Stephen Proctor or Procter (died 1619) was an English courtier, a minerals and financial speculator, and Yorkshire landowner who built Fountains Hall.
Life
Proctor was a member of a family from Ripon and Friar's Head and Cowper Cote at Gargrave.John Richard Walbran, Memorials of the abbey of St. Mary of Fountains, 2:1 (Ripon, 1878), p. 345. In 1513, Stephen and Ralph and Roger Proctor of Flasby were mentioned in the Flodden muster.Charles A. Federer, Ballad of Flodden Field (Manchester, 1884) p. 156. Gabriel Proctor was the receiver of Flasby and other manors (formerly the property of Furness Abbey) for the Duchy of Lancaster in 1556, when the Earl of Cumberland's servants attacked his family during a territorial dispute.John Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials, 3:2 (Oxford, 1822), pp. 562–566.
His father, Thomas Proctor (or Procter) is sometimes said to have made a fortune from a 1589 patent to smelt iron with wood,Mark Girouard, Robert Smythson & The English Country House (Yale, 1983), p. 197: Bernard Jennings, A History of Nidderdale (Huddersfield, 1967), p. 152. and he is known to have been a lead-mining entrepreneur.Arthur Raistrick, Lead mining in the mid-Pennines (Truro, 1973), p. 28. The iron patent was sold to Edward Fitton in 1592 and he later complained that it was worthless.Christopher Howard, Sir John Yorke of Nidderdale, 1656–1634 (London, 1939), p. 48. In the 1540s, Thomas Proctor leased lead mines from Sir Arthur Darcy on Appletreewick Moors formerly the property of Bolton Abbey. The mines were operated by a consortium of merchants from York who sent the ore to Flanders and paid a rent to Proctor. This phase of business came to an end in 1549 when Sir John Yorke bought the manor of Appletreewick and evicted Proctor, his tenants, and his workers.Bernard Jennings, A History of Nidderdale (Huddersfield, 1967), pp. 72, 119. A Chancery case over the crown lease of the Appletreewick (Greenhow) lead mines resulted, between John Yorke, knight, and Thomas Proctor of Cowpercote, yeoman.Lists and Indexes: List of Early Chancery Proceedings, 9 (London: HMSO, 1932), p. 310, File 1284 no. 31.
Stephen and his brother Elias Proctor were involved in some aspects of a family iron business, and Stephen's father-in-law, the court musician Ralph Green was an investor. For a time, they had a bloomery at Shipley and used a forge at Summerbridge, not far from the medieval iron-working site of Smelthouses. They used ironstone brought from Gildersome rather than any more local source. A blast furnace constructed at Shipley proved unsuccessful. Stephen Procter gained a patent from Elizabeth I for coal and ironstone at Fulwood, near modern day Huthwaite.Catherine Collinson, "Enterprise and Experiment in the Elizabethan Iron Industry: The Career of Thomas Procter", Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, 68 (1996), pp. 191–208
Before he bought the Fountains estate, Proctor lived at Warsill Grange,John Richard Walbran, Memorials of the abbey of St. Mary of Fountains, 1 (Durham, 1863), p. 357. and at Westminster. Fountains Hall was built partly using stone taken from Fountains Abbey in the late 1590s after Proctor acquired the estate from Thomas and William Gresham for £4,500.John Richard Walbran, Memorials of the abbey of St. Mary of Fountains, 2:1 (Ripon, 1878), pp. 108, 120, 345.Mark Girouard, Robert Smythson (Yale, 1983), pp. 192–197. The inclusion of the lands of Bewerley, with its lucrative lead mines, in his purchase was disputed.Arthur Raistrick, Lead mining in the mid-Pennines (Truro, 1973), p. 29: John Trevor Cliffe, The Yorkshire Gentry from the Reformation to the Civil War (London, 1969), p. 63.Bernard Jennings, A History of Nidderdale (Huddersfield, 1967), p. 152. Rivalry between landowners in exploiting the mineral resources of former monastic lands became the determinant of his career.Bernard Jennings, A History of Nidderdale (Huddersfield, 1967), pp. 120, 152: Roger Burrow Manning, Village Revolts: Social Protest and Popular Disturbances in England, 1509-1640 (Clarendon, 1988), pp. 280–282. Proctor placed a placed an image of Saturn on Fountains Hall, a planet associated with melancholy and the metallic element lead, and a figure of Mars, representing iron.Paul Romney, The Diary of Charles Fothergill, 1805 (Leeds: Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1984), p. 90: Statue of Saturn Eating His Children, Fountains Hall: BBC
Thomas Proctor, probably his brother, lived at Cowper Cote in 1601, and was appointed a collector of the tax or subsidy.C. T. Clay, "Collection of Subsidies in Yorkshire", Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, 33 (1936), pp. 309–313 Stephen Proctor was knighted by James VI and I in March 1604. He was admitted to Gray's Inn in November 1605.Joseph Foster, Register of Admissions to Gray's Inn (London, 1889), p. 111. Prince Charles travelled to London from Dunfermline Palace with his physician Henry Atkins in July 1604 and they stopped at Fountains Hall.Christopher Howard, Sir John Yorke of Nidderdale, 1656–1634 (London, 1939), p. 14 citing TNA STAC 8/19/10 f.43.
Proctor worked on the leases of William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby following an inheritance dispute,M. S. Giuseppi, HMC Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Marquess of Salisbury at Hatfield, 18 (London, 1940), pp. 347. and supported Robert Cecil to gather and improve crown revenue from lands and woods.HMC Salisbury Hatfield, 16 (London, 1933), pp. 282–284. The King gave Proctor "free gifts" of money in 1609 and 1610.John Nichols, Progresses of James the First, 2 (London, 1828), p. 288.
Religion and country house drama An author, Thomas Bell, formerly a Catholic, after his conversion dedicated his Christian Dialogue (1609) to members of the Yorkshire Puritan gentry, including Proctor, Timothy Whittingham, Timothy Hutton, and the exchequer official Vincent Skinner.Michael Questier, Conversion, politics, and religion in England, 1580–1625 (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 82, 140.
Proctor argued with William Ingleby, who sided with tenants and villagers at Kirkby Malzeard who dismantled his enclosure made on the common land of Grewelthorpe Moor where he had commenced mining for coal. The village activists included 31 women led by Dorothy Bayne, known as Captain Bayne. Proctor's title was strengthened by a deal made by the Earl of Derby.Christopher Howard, Sir John Yorke of Nidderdale, 1656–1634 (London, 1939), pp. 13, 50–52. Proctor had captured a priest, Christopher Wharton, within Ingleby's park at Ripley Castle in 1598.Michael Questier, Catholics and Treason: Martyrology, Memory, and Politics in the Post-Reformation (Oxford, 2022), p. 281: Christopher Howard, Sir John Yorke of Nidderdale, 1656–1634 (London, 1939), p. 14.Bernard Jennings, A History of Nidderdale (Huddersfield, 1967), p. 385.
Proctor seems to have been anxious about his neighbour's religious beliefs, suspecting that Sir John Mallory supported a Catholic seminary in Studley Royal Park.John Richard Walbran, Memorials of the abbey of St. Mary of Fountains, 2:1 (Ripon, 1878), p. 347. A convicted and condemned burglar, David Paler or Paley, in prison at York Castle, alleged that Mallory pretended that he hosted priests in his park, so that his keepers could accidentally kill Proctor as a poacher, if he came to investigate at night. Paler mentioned other enemies, and Proctor's involvement with properties having disputed title due to the Earl of Derby's inheritance.John Richard Walbran, Memorials of the abbey of St. Mary of Fountains, 2:1 (Ripon, 1878), p. 347.Andy Wood, "Subordination, