Draft:John Preste
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John Preste (c. 1484 – 1546). Master Grocer. There is no firm information has been located about John’s parentage, but we know that John Preste became a Freeman of the London Grocers’ Guild in 1503; his Master was Richard Young.[1] By 1509 state he was listed as a citizen and Grocer of London living in the parish of the Blessed Mary of Aldermanbury, in the ward of Crepulgate, with four tenements.[2] Between 1503 and 1509 he had John married his first wife, name unknown; they had at least three children – daughter Osythe, son William and daughter Elizabeth.
By 1514/15, John was involved with the Mercers’ Company and had taken on larger premises, The White Hart, which consisted of shops, warehouses, cellars and solars (rooms mostly upper storey, designed as the family’s private living and sleeping quarters). This property was originally owned by Canterbury Cathedral Priory, before the Mercers’ Company took ownership. Records show that Preste paid £10.10s. rent to the Mercers, and that he was a wealthy Grocer, resident in the parish, probably living in the property until 1526.[3] During this period he was active in The Mercers Company, attending the General Court in January 1516, October 1525, and February 1528. On the last occasion, Prest was one of the members deputed to participate in the Synxon (ie. St. John’s) Midsummer Mart in the Netherlands.[4] In 1526 John became involved with the running of the Grocers’ Company, when he was elected as one of the two Wardens, to the Upper Master Sir William Butler.
As a wealthy, well respected businessman in 1525, he was in negotiations with the Mercers Company to build a house on spare land, at the rear the Mercers’ Company Hall, on Cheapside. He was prepared to take a lease for 50 years at £11.00 pa and contribute £160 towards the cost of the building, and only sublet to a Mercer, Grocer or a Freeman of the City.[5]
It was also around this time John married his second wife Marion Partriche.[1] Marion was a widow with property; she had been left a interest in a Salt House and Wharf at Woolwich by her first husband Gerard Danyell, Fishmonger to the King, who had died in 1513. Her second husband was Nicholas Partriche who died in 1525.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Index of Freeman 1345 – 1645. Cited in Cook, Noel (2021). How John Preste and the 99 year lease of 1537, saved Calke for us today: or the story of Calke Manor ownership from 1536 to 1623 as per currently located documents
- ^ John Raafe – 21st Nov Inquisition at the Guildhall – British History – Inquisitions Henry VIII (Part 2 of 3)
- ^ D J Keene, Vanessa Harding, 'St. Mary Colechurch 105/11', in Historical Gazetteer of London Before the Great Fire Cheapside; Parishes of All Hallows Honey Lane, St Martin Pomary, St Mary Le Bow, St Mary Colechurch and St Pancras Soper Lane (London, 1987), British History Online[1] [accessed 3 June 2026].
- ^ Lyell, L; Watney, F.D. (1936). Acts of Court of the Mercers’ Company, 1453-1527. Cambridge University Press. pp. 694–702.
- ^ It is not clear whether these terms were accepted, but in 1528 a John Judde agreed to lease the void lands, under the same terms agreed with John Preste. See D J Keene, Vanessa Harding, 'St. Mary Colechurch 105/11', in Historical Gazetteer of London Before the Great Fire Cheapside; Parishes of All Hallows Honey Lane, St Martin Pomary, St Mary Le Bow, St Mary Colechurch and St Pancras Soper Lane (London, 1987), British History Online [2] [accessed 3 June 2026].
- ^ Boyd’s Inhabitants of London & Family Units 1200-1946, accessed via Find My Past.