Ambrose Smith or Smythe (died 1584) was a London mercer in Cheapside and silkman who supplied Elizabeth I
Smith was a son of John Smith (died 1545) of Withcote, near Oakham, in Leicestershire, and Dorothy Cave, a sister of Ambrose Cave. John Leland visited their "right goodly house" at Withcote in 1539, "one of the fairest houses in Leicestershire".Thomas Hearne, Itinerary of John Leland, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1768), p. 28.
His older brother Roger Smith (died 1603) inherited the estate, but Ambrose bought it from him in 1575.Ronald Jenkins, The Life and Writings of Henry Smith: England's Silver-tongued Preacher (Macon, Georgia, 1983), p. 75. Roger Smith married Frances Griffin, a daughter of Thomas Griffin of Dingley.Visitation of Leicester, p. 66.
Ambrose Smith supplied velvet, satin, taffeta, and sarsenet to Queen Elizabeth.Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1988), p. 172.
He sold fabrics to Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester and Amy Robsart, some for the use of their Spanish tailor.Simon Adams, Household Accounts and Disbursement Books of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 87, 123, 177. Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond owed him money in 1580. Ambrose Smith died in 1584.Calendar State Papers Ireland, 1574-1585, p. 210.
Marriage and family Ambrose Smith married Jane Cooe or Coe, daughter of John Coe of Coxhall, or Coggeshall, Essex. Their children included: Henry Smith of Withcote, who married Anne, a daughter of Henry Skipwith. They were the parents of Henry Smith (regicide). Dorothy Smith, who married (1) Benedict Barnham,Bendall, S. Barnham, Benedict (bap. 1559, d. 1598), merchant and benefactor. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 7 August 2021. (2) John Pakington, (3) Robert Needham, 1st Viscount Kilmorey, (4) Thomas Erskine, 1st Earl of Kellie. She was the mother of Alice Barnham who married Francis Bacon.Visitation of London, 1568 (London, 1869), p. 33. Elizabeth Smith, who married Martin Calthorpe of Antingham, Norfolk (died 1615), son of the Lord Mayor of London, Martin Calthorp and Jane Heath. Francis Smith, who married Elizabeth Taylor, daughter of the haberdasher John Taylor Isabell Smith, after her father's death, in 1587, her husband wrote to Francis Walsingham for assistance.Calendar of State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth, 1558-1589, 21:2, p. 379. Margaret Smith, who married Thomas Wilkes Sir William Smith, who married Elizabeth Skinner, daughter of Thomas Skinner.Visitation of Leicester, 1619 (London, 1870), p. 67.
Ambrose's brother, Erasmus Smith of Husbands Bosworth, was the father of Henry Smith (1560-1591), and grandfather of the merchant Erasmus Smith (1611–1691).Visitation of London, 1568 (London, 1869), p. 33.
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