, the fifth of the six sons of Maurice Abbot (1519/20–1606), a merchant, and his wife, Alice Marsh or March (1525/6–1606)...
Article
Gary S. De Krey
Abney, Sir Thomas (1639/40–1722), merchant and mayor of London, was born at Willesley, Derbyshire, the youngest of four sons of James Abney, landowner, and Jane Mainwaring (d. after 1640). The Abney family had owned land at Willesley for several centuries, and James Abney...
Article
Adair, James (fl. 1736–1775), trader and author in America, was probably born in Ireland but his place of birth and parentage have been the subject of much conjecture. He lived most of his life in the upcountry South, above the fall line in what was to become ...
Article
Agnew, Patrick Alexander Vans (1822–1848), East India Company servant, was born at Raipur in Chhattisgarh in central India on 21 April 1822, the second son of Patrick Vans Agnew (1783–1842), lieutenant-colonel in the Madras army and afterwards a director of the East India Company...
Article
Anita McConnell
Alcock, Thomas (d. 1564), merchant, was one of ten apprentices who had spent their early years in England before being sent to Russia by the Muscovy Company in 1557. At this time Russia's western neighbours were anxious to prevent the Muscovy Company exporting armaments to ...
Image
Thomas Aldersey (1521/22–1598) by Robert Peake the elder, 1588 © Chester City Council (Grosvenor Museum)
Article
R. C. D. Baldwin
Aldersey, Thomas (1521/2–1598), merchant, was born at Bunbury, near Spurstow in Cheshire, the second of five sons of John Aldersey (c.1494–1554), landowner, and Anne Bird of Colton near Chester. After an education in Bunbury, probably at Chantry House, Aldersey's apprenticeship began in ...
Article
R. C. D. Baldwin
Aldersey, William (1543–1616), merchant and antiquary, was baptized at St Oswald's, Chester, on 15 December 1543, the son of Ralph Aldersey (d. 1555) and Jane Goodman (d. c.1555). He followed in his father's footsteps as a successful merchant ironmonger. He married ...
Article
Iain S. Black
Ames, Jeremiah (1706–1776), banker and merchant, was born on 20 July 1706 at Evercreech, near Shepton Mallet, Somerset, one of eight children of Levi Ames (d. 1726), grocer, and his first wife, Hannah (d. 1711), daughter of John Watts of Doulting, Somerset...
Article
Somendra C. Nandy
Amir Chand [Omichund, Umichund] (d. 1758), merchant, was a major trading partner of the British in Bengal and deeply involved in the events that gave them political power there. Very little is known about his origins. He appears to have been a ...
Article
Anderson, David (1751–1825), East India Company servant, was born in Edinburgh on 10 February 1751, the second of the eight children of David Anderson (1707–1786), writer to the signet, and his wife, Mary (d. 1781), daughter of John Mitchelson of Middleton, Edinburghshire...
Article
Katherine Prior
Anderson, Sir George William (1791–1857), East India Company servant and colonial governor, was born in London, the son of Robert Anderson, a London merchant. He was educated at the East India College, Haileybury, and joined the Bombay establishment of the East India Company...
Article
Anderson, John (1795–1845), East India Company servant and author, was born in Scotland. In 1813 he obtained a writership in the East India Company's service at the small settlement of Penang (Prince of Wales Island) off the west coast of the Malay peninsula...
Article
John Orbell
Anderson, Sir John (1852–1924), merchant, was born at Rothesay, Scotland, in March 1852, the eldest of two sons and three daughters of John Anderson (1793–1875), sea captain, and his second wife, Janet Halley, schoolteacher and a daughter of a Glasgow shopkeeper. In 1855 ...
Article
Thompson Cooper
revised by Anne Pimlott Baker
Anderson, John (1747–1820), merchant and stagecoach operator, was born in western Scotland in very humble circumstances, the son of David Anderson, of Portland. He moved to Glasgow, and after making £500 through dealing in herring he moved to Cork, in 1780, and became an export merchant....
Article
Anes, Dunstan [formerly Gonsalvo Anes; alias Gonzalo Jorge] (c. 1520–1594), merchant, was born in Portugal as Gonsalvo, the second son of a merchant, Jorge Anes (d. in or before 1540), and his wife, Elizabeth Rodrigues (b. 1481, d. after 1568)...
Article
Argall, Sir Samuel (bap. 1580, d. 1626), colonial governor and merchant, was baptized on 4 December 1580 at Holy Trinity, East Peckham, Kent, the fourth son of Richard Argall (c.1533–1588), politician, and his third wife, Mary Scott (d. 1598). Under his father's will ...
Article
See Armstrong, William George, Baron Armstrong
Article
Peter C. Herman
Arnold, Richard (d. c. 1521), merchant and chronicler, was a citizen of London, resident in the parish of St Magnus the Martyr, who seems to have made his living primarily by trading with Flanders. Nothing is known of his parentage. In 1473 he was an executor of the will of ...
