Stephen Slaney Explained

Sir Stephen Slaney (1524 - 1608) was an English merchant, four times Master of the Worshipful Company of Skinners, and Alderman, Sheriff and Lord Mayor of London. He has been called "one of the most picturesque of the Elizabethan Merchant Adventurers".

Career

Stephen Slaney was the son of John Slaney of Mitton (in Penkridge, in Staffordshire)[1] and the grandson of Ralph Slaney of Yardley in Worcestershire.[2] He is said to have been the younger brother of John Slaney of Shifnal, Shropshire,[1] and also had brothers William (who died before 1598) and Henry (living 1598). He was married on 22 January 1559/60 at St Mildred, Poultry[3] to Margaret, daughter of Jasper Pheasant (Fesaunt), magistrate, of Tottenham, Middlesex, and his wife Margaret, daughter of George Henyngham of Tottenham (died 1537),[4] [5] [6] so establishing his kinship with puritan interests among the City's ruling group.[7] Stephen embarked upon London mercantile life as a freeman and officer of the Worshipful Company of Skinners.

In April 1566 Stephen and the merchant Francis Barnham (died 1575) acted as feoffees for Sir Thomas Wentworth in the alienation, for Wentworth's uses, of the manors of Chatham, Rochester, Horsted and others in Kent.[8] 1568 he assisted Wolstan Dixie in the purchase, for Dixie's heirs, from Sir Thomas Wentworth and his wife the manors of Staynton (held of the Crown in chief) and Awkborough (North Lincolnshire), and lands there, together with free fishery in the waters of the River Humber by fine in the Common Pleas: for this a pardon of alienation had to be obtained in March 1569.[9] He became a substantial figure in the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London, and was among those named in Elizabeth's commission of 1572 to empower the sale, for the recovery of debts, of the ships and merchandize of the subjects of the Catholic King arrested since 1568/69.[10] In around 1575 he was informed against for having imposed a usurious mortgage, and was fined £7,800, part of which was payable to the Queen. For that part, amounting to £3,900, he received a pardon through the intervention of influential associates.[11]

Slaney engaged in Mediterranean trade as what was afterwards called a Turkey merchant, and it is said that on one occasion he was captured by the Turks and had to give up his entire fortune (or at least Norton in Chebsey, in Staffordshire) as a ransom.[12] [13] He served as Auditor to the City in 1576-1578 and again in 1581-1583. He first became master of his company (Skinners) in 1585. His first term as alderman was for Portsoken Ward, in 1584-1586, and he was chosen Sheriff of the City of London, with Henry Billingsley, for 1584-85. Anthony Mundy addressed to them, and to the Lord Mayor Thomas Pullyson, his address warning of traitors within.[14] In 1585 the Merchant Adventurers appointed Slaney to a committee in 1585 to confer with Captain Christopher Carleill "upon a voyage intending to the uttermost parts of America".[13] He then transferred to the Coleman Street Ward in 1586, and was again chosen master of his company in 1587. After being elected master a third time in 1591, he served as Lord Mayor of London for 1595-96.[15]

The Mayoralty, 1595-1596

At the start of his mayoral term, a general overhaul of the forces for the defence of the realm was ordained. Some of the Lords of the Council were appointed to have dealings with the Mayor and Aldermen for the putting of the City's forces in order, their organization into bands to be led by men of judgement and experience, and (if necessary) for their augmentation. Out of the City's general forces, three thousand men were to be chosen to be prepared for defence of the counties of Kent and Sussex from the river Thames, and a fleet of barges was to be kept ready for their conveyance.[16] His correspondence with the Privy Council in September 1595 contains interesting references to the playhouses in London.[17] In December 1595 a survey was taken of all the poor householders in the wards and liberties of the City who were in need of present Relief, and the report was presented to Queen Elizabeth by the Mayor, which showed the number of householders to be 4,132.[18]

In July 1596 a printed ballad was brought to him, complaining of the shortage of corn in the realm. As Slaney wrote to the Lord Treasurer, it contained "certain vain and presumptuous matters, bringing in the Queen, speaking with her people dialoguewise in very fond and undecent sort, and prescribing order for the remedying of this dearth". Although the information came from an official source, the poem was "done in that vain and indiscreet manner" so as to whip up discontent among the poor, and therefore Slaney summoned the printer and publisher, who falsely claimed to have a licence for it. The author was Thomas Deloney, "an idle fellow", who had also written a similarly disorderly pamphlet for the Silk-weavers, but the Mayor was unable to find or arrest him. Over the following months four more libellous pamphlets were found which were being dispersed seditiously in the City, and these he also forwarded to the Lord Treasurer. The City magistrates at that time were determined not to permit unworthy or disrespectful speeches against the monarch.[19] [20] [21] Slaney's letter of August 1596 to the Merchant Taylors suggesting they forego their annual feast and apply the money to a charitable purpose received the reply that this had already been done.[22]

