Editing Thomas Gresham

{{Short description|English merchant and financier (1519–1579)}}
{{For|his great-nephew of the same name|Thomas Gresham (died 1630)}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix   = [[Sir]]
| name               = Thomas Gresham
| image              = Anthonis Mor 004.jpg
| caption            = Portrait of Thomas Gresham, aged approximately 41. From the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
| birth_name         = Thomas Gresham the Elder
| birth_date         = c. 1519
| birth_place        = London, England
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1579|11|21|1519|df=y}}
| death_place        = London, England
| resting_place      = [[St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate]], [[London]], [[England]]
| nationality        = [[English people|English]]
| education          = [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]]
| occupation         = [[Merchant]], [[financier]]
| known_for          = Founder of [[Royal Exchange, London| The Royal Exchange]] and [[Gresham College]]
| spouse             = {{marriage|Anne Ferneley|1544}}
| father             = [[Richard Gresham|Sir Richard Gresham]]
}}

'''Sir Thomas Gresham the Elder''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|g|r|ɛ|ʃ|ə|m}}; c. 1519{{snd}}21 November 1579) was an English [[merchant]] and [[financier]] who acted on behalf of [[Edward VI of England|King Edward VI]] (1547–1553) and Edward's half-sisters, [[queen regnant|queens]] [[Mary I of England|Mary I]] (1553–1558) and [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]] (1558–1603). In 1565 Gresham founded the [[Royal Exchange, London|Royal Exchange]] in the [[City of London]].

==Origins==
Born in [[London]] and descended from an old [[Norfolk]] [[genealogy|family]], Gresham was one of two sons and two daughters of [[Richard Gresham|Sir Richard Gresham]], a leading [[merchant|merchant mercer]] and [[Lord Mayor of London]], who was knighted by [[Henry VIII of England|King Henry VIII]] for negotiating favourable loans with foreign merchants.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==Education==
Gresham was educated at [[St Paul's School, London|St Paul's School]].  After that, although his father wanted Thomas to become a merchant, Sir Richard first sent him to university at [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]].<ref>{{acad|GRSN530T|Thomas Gresham}}</ref> He was concurrently apprenticed in the Mercers' Company to his uncle [[John Gresham|Sir John Gresham]], founder of [[Gresham's School]], while he was still at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]].

==Agent in the Low Countries==
In 1543 the [[Worshipful Company of Mercers|Mercers' Company]] admitted the 24-year-old Gresham as a [[liveryman]], and later that year he left England for the [[Low Countries]], where, either on his own account or that of his father or uncle, he carried on business as a [[merchant]] whilst acting in various matters as [[Foreign agent|agent]] for [[Henry VIII of England|King Henry VIII]]. In 1544 he married Anne Ferneley, widow of the London merchant Sir William Read, but maintained residence principally in the [[Low Countries]], basing his headquarters at [[Antwerp]]{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} in present-day [[Belgium]] (then the [[Spanish Netherlands]]), where he became renowned for his adept [[Financial market|market-play]].

==Financial acumen==
{{Moresources|section|date=January 2023}}

===Rescue of the pound===
When in 1551 the mismanagement of Sir [[William Damsell]], King's Merchant to the Low Countries, had caused the English Government much financial embarrassment, the authorities called Gresham for advice, thereafter following his proposals. Gresham advocated the adoption of various methods &ndash; highly ingenious, but quite arbitrary and unfair &ndash; for raising the value of the [[pound sterling]] on the [[The Belgian bourse of Antwerp|Antwerp bourse]] which proved so successful that in just a few years [[Edward VI of England|King Edward VI]] had discharged almost all of his debts. The Government sought Gresham's advice in all their money difficulties, and also frequently employed him in various diplomatic missions. He had no stated salary, but in reward of his services received from King Edward various grants of lands, the annual value of which at that time amounted ultimately to about 400 [[pound sterling|pounds]] a year.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

===Later services to the Crown===
On the accession of [[Mary I of England|Queen Mary]] in 1553, Gresham fell out of favour at [[Court of St James's|Court]] for a short time with [[Alderman]] William Dauntsey displacing him. But Dauntsey's financial operations proved unsuccessful and Gresham was soon reinstated; and as he professed his zealous desire to serve the Queen, and manifested great adroitness both in negotiating loans and in smuggling money, arms and foreign goods, not only were his services retained throughout her reign (1553–1558), but besides his salary of twenty shillings ''per diem'' he received grants of [[church lands]] to the yearly value of 200 pounds.

