Sir Stephen Slaney (1524–1608) was an English merchant, four times Master of the Worshipful Company of Skinners, and Alderman, Sheriff and Lord Mayor of London. He has been called "one of the most picturesque of the Elizabethan Merchant Adventurers".
Career Stephen Slaney was the son of John Slaney of Mitton (in Penkridge, in Staffordshire)G. Grazebrook and J.P. Rylands (eds), The Visitation of Shropshire, Taken in the Year 1623, by Robert Tresswell and Augustine Vincent, with additions, Harleian Society, 2 vols XXVIII-XXIX (1889), II, p. 438 (Internet Archive). and the grandson of Ralph Slaney of Yardley in Worcestershire.'Slaney, or Slany', in B. Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales: Comprising a Registry of Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time (Harrison and Sons, London 1864), p. 933 (Google); H.S. Grazebrook, The Heraldry of Worcestershire, 2 vols (John Russell Smith, London 1873), II, p. 518 (Google). He is said to have been the younger brother of John Slaney of Shifnal, Shropshire, and also had brothers William (who died before 1598) and Henry (living 1598). He was married on 22 January 1559/60 at St Mildred, PoultrySt Mildred Poultry, Baptism, Marriages and Burials Register 1538–1724 (London Metropolitan Archives: ref. P69/MIL2/A/001/MS04429/001); Microfilm, image 8 (Anno Dni 1559). to Margaret, daughter of Jasper Pheasant (Fesaunt), magistrate, of Tottenham, Middlesex, and his wife Margaret, daughter of George Henyngham of Tottenham (died 1537),Will of George Henyngham, Gentleman of Tottenham, Middlesex (P.C.C. 1538, Dyngeley quire).See also The National Archives (UK), Chancery Pleadings 1504–1515: Henyngham v Tate, ref. C 1/321/10 (Discovery catalogue). View original at AALT. Explained in K. Lacey, 'Margaret Croke (d. 1491)', in C.M. Barron and A.F. Sutton (eds), Medieval London Widows, 1300–1500 (The Hambledon Press, London and Rio Grande 1994), pp. 143–164, at p. 156 note 36 (Google).'Phesant', in J.J. Howard (ed.), The Visitation of London, Anno Domini 1633, 1634, and 1635. Made by Sr. Henry St. George, kt., Richmond Herald, 2 vols, Harleian Society XVI-XVII (1883), II, p. 158 (Internet Archive). so establishing his kinship with puritan interests among the City's ruling group.N. Tyacke, The Fortunes of English Puritanism, 1603–1640, Dr. Williams's Library, XLIV (Dr Williams' Trust, London 1990), pp. 7–10, 14. Stephen embarked upon London mercantile life as a freeman and officer of the Worshipful Company of Skinners.
In April 1566 Stephen and the merchant Francis Barnham (died 1575) acted as feoffees for Sir Thomas Wentworth in the alienation, for Wentworth's uses, of the manors of Chatham, Rochester, Horsted and others in Kent.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Elizabeth I, III: 1563–1566 (HMSO, London 1960), p. 369, no. 2071 (Internet Archive). 1568 he assisted Wolstan Dixie in the purchase, for Dixie's heirs, from Sir Thomas Wentworth and his wife the manors of Staynton (held of the Crown in chief) and Awkborough (North Lincolnshire), and lands there, together with free fishery in the waters of the River Humber by fine in the Common Pleas: for this a pardon of alienation had to be obtained in March 1569.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Elizabeth I, IV: 1566–1569 (HMSO, London 1964), p. 418 no. 2506 (Internet Archive). He became a substantial figure in the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London, and was among those named in Elizabeth's commission of 1572 to empower the sale, for the recovery of debts, of the ships and merchandize of the subjects of the Catholic King arrested since 1568/69.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Elizabeth I, V: 1569–1572 (HMSO, London 1966), pp. 353–54 (Internet Archive). In around 1575 he was informed against for having imposed a usurious mortgage, and was fined £7,800, part of which was payable to the Queen. For that part, amounting to £3,900, he received a pardon through the intervention of influential associates.N.L. Jones, 'Usury in the Elizabethan Exchequer', in R. Eales and D. Sullivan (eds), The Political Context of Law, Proceedings of the Seventh British Legal History Conference, Canterbury, 1985 (The Hambledon Press, London and Ronceverte 1987), pp. 87–102, at p. 95 (Google), citing Calendar of Patent Rolls, Elizabeth, 1574–75, p. 517.