Slaney transferred his aldermanry once more, this time to the Broad Street Ward from 1596 until his death in 1608. His fourth term as master of his company was in 1598.[23] In that year Sir Stephen Slaney, his son Jasper Slaney, and kinsman John Slaney of London, appear as partners, and Humphrey Slaney, a merchant resident at Middelburg, as factor or dealer there for Jasper Slaney. They have been engaged in shipping corn and rye from Zeeland on behalf of Thomas Offley (jnr), citizen and leather seller of London, who brings a suit for detention, accusing John and Jasper of collusion against him. By the close of this hearing in 1598, which was found for the plaintiff, Humphrey Slaney has become Administrator of Jasper Slaney's affairs.[24] [25] Sir Stephen was subsequently President of the Bethlem and Bridewell in 1599-1600, President of Christ's Hospital 1602-08, and Surveyor-General of Hospitals 1604-08.[23]

Death and legacy

Stephen died on 27 December 1608, aged 84, and was buried in a vault beneath the church of St Swithin, London Stone, Walbrook Ward, where his memorial inscription "on a fair tomb in the east end of the north aisle" was recorded by Anthony Mundy.[26] [27] (The church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, 1666, and rebuilt by Wren, but finally demolished in 1954.) His will (written in 1598) left £6 for 12 sermons in St Swithin's church, and was proved in 1609.[28] As befitted a Lord Mayor, he made large charitable bequests, including £100 to the poor children of Christ's Hospital, 100 marks to freeing of prisoners from the Counters of Wood Street and the Poultry, £6.13s.04d to the poor of St Thomas' Hospital, and the same to St Bartholomew's Hospital and the Bridewell, £5 for poor prisoners in the King's Bench and the same to the Marshalsea, £10 to the poor of Coleman Street, £5 to the poor of Portsoken Ward and £5 to the poor of St Swithin's parish. The Skinners were to have 72 poor men's cloaks for distribution, and £15 to hold his funeral dinner.

The will also mentioned Chebsey (£10 to the poor), Stone (£10 to the poor), Penkridge (£40 to poor maidens' marriages), Stafford (£10 to the poor) and Lichfield (£20 to the poor), in Staffordshire. There were bequests to his daughters and sons in law. His widow was his executor, and his three sons-in-law his Overseers. The only John Slaney he mentioned was his brother Henry's son: John had children of his own, and a sister (Alice) with children, who was married to Mr Cotton, schoolmaster of Sevenoaks in Kent. John became Stephen's heir male, to whom he left his manor of Forshaw in Warwickshire (formerly settled on his son Stephen's marriage), and also the term of lease of the tenement and its appurtenances where Henry was yet living and was to remain. He gave also £66.13s.04d to be shared among all of Henry's children. Robert Slaney, the son of Stephen's late brother William, received £6.13s.04d.[28] Slaney bore for arms, Gules, a bend between three martlets, or (1595):[20] these appeared, together with those of Dame Margaret, in glass in a window of the church of St Swithin.[29]

Dame Margaret Slaney's CharitiesHis widow Dame Margaret died in 1619 leaving a will of her own (written in 1612), making her sons-in-law Sir Samuel Lennard and Thomas Colepeper, and her "cosens" John and Humphrey Slaney her overseers. By her codicil of 1618, owing to the death of Thomas Colepeper, she augments the inheritance of her Colepeper grandchildren, and provides that her niece Katherine Fesaunt and granddaughter Elizabeth Colepeper shall be cared for by her daughter Mary Weld.[30] She made very substantial charitable bequests.[31] Among them was a gift of £40 to the Worshipful Company of Grocers, so that they should pay £3 a year to the poor of West Wickham in Kent, for their children to be apprenticed to useful trades.[32] At the same time she also made the larger gift to that company, as trustees, of a fund of £2000 as a perpetual stock for the purchasing and re-uniting to the church of impropriated benefices and parsonages, the work to be audited annually at Christmas by the governors of Christ's Hospital.[33] This led to the passage of an Act of Parliament in 1869.[34] She was buried in the vault of St Swithin's church,[35] and left £1200 (£1000, with £200 more added in the codicil) for the costs of her funerals, in which "noe offensive or superstitious ceremonies" were to be used.

Family

Sir Stephen Slaney and Dame Margaret, née Pheasant (Fesaunt),[6] had five sons and six daughters,[20] who were named as follows in his memorial inscription at St Swithin's:[27]

John and Humphrey SlanyJohn and Humphrey Slany are evidently to be identified with those mentioned as "cosens" in the wills of Dame Margaret Slaney (1618)[30] and her daughter Dame Mary Weld (1623),[44] and are the brothers who appear in the parish registers of St Martin Pomary (Ironmonger Lane) between 1593 and 1648, and in the will of John Slany of Ironmonger Lane (1632),[47] and of their brother Richard Slany (1620).[48] Sir Humphrey Weld, in his will of 1610, bequeathes to his cosen Joane Slany, wife of Humphrey Slany, the lease of his garden near Moorfields and Moorgate.[49] Dame Mary mentions Dorothy, the daughter of her cozen Humphrey Slaney: an allegation for the marriage of Dorothy Slaney aged about 19, daughter of Humfrey, to William Clobery aged about 20, both of St Martin's Ironmonger Lane, was registered in London on 6 April 1621.[50] [51] Humphrey Slany and William Cloberry[52] operated as partners in the West Africa trade during the 1620s.[53] John Slany was, according to his will, born at Barrow, Shropshire, in the neighbourhood of Willey, seat of the Weld family, and of Linley, where the Slaneys held the farm estate called "The Hem": this group of villages lies just south of Broseley.[54] It appears likely from these evidences that John and Humphrey were sons of a brother of Sir Stephen Slaney's, but whether of Henry Slany, or of another, is not settled. The John Slany who became Secretary of the Newfoundland Company is also taken to be the same person:[55] John and Humphrey Slany are named in James I's charter to the company, and had a significant place in its story.[56] [57] [58]

