Sir Edward Osborne
Sir Edward Osborne(1530-1592), Lord Mayor of London, was the eldest son of Richard Osborne(1510-1581) and his wife, Jane Broughton, daughter of John Broughton of Broughton, sister and heir to Edward and Lancelyn Broughton. He had two brothers Thomas and Julian.
His grandfather, Richard Osborne (b1498) married Elizabeth (b1491) Fyldene.
While Edward was apprenticed in 1544 or 1545 to William Hewett, Lord Mayor of London, it is recorded that he made his fortune by leaping into the Thames to save his master's young daughter, Anne who he later married. The story of the rescue and their courtship was first published in 1720 by John Strype - 'Sir William was pleased to say, Osborn saved her, and Osborn should enjoy her' , and became the subject of a popular Victorian novel, by Anne Manning
He married Anne Hewett (1543/4–1585) in 1562 and got an estate at Barking in Essex, together with lands in the parishes of Wales and Harthill in Yorkshire. They had five children:
- Alice, baptised March 1562/63 in St. Dionis Backchurch, London; she married Sir John Peyton, son of Robert Peyton and Elizabeth Rich, on 9 June 1580 in St. Dionis Backchurch, London. They had 3 children: Frances, Elizabeth and Ann. Alice died 1625/26.
- Hewett(1566-1614), In 1599, having distinguished himself against the rebels at Menoth, or Maynooth, in Ireland, he was knighted by the Earl of Essex. He married Joyce, daughter of Thomas Fleetwood, Esq., of the Vache, Bucks, Master of the Mint, and sister of Sir William Fleetwood, of Cranford, in Middlesex, Receiver of the Court of Wards. Their son was Sir Edward Osborne, of Kiveton whose son Thomas became the first Duke of Leeds.
- Anne, born March 1570, married. Robert Offley of London
- Edward, born November 1572, he died unmarried in 1625
- Jane, born November 1578, married in 1601, John Welby of Tydd St. Giles.
Osborne's wife Anne died on 14 July 1585 and was buried at St. Martin Orgars.
In 1588 he married Margaret Chapman, daughter and coheir of Charles Pratt, a leatherseller of Southwark. Margaret, who survived Sir Edward, was afterwards married to Robert Clarke, Esq., a baron of the Exchequer. She died in 1602 and was buried in St. Dionis Backchurch. There were no children. Margaret, a widow firstly of John Middleton, citizen and merchant tailor, and secondly of Edmond Chapman
In 1571 he was elected treasurer of St. Thomas's Hospital, and served as president from 1586 to 1591.
He served as Lord Mayor of London in 1583 the same year he was knighted.
He became an MP in 1586.
The Clothworkers' Company - was set up to promote and control its craft within the City of London and its suburbs. As an eminent member of the Clothworkers' Company, Osborne became a freeman of the company in 1553, He took his own first apprentice in 1559, was admitted to the livery in 1560; in 1562, he was elected steward and a warden in 1565 and 1569. He left money for a memorial dinner to be held there after his death.
The Levant Company - He was a co-founder of the Levant Company.
Already trading with Spain and Portugal and spending time in Madrid, exporting cloth to the Baltic lands, Osborne was well known as a merchant and financial agent. In 1575 Osborne and with Richard Staper arranged for a representative, Joseph Clements to travel to Istanbul, where he stayed 18 months providing an exchange between Queen Elizabeth and Murat III. The results of this expenses paid mission was that English merchants were given the right to trade in Ottamen lands from 1580.
A special concession was given by the Queen allowing 12 English Merchants, including Osborne, exclusive rights to trade in the Ottamen Empire for 7 years.
As a result The Levant Company was founded by Osborne and Staper, previously known as 'The Governor and Company of Merchants of England Trading into the Levant Seas'. The Levant Company was able to secure the business interests for English Merchants, they had their own factories and were given protection by the Royal Navy.
The Levant in this sense referred to an area from the Mediterranean Sea to Turkey
Its members, who until 1753 had to be Freemen of the City of London. The company, granted a charter by Elizabeth in 1581, had the sole right to trade with the Ottoman empire. A new charter in 1592 increased the number of traders and added Venice to its sphere. It was commonly known as the Turkey Company. The main imports were spices, perfumes, and currants: it exported mainly cloth
Estates On the death of his father-in-law, Sir William Hewett, in 1566-7, Osborne succeeded to Hewett's extensive business, his mansion in Philpot Lane, and to the greater part of his estates.
The Yorkshire estates he inherited from his father-in-law, William Hewett: Harthill, Thorpe Salvin, Todwick, Waleswood, Woodall, and Woodsetts, plus lands at Killamarsh, Derbyshire, formed the Kiveton estate of the Dukes of Leeds. Osborne made his country home at Parsloes, Essex, where he built a manor-house.
His second wife, Margaret had inherited some of her father's estate in Southwark and Lambeth, and her previous husbands had left her property.
Osborne, in his will left Margaret the house on Philpot Lane as well as other London and Essex properties, including the Rose and Pomegranate on Fish Street.
His eldest son Hewitt inherited the northern estates. Hewett, Edward, and Jane received another third. The remainder was divided between his widow and her children (from previous marriages).
Alice and Anne had received ample marriage settlements and received silver dishes.
The will further stated that after Margaret's death Hewett Osborne was to have all the real property held by her except Philpot Lane which was to be sold and the proceeds divided between all the children.
Complications arose, as Margaret married again, to Robert Clarke, and after her death in 1602, he inherited her interests.
The Essex lands were sold in 1619 to William Fanshaw by Hewett Osborne's son and heir Edward, the first baronet, to finance further purchases in Yorkshire.
Edward Osborne died in London on 4 February 1592. He was buried at St Dionis Backchurch, Fenchurch Street, London,where a monument was erected which was requested in his will
He was succeeded by his son Sir Hewett Osborne who, a few years later. in 1599, was killed while serving with the Earl of Essex in Ireland.
Re: Alice Osborne (1592–1659), only daughter of Sir Hewett Osborne and sister to Sir Edward Osborne, married in September, 1614, Christopher Wandesford(1592–1640), politician from Bishop Burton, Beverley, Yorkshire. She was his second wife. Children: George, Christopher, John, Alice, and Catherine.
Re Richard Staper/Steper - Richard Staper joined the family in 1567 by marrying Henry Hewett's sister Dionis
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