Thomas White (merchant)

Biography

Thomas White was born 7 June 1492 in Reading, Berkshire, the son of William White, a clothier of Reading, and his wife, Mary, daughter of John Kibblewhite of South Fawley, also in Berkshire.{{cite web

He continues the said Sir Henry Williams, alias Cromwell, had issue by the lady Joan, his wife, Oliver Cromwell, esq. his son and heir, with other sons. Visit. of Hunt, in 1613; and of Kent in 1609. Stow's and Strypc's survey of London; Grafton's chronicle; pedigree in the possession of the miss Cromwells; lives of Oliver lord prot. &c. A principal member of the guild of Merchant Taylors, he served as Sheriff of London in 1547, and was elected Lord Mayor of London in 1553. He was knighted in the same year by Queen Mary I. He was a member of the commission for the trial of Lady Jane Grey.

In 1555, inspired by the example of Thomas Pope, founder of Trinity College, Oxford, White obtained a royal licence for the foundation of St John's College, Oxford, dedicated to the patron saint of the Merchant Taylors and established in the buildings of the dissolved Cistercian College of St Bernard. He was involved in the foundation of Merchant Taylors' School, and made provision that scholars of the college should be nominated from pupils of the school. He also established scholarships at St John's College, tenable by pupils of Tonbridge School, Bristol Grammar School, Reading School and King Henry VIII School, Coventry, where one of the school's four houses bears his name. He purchased Gloucester Hall and set it up in 1560 as a hall of residence for scholars; this became the basis of the later foundation of Worcester College. As a result of his philanthropy, he was listed in Richard Johnson's Nine Worthies of London in 1592.

Sir Thomas White Loan Charity

The charity was founded in 1542 and is still extant. It gives interest-free loans to aspiring businesspeople in Leicestershire and Rutland. There are several memorials to White in England and he is honoured on Leicester's Clock Tower.

References

Bibliography

• Mark Noble (1784). Memoirs of the Protectorate-house of Cromwell: Deduced from an Early Period, and Continued Down to the Present Time,..., Volume 2, Printed Pearson and Rollason.

References

1. (1888). "The early history of the Guild of merchant taylors of the fraternity of St. John the Baptist, London, with notices of the lives of some of its eminent members".
2. David Nash Ford. (2003). "Sir Thomas White (1492-1567)". Nash Ford Publishing.
3. "Notes to the diary: 1558 Pages 362-369 The Diary of Henry Machyn, Citizen and Merchant-Taylor of London, 1550-1563. O". Camden Society, 1848.
4. Hill, C.P. (1951) The History of Bristol Grammar School, p.46