Notes and References

  1. G. Grazebrook and J.P. Rylands (eds), The Visitation of Shropshire, Taken in the Year 1623, by Robert Tresswell and Augustine Vincent, with additions, Harleian Society, 2 vols XXVIII-XXIX (1889), II, p. 438 (Internet Archive).
  2. 'Slaney, or Slany', in B. Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales: Comprising a Registry of Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time (Harrison and Sons, London 1864), p. 933 (Google); H.S. Grazebrook, The Heraldry of Worcestershire, 2 vols (John Russell Smith, London 1873), II, p. 518 (Google).
  3. St Mildred Poultry, Baptism, Marriages and Burials Register 1538-1724 (London Metropolitan Archives: ref. P69/MIL2/A/001/MS04429/001); Microfilm, image 8 (Anno Dni 1559).
  4. Will of George Henyngham, Gentleman of Tottenham, Middlesex (P.C.C. 1538, Dyngeley quire).
  5. See also The National Archives (UK), Chancery Pleadings 1504-1515: Henyngham v Tate, ref. C 1/321/10 (Discovery catalogue). View original at AALT. Explained in K. Lacey, 'Margaret Croke (d. 1491)', in C.M. Barron and A.F. Sutton (eds), Medieval London Widows, 1300-1500 (The Hambledon Press, London and Rio Grande 1994), pp. 143-164, at p. 156 note 36 (Google).
  6. 'Phesant', in J.J. Howard (ed.), The Visitation of London, Anno Domini 1633, 1634, and 1635. Made by Sr. Henry St. George, kt., Richmond Herald, 2 vols, Harleian Society XVI-XVII (1883), II, p. 158 (Internet Archive).
  7. N. Tyacke, The Fortunes of English Puritanism, 1603-1640, Dr. Williams's Library, XLIV (Dr Williams' Trust, London 1990), pp. 7-10, 14.
  8. Calendar of Patent Rolls, Elizabeth I, III: 1563-1566 (HMSO, London 1960), p. 369, no. 2071 (Internet Archive).
  9. Calendar of Patent Rolls, Elizabeth I, IV: 1566-1569 (HMSO, London 1964), p. 418 no. 2506 (Internet Archive).
  10. Calendar of Patent Rolls, Elizabeth I, V: 1569-1572 (HMSO, London 1966), pp. 353-54 (Internet Archive).
  11. N.L. Jones, 'Usury in the Elizabethan Exchequer', in R. Eales and D. Sullivan (eds), The Political Context of Law, Proceedings of the Seventh British Legal History Conference, Canterbury, 1985 (The Hambledon Press, London and Ronceverte 1987), pp. 87-102, at p. 95 (Google), citing Calendar of Patent Rolls, Elizabeth, 1574-75, p. 517.
  12. S. Erdeswicke, ed. T. Harwood, A Survey of Staffordshire: Containing the Antiquities of that County (John Nichols and Son, Westminster 1820), p. 102, note 2 (Google), attributing the information to Simon Degge.
  13. F. Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck. Chapters of Culpeper Genealogy (The Old Dominion Press, Richmond, Va. 1926), p. 44 (Hathi Trust).
  14. A. Mundy, A Watch-Woord to Englande to Beware of Traytours and Tretcherous Practises (Thomas Hacket, London 1584), Dedicatory Epistle. Full text at Umich/eebo (open).
  15. W.H. Overall, Analytical Index To The Series of Records Known as the Remembrancia, A.D. 1579-1664 (E.J. Francis & Co., London 1878), p. 80, note (Google).
  16. 'Tower of London', in M.A.E. Green (ed.), Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Elizabeth, IV: 1595-1597 (Longman, Green, Reader and Dyer, London 1869), p. 129 (Hathi Trust)
  17. C.K. Preedy, 'Breaches in a Battered Wall: Invasion, Spectatorship and the Early Modern Stage', Cahiers Elizabéthains: A Journal of English Renaissance Studies 88, Issue 1 (2015), citing ‘40. 13 September 1595. Letter.’, in C. Rutter (ed.), Documents of the Rose Playhouse (Manchester University Press, 1999), pp. 94, 95, 96 (Google).
  18. John Strype, A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, Book 5 Chapter 31, p. 442 (Strype's Survey Online).
  19. John Strype, A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, Book 5 Chapter 24, p. 333 (Strype's Survey Online).
  20. J.F. Wadmore, Some Account of the Worshipful Company of Skinners of London, being the Guild or Fraternity of Corpus Christi (Blades, East and Blades, London 1902), at pp. 168-69 and p. 194 (Internet Archive); (Revised, enlarged and corrected from the same author's article of 1882).
  21. R. Hentschell, The Culture of Cloth in Early Modern England: Textual Constructions of a National Identity (Routledge 2016), pp. 72-74 (Google).
  22. C.M. Clode, The Early History of the Guild of Merchant Taylors, 2 vols (Harrison and Sons, London 1888), I, pp. 188-89 (Internet Archive).
  23. A.B. Beaven, The Aldermen of the City London, temp. Henry III.-1908, 2 vols (The City Corporation, London 1913), II, p. 42 (Internet Archive).
  24. The National Archives (UK), Chancery final decrees, Offley v Slaney, ref. C 78/112/14; view original at AALT, images 0011-0015.
  25. Index to Acts of Administration of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury IV: 1596–1608, British Record Society LXXXI (1964), p. 241.
  26. John Stow, ed. A.M., H.D., etc., The Survey of London: contayning the originall, increase, moderne estate, and government of that city, methodically set downe (Elizabeth Purslow, London 1633), p. 241 (Internet Archive).
  27. John Strype, A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, Book 2 Chapter 13, p. 191 (Strype's Survey Online).
  28. Will of Stephen Slany, Alderman of Saint Swithin, City of London (P.C.C. 1609, Dorset quire).
  29. J.G. White, History of the Ward of Walbrook in the City of London: Together with an Account of the Aldermen of the Ward and of the Two Remaining Churches, S. Stephen, Walbrook, and S. Swithin, London Stone, with Their Rectors (Bowles & Sons, London 1904), p. 409 (Internet Archive).
  30. Will (1612) and Codicil (1618) of Dame Margaret Slanye, widow of St Swithin, City of London (P.C.C. 1619, Parker quire).
  31. I.W. Archer, 'The charity of London widows', in N. Jones and D. Woolf (eds), Local Identities in Late Medieval and Early Modern England (Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 2007), pp. 178-206, at p. 197 (Google).
  32. W. Herbert, The History of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of London, 2 vols (Author, London 1834), I, p. 359 (Google).
  33. J. Wade (ed.), An Account of Public Charities in England and Wales: Abridged from the Reports of His Majesty's Commissioners on Charitable Foundations, with Notes and Comments (W.Simpkin and R. Marshall, London 1828), p. 502, and pp. 508-10 (Google).
  34. 'Lady Slaney's (Trust) Estate Act, 1869', The Ecclesiastical Gazette, or, Monthly Register, Vol. 33 (11 April 1871), pp. 274-75 (Google).
  35. St Swithin, London Stone, Burial Register 1614-1675 (London Metropolitan Archives, ref. P69/SWI/A/001/MS04311), Microfilm image 46.
  36. H.E. Chetwynd-Stapylton, The Chetwynds of Ingestre: Being a History of that Family from a Very Early Date (Longmans, Green, and Co., London 1892), p. 178 (Google).
  37. 'Litton of Knebworth', in W.C. Metcalfe (ed.), The Visitations of Hertfordshire, made by Robert Cooke, Esq., Clarencieux, in 1572, and Sir Richard St. George, Kt., Clarencieux, in 1634, with Hertfordshire pedigrees, Harleian Society XXII (London 1886), p. 73 and p. 115 (Internet Archive).
  38. J.P. Ferris and R. Sgroi, Lytton, William (1586-1660), of Knebworth, Herts.', in A. Thrush and J.P. Ferris (eds), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629 (Cambridge University Press 2010), History of Parliament Online.
  39. J. Venn and J.A. Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses Part I volume 4 (Cambridge University Press 1927), p. 88 (Internet Archive).
  40. I.W. Archer, 'Weld [née Slaney], Mary, Lady Weld (bap. 1560?, d. 1623)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004).
  41. Will of Richard Brodgate, Skinner of London (P.C.C. 1589, Leicester quire).
  42. There is a marriage of John Slany to Margary Brodgat on 15 January 1593 at St Martin, Iremonger Lane: Register of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials 1539-1812, London Metropolitan Archives ref. P69/MTN4/A/001/MS04392, Microfilm image 9; and the burial of Margery on 6 July 1597.
  43. E.H.H., 'Slany, Bradgate and Weld', in J.J. Howard (ed.), Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica, 2nd Series, III (Mitchell & Hughes, London 1890), p. 328 (Google).
  44. Will of Dame Mary Weld, Widow of London (P.C.C. 1623, Swann quire).
  45. N.M.S., 'Lennard, Samuel (c.1553-1618), of West Wickham, Kent', in P.W. Hasler (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603 (from Boydell and Brewer 1981), History of Parliament Online.
  46. R.C.G., 'Colepeper, Thomas (c.1561-1613), of Wigsell, Suss.', in P.W. Hasler (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603 (from Boydell and Brewer, 1981), History of Parliament Online.
  47. Will of John Slany, Merchant Taylor of London (P.C.C. 1632, Audley quire).
  48. Will of Richard Slany of The Hem, Salop, Gent (P.C.C. 1620, Soame quire).
  49. Will of Sir Humphrey Weld, Alderman of the City of London (P.C.C. 1610, Wingfield quire).
  50. London Metropolitan Archives: London and Surrey, England, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1597-1921: 1620, April–June.
  51. Will of William Clobery, Merchant of London (P.C.C. 1640, Coventry quire).
  52. Presumably this name is from Cleobury in Shropshire.
  53. K.R. Andrews, Trade, Plunder and Settlement: Maritime Enterprise and the Genesis of the British Empire, 1480-1630 (Cambridge University Press 1984), p. 113 (Google).
  54. A.P. Baggs, G.C. Baugh, D.C. Cox, J. McFall and P.A. Stamper, 'Linley', in G.C. Baugh (ed.), A History of the County of Shropshire, Volume 10: Munslow Hundred (Part), The Liberty and Borough of Wenlock (VCH, London 1998), pp. 348-54, at notes 68-71 (British History Online).
  55. K.R. Andrews, Trade, Plunder and Settlement, pp. 334, 336 (Google), citing G.T. Cell, English Enterprise in Newfoundland 1577–1660 (University of Toronto Press, 1969), pp. 61-79 and passim.
  56. 'English Discoveries and Plantations in New England and New-Found-Land', in S. Purchas, Purchas his Pilgrimes. Part 4 In fiue bookes (Printed by William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, London 1625), Book 10, pp. 1827-1973, at pp. 1876-77, 1879, 1888. Full text at Umich/eebo (Search terms: "Slany", "Slanie").
  57. G.T. Cell, 'The Newfoundland Company: a study of subscribers to a colonizing venture', The William and Mary Quarterly (Journal of the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture), Vol. 22 no 4 (October 1965), pp. 611-25.
  58. A. Brown, The Genesis of the United States, 2 vols (Houghton, Mifflin & Company, Boston and New York 1897), II, p. 1004 (Internet Archive).

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