Under [[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth]]'s reign (1558–1603), besides continuing in his post as financial agent of the Crown, Gresham acted as Ambassador Plenipotentiary to the [[Royal court|Court]] of [[Margaret of Parma|Duchess Margaret of Parma]], [[List of governors of the Habsburg Netherlands|Governor of the Netherlands]], and was appointed a [[Knight Bachelor]] in 1559 prior to his departure. The unsettled times preceding the [[Dutch revolt]] compelled him to leave [[Antwerp]] on 10 March 1567; but, though he spent the remainder of his life in London, he continued his business as merchant and government financial agent in much the same way as he had always done.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} 

Queen Elizabeth also found Gresham's abilities useful in a variety of other ways, including acting as [[gaoler]] to [[Lady Mary Grey]] (sister of [[Lady Jane Grey]]), who, as a punishment for marrying [[Thomas Keyes]] the sergeant-porter, was imprisoned in his house from June 1569 to the end of 1572.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

===Founding of the Royal Exchange===
In 1565 Gresham made a proposal to the [[City of London]]'s [[Court of Aldermen]] to build, at his own expense, a [[Exchange (organized market)|bourse]] or [[exchange (organized market)|exchange]] &ndash; what became the [[Royal Exchange (London)|Royal Exchange]], modelled on the [[The Belgian bourse of Antwerp|Antwerp bourse]] &ndash; on condition that the [[Corporation of London|Corporation]] provided for this purpose a suitable location. In this proposal he seems to have had a good eye for his self-interest as well as for the general good of the City's merchants, for by a yearly rental of £700 obtained for the shops in the upper part of the building he received more than sufficient return for his trouble and expense.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

The foundation of the [[Royal Exchange, London|Royal Exchange]] is the background of [[Thomas Heywood]]'s play: ''[[If You Know Not Me, You Know Nobody]] part 2'', in which a [[Lord]] extols the quality of the building when asked if he has ever seen "a goodlier frame":
{{blockquote|Not in my life; yet I have been in [[Venice]]... In the [[Rialto]] there, called [[St Mark's Basilica|Saint Mark]]'s; 'tis but a bauble, if compared to this. The nearest, that which most resembles this, is the great [[Exchange (organized market)|Burse]] in [[Antwerp]], yet no comparable either in height or wideness, the fair cellarage, or goodly shops above. Oh my [[Lord Mayor]], this Gresham hath much graced your City of London; his fame will long outlive him.<ref>Heywood, Thomas, ''The Dramatic Works of Thomas Heywood'', 6 volumes, ed. J. Payne Collier, London: The Shakespeare Society, 1851.</ref>}}

==Marriage and progeny==
In 1544 he married Anne Ferneley, daughter of William Ferneley and Agnes (nee Daundy). Anne was the widow of Sir William Read, a London merchant, with whom she had two sons. By his wife, Gresham, had an only son, Richard, who predeceased both his parents. Gresham also had an illegitimate daughter (also called Anne) who was probably born in the [[Low Countries]].

==Death and burial==
Gresham died suddenly, apparently of [[apoplexy]], on 21 November 1579 and was buried at [[St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate]] in the [[City of London]].<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=64144 Memorials of the Institutions – St Helen's Bishopgate]</ref>

==Bequest for the foundation of Gresham College==
Apart from some small sums to various charities, Gresham bequeathed the bulk of his property (consisting of estates in London and around England giving an income of more than £2,300 a year) to his widow and her heirs, with the stipulation that after her death his own house in Bishopsgate Street and the rents from the [[Royal Exchange (London)|Royal Exchange]] should be vested in the [[City of London Corporation|Corporation of London]] and the [[Worshipful Company of Mercers|Mercers Company]], for the purpose of instituting a college in which seven professors should read lectures, one each day of the week, in [[astronomy]], [[geometry]], [[medicine|physic]], law, [[divinity]], [[rhetoric]] and music.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Thus, [[Gresham College]], the first institution of higher learning in London, came to be established in 1597.