Slaney engaged in Mediterranean trade as what was afterwards called a Turkey merchant, and it is said that on one occasion he was captured by the Turks and had to give up his entire fortune (or at least Norton in Chebsey, in Staffordshire) as a ransom.S. Erdeswicke, ed. T. Harwood, A Survey of Staffordshire: Containing the Antiquities of that County (John Nichols and Son, Westminster 1820), p. 102, note 2 (Google), attributing the information to Simon Degge.F. Harrison, The Proprietors of the Northern Neck. Chapters of Culpeper Genealogy (The Old Dominion Press, Richmond, Va. 1926), p. 44 (HathiTrust). He served as Auditor to the City in 1576–1578 and again in 1581–1583. He first became master of his company (Skinners) in 1585. His first term as alderman was for Portsoken Ward, in 1584–1586, and he was chosen Sheriff of the City of London, with Henry Billingsley, for 1584–85. Anthony Mundy addressed to them, and to the Lord Mayor Thomas Pullyson, his address warning of traitors within.A. Mundy, A Watch-Woord to Englande to Beware of Traytours and Tretcherous Practises (Thomas Hacket, London 1584), Dedicatory Epistle. Full text at Umich/eebo (open). In 1585 the Merchant Adventurers appointed Slaney to a committee in 1585 to confer with Captain Christopher Carleill "upon a voyage intending to the uttermost parts of America". He then transferred to the Coleman Street Ward in 1586, and was again chosen master of his company in 1587. After being elected master a third time in 1591, he served as Lord Mayor of London for 1595–96.W.H. Overall, Analytical Index To The Series of Records Known as the Remembrancia, A.D. 1579–1664 (E.J. Francis & Co., London 1878), p. 80, note (Google).
The Mayoralty, 1595–1596 At the start of his mayoral term, a general overhaul of the forces for the defence of the realm was ordained. Some of the Lords of the Council were appointed to have dealings with the Mayor and Aldermen for the putting of the City's forces in order, their organization into bands to be led by men of judgement and experience, and (if necessary) for their augmentation. Out of the City's general forces, three thousand men were to be chosen to be prepared for defence of the counties of Kent and Sussex from the river Thames, and a fleet of barges was to be kept ready for their conveyance.'Tower of London', in M.A.E. Green (ed.), Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Elizabeth, IV: 1595–1597 (Longman, Green, Reader and Dyer, London 1869), p. 129 (HathiTrust) His correspondence with the Privy Council in September 1595 contains interesting references to the playhouses in London.C.K. Preedy, 'Breaches in a Battered Wall: Invasion, Spectatorship and the Early Modern Stage', Cahiers Elizabéthains: A Journal of English Renaissance Studies 88, Issue 1 (2015), citing ‘40. 13 September 1595. Letter.’, in C. Rutter (ed.), Documents of the Rose Playhouse (Manchester University Press, 1999), pp. 94, 95, 96 (Google). In December 1595 a survey was taken of all the poor householders in the wards and liberties of the City who were in need of present Relief, and the report was presented to Queen Elizabeth by the Mayor, which showed the number of householders to be 4,132.John Strype, A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, Book 5 Chapter 31, p. 442 (Strype's Survey Online).
In July 1596 a printed ballad was brought to him, complaining of the shortage of corn in the realm. As Slaney wrote to the Lord Treasurer, it contained "certain vain and presumptuous matters, bringing in the Queen, speaking with her people dialoguewise in very fond and undecent sort, and prescribing order for the remedying of this dearth". Although the information came from an official source, the poem was "done in that vain and indiscreet manner" so as to whip up discontent among the poor, and therefore Slaney summoned the printer and publisher, who falsely claimed to have a licence for it. The author was Thomas Deloney, "an idle fellow", who had also written a similarly disorderly pamphlet for the Silk-weavers, but the Mayor was unable to find or arrest him. Over the following months four more libellous pamphlets were found which were being dispersed seditiously in the City, and these he also forwarded to the Lord Treasurer. The City magistrates at that time were determined not to permit unworthy or disrespectful speeches against the monarch.John Strype, A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, Book 5 Chapter 24, p. 333 (Strype's Survey Online).J.F. Wadmore, Some Account of the Worshipful Company of Skinners of London, being the Guild or Fraternity of Corpus Christi (Blades, East and Blades, London 1902), at pp. 168–69 and p. 194 (Internet Archive); (Revised, enlarged and corrected from the same author's article of 1882).R. Hentschell, The Culture of Cloth in Early Modern England: Textual Constructions of a National Identity (Routledge 2016), pp. 72–74 (Google). Slaney's letter of August 1596 to the Merchant Taylors suggesting they forego their annual feast and apply the money to a charitable purpose received the reply that this had already been done.C.M. Clode, The Early History of the Guild of Merchant Taylors, 2 vols (Harrison and Sons, London 1888), I, pp. 188–89 (Internet Archive).
Slaney transferred his aldermanry once more, this time to the Broad Street Ward from 1596 until his death in 1608. His fourth term as master of his company was in 1598.A.B. Beaven, The Aldermen of the City London, temp. Henry III.-1908, 2 vols (The City Corporation, London 1913), II, p. 42 (Internet Archive). In that year Sir Stephen Slaney, his son Jasper Slaney, and kinsman John Slaney of London, appear as partners, and Humphrey Slaney, a merchant resident at Middelburg, as factor or dealer there for Jasper Slaney. They have been engaged in shipping corn and rye from Zeeland on behalf of Thomas Offley (jnr), citizen and leather seller of London, who brings a suit for detention, accusing John and Jasper of collusion against him. By the close of this hearing in 1598, which was found for the plaintiff, Humphrey Slaney has become Administrator of Jasper Slaney's affairs.The National Archives (UK), Chancery final decrees, Offley v Slaney, ref. C 78/112/14; view original at AALT, images 0011-0015.Index to Acts of Administration of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury IV: 1596–1608, British Record Society LXXXI (1964), p. 241. Sir Stephen was subsequently President of the Bethlem and Bridewell in 1599–1600, President of Christ's Hospital 1602–08, and Surveyor-General of Hospitals 1604–08.
Death and legacy