Master of the Mint is a title within the Royal Mint given to the most senior person responsible for its operation. It was an office in the governments of Scotland and England, and later Great Britain and then the United Kingdom, between the 16th and 19th centuries. Until 1699, the appointment was usually for life. Its holder occasionally sat in the cabinet.
During the interregnum (1643–1660), the last Master of the Mint to Charles I, Sir Robert Harley, transferred his allegiance to Parliament and remained in office. After his death in 1656, Aaron Guerdon was appointed.
In 1870 the role was amalgamated into the office of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, making the Chancellor, by virtue of his position, the Master of the Mint. The duty of running the mint was given to the Deputy Master of the Mint; who is now the mint's Chief Executive.
Masters of the Mint in England 1331 - ? Richard de Snowshill and Richard of Grimsby Mints and Money in Medieval England By Martin Allen 1351 - ? Henry de Bruselee and John Chichester Google Books 1361 - 1361 Walter dei Bardi 1365 - 1367 John Chichester 1375 - 1391 Walter dei Bardi 1391 - 1391 John Wildeman 1411 - 1414 Richard Garner 1413 - 1414 Sir Lewis John 1418 - 1420 Sir Lewis John 1421 - 1432 Bartholomew Goldbeter 1435 - 1446 John Paddesley 1446 - 1459 Robert Manfield 1459 - 1461 Sir Richard Tonstall 1461 - 1483 William Hastings (executed 1483) 1483 - 1485 Sir Robert Brackenbury (killed at Bosworth, 1485) 1485 - 1490 Sir Giles Daubeney 1492 - 1493 Sir Bartholomew Reade and Sir John Shaa 1493 - 1494 Sir Bartholomew Reade and Robert Fenrother 1495 - 1498 Sir Bartholomew Reade and Sir John Shaa 1509 - 1534 William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy 1543 - 1544 Ralph Rowlet and Sir Martin Bowes 1544 - ? Sir Martin Bowes 1547 - 1553 Sir John YorkDictionary of National Biography 1553 - 1555 Thomas Egerton 1560 - 1571 Sir Thomas Stanley 1571 - 1582 John Lonyson 1582 - 1599 Sir Richard Martin 1599 - 1609 Sir Richard Martin (died 1616) and Richard Martin 1617 - 1623 Sir Edward Villiers 1623 - 1626 Sir Randal Cranfield 1626 - 1635 Sir Robert Harley 1635 - 1643 In Commission: Sir Ralph Freeman Sir Thomas Aylesbury 1643 - 1649 Sir Robert Harley 1649 - 1653 Aaron Guerdon 1660 - 1662 Sir Ralph Freeman 1662 - 1667 In Commission Sir Ralph Freeman Henry Slingsby 1667 - 1680 Henry Slingsby (suspended 1680) 1680 - 1684 In Commission: Sir John Buckworth Charles Duncombe James Hoare 1684 - 1686 In Commission: Thomas Neale Charles Duncombe James Hoare 1686 - 1699 Thomas Neale 1699 - 1727 Sir Isaac Newton 1727 - 1737 John Conduitt 1737 - 1745 Richard Arundell 1745 - 1769 William Chetwynd 1769 - 1784 Charles Cadogan 1784 - 1789 Thomas Howard, 3rd Earl of Effingham 1789 - 1790 Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield 1790 - 1794 George Townshend, Earl of Leicester 1794 - 1799 Sir George Yonge, 5th Baronet 1799 - 1801 Robert Jenkinson, Baron Hawkesbury 1801 - 1802 Charles Perceval, 2nd Baron Arden 1802 - 1804 John Smyth 1804 - 1806 Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst 1806 - 1806 Lord Charles Spencer 1806 - 1807 Charles Bathurst 1807 - 1812 Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst 1812 - 1814 Richard Trench, 2nd Earl of Clancarty 1814 - 1823 William Wellesley-Pole 1823 - 1827 Thomas Wallace 1827 - 1828 George Tierney 1828 - 1830 John Charles Herries 1830 - 1834 George Eden, 2nd Baron Auckland 1834 - 1835 James Abercrombie 1835 - 1835 Alexander Baring 1835 - 1841 Henry Labouchere 1841 - 1845 William Ewart Gladstone 1845 - 1846 Sir George Clerk, 6th Baronet 1846 - 1850 Richard Lalor Sheil 1850 - 1855 Sir John Herschel 1855 - 1869 Thomas Graham 1870 - Office amalgamated into the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer
Deputy Master of the Mint Now a private company; the job of Deputy Master is held by the Royal Mint's Chief Executive.
1868 - 1894 Charles William Fremantle 1894 - 1902 Sir Horace Seymour 1903 - 1913 William Ellison-Macartney 1913 - 1917 Sir Thomas Elliott, 1st Baronet 1917 - 1922 Sir John Westerman Cawston 1922 - 1938 Sir Robert A. Johnson 1938 - 1949 Sir John Craig 1950 - 1957 Sir Lionel Thompson 1957 - 1970 Sir John ("Jack") Hastings James 1970 - 1974 Harold Glover 1974 - 1977 John R. Christie 1978 - 1987 Dr Jeremy Gerhard 1989 - 1992 Anthony D Garrett 1993 - 2001 Roger Holmes 2001 - 2006 Gerald Sheehan 2007 - 2010 Andrew Stafford 2010 - 2018 Adam Lawrence 2018 - present Anne Jessopp
See also Münzmeister Warden of the Mint Zarabi
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