==Gresham's law==
[[Gresham's law]] (stated simply as: "Bad money drives out good") takes its name from him (although others, including the astronomer [[Nicolaus Copernicus]], had recognised the concept for years) because he urged Queen Elizabeth to restore the debased currency of England. However, Sir Thomas never formulated anything like ''Gresham's law'', which was the 1857 conception of [[Henry Dunning Macleod]], an economist with a knack for reading into a text that which was not written.<ref>Roover, Raymond de, ''Gresham on Foreign Exchange'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1949</ref>

==The Gresham grasshopper==
The Gresham family [[Crest (heraldry)|crest]] is: ''On a Mount Vert a Grasshopper Or'' <ref>Burke's Armorials, 1884</ref> (a golden grasshopper on a green mound); it is displayed by [[Gresham College]], which he founded, and also forms the [[weathervane]] on the [[Royal Exchange (London)|Royal Exchange]] in the [[City of London]], also founded by him in 1565. The [[Faneuil Hall]] at [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], has also borrowed this [[Heraldry|heraldic device]]. The Gresham [[coat of arms]] is blazoned: ''Argent, a Chevron Erminés between three Mullets pierced Sable''.<ref>Burke's Armorials, 1884</ref>

According to ancient legend, the founder of the family, Roger de Gresham, was a foundling abandoned as a new-born baby among long grass in [[Norfolk]] during the 13th century and found there by a woman whose attention was drawn to the child by a grasshopper. Although a beautiful story, it is more likely that the grasshopper is simply a [[Canting arms|canting]] [[Heraldry|heraldic]] [[Crest (heraldry)|crest]] playing on the sound "grassh-" and "Gresh-". The Gresham family uses as its [[motto]] ''Fiat Voluntas Tua'' ('Thy will be done').<ref>[[H. D. G. Leveson Gower|Granville William Gresham Leveson Gower, JP, DL, FSA]], ''Genealogy of the family of Gresham'' (1883) p. 27</ref>

==Legacy==
*[[Gresham's law]];
*[[Royal Exchange (London)|The Royal Exchange]], which he founded in 1565, was opened in 1571;
*[[Gresham College]], funded by the bequest of his Will of 1571, was opened in 1597;
*[[Gresham Street]] in the [[City of London]] running east from St Martin's Le Grand near [[St Paul's Cathedral]], past the [[Guildhall, London|Guildhall]] and the [[Bank of England]] is named in his memory;
*[[Gresham Palace|The Gresham Palace]] in [[Budapest]] is named after him;
*The [[Gresham Club]] in the City was also named in his honour;
*The [[Gresham Hotel]], [[Dublin]] is indirectly named after Gresham. It was established in 1817 by another Thomas Gresham, who was given that name as he was a [[Child abandonment|foundling]] abandoned on the steps of the Royal Exchange;
*Gresham Road, nearby Gresham's [[mansion]] at [[Hounslow]]: [[Osterley Park]].

==In fiction==
*Gresham appears as a background figure in a series of fictional mystery novels by the British author [[Valerie Anand]] writing under the [[pen name|pen-name]] of Fiona Buckley.  The fictional heroine of the stories, Ursula Blanchard, lived in [[Antwerp]] with her first husband while he worked as one of Gresham's agents.
*Gresham also features as the central character of [[Herbert Strang]]'s book ''On London River: A Story of the Days of Queen Elizabeth'' ([[Oxford University Press]], 1936).

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Sir Thomas Gresham 02189.jpg|18th century engraving of Sir Thomas Gresham
File:Temple of British Worthies Sir Thomas Gresham.jpg|Gresham's bust at<br> [[Stowe School]]
Image:Londres - Lombard Street.JPG|Gresham's initials "TG" and date 1563 with his golden grasshopper emblem, serving as the sign of a bank<ref>Early banks all had distinctive signs displayed in this way, for example Lloyd's Bank in Birmingham was "the sign of the black horse", which usage survives</ref> in [[Lombard Street, London|Lombard Street]], the historic centre of banking in the [[City of London]]
File:House of Sir Thomas Gresham in Bishopsgate Street.png|Sir Thomas & Lady Gresham's townhouse in [[Bishopsgate Street]]
Image:Portretten van Sir Thomas Gresham en Anne Fernely Rijksmuseum SK-A-3118.jpeg|Sir Thomas Gresham, portrait ''c.'' 1554 by [[Anthonis Mor]]
File:Anthonis Mor 005.jpg|Dame Anne ''née'' Ferneley, wife of Sir Thomas Gresham. Portrait ''c.'' 1560 by [[Anthonis Mor]]
File:Intwood Hall, near Norwich.jpg|[[Keswick, South Norfolk|Intwood Hall]], Gresham's Norfolk estate
File:GreshamArms.png|'''Gresham arms''':<br> ''Argent a Chevron Erminés between three Mullets pierced Sable''
File:MerchantMark ThomasGresham 1544.png|Sir Thomas Gresham's [[merchant's mark]] as depicted in the 1544 portrait of him owned by the [[Worshipful Company of Mercers|Mercers' Company]]. Also as illustrated in Elmhirst, 1959,<ref>Elmhirst, Edward Mars, ''Merchants' Marks'', ed. Dow, Leslie, Harleian Society, 1959, p. 12, image no. 450</ref> with more pronounced "heart shape", used by other marks of this type, ''e.g.'' the later [[Honourable East India Company|HEICS]] mark 
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[List of multiple discoveries#14th century|List of multiple discoveries]]
* [[Titsey Place]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Gresham, Sir Thomas |volume=12}}
*''The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham'' by J.W. Burgon (London, 1839, new edition 1968)
*''Sir Thomas Gresham (1518–1579)'' by F. R. Salter (Parsons, London, 1925)
*{{cite EB9|wstitle=Sir Thomas Gresham}}
*{{cite DNB|wstitle=Gresham, Thomas|first=Charles|last= Welch|volume=23}}
*{{cite ODNB|first=Ian |last=Blanchard|title=Gresham, Sir Thomas (c.1518–1579)|id=11505}}
* [[John William Burgon]], [https://archive.org/stream/lifetimesofsirth01burguoft#page/n9/mode/2up The life and times of Sir Thomas Gresham] comp. chiefly from his correspondence preserved in Her Majesty's state-paper office: including notices of many of his contemporaries. Published 1839 by R. Jennings in London . Volume I.
* John William Burgon [https://archive.org/stream/lifetimesofsirth02burguoft#page/n9/mode/2upurguoft#page/n9/mode/2up The life and times of Sir Thomas Gresham] Volume II.
*[[Charles Knight (publisher)|Knight, Charles]] (1845). ''The Life of Sir Thomas Gresham: Founder of the Royal Exchange''. Charles Knight & Co.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Thomas Gresham}}
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=0uoJAAAAIAAJ ''The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham''] (1839)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101219232811/http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.asp?PageId=45&EventId=713 "Gresham and Antwerp", Gresham College]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=8JcbV309c5UC&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44 ''Magna Carta Ancestry'', Douglas Richardson (2011)]

{{Gresham College}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gresham, Thomas}}
[[Category:1510s births]]
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[[Category:16th-century English politicians]]
[[Category:Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Founders of English schools and colleges]]
[[Category:People from the City of London]]
[[Category:People educated at St Paul's School, London]]
[[Category:Gresham College]]
[[Category:16th-century English merchants]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of England to the Dutch Republic]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Court of Edward VI]]
[[Category:People from Keswick, South Norfolk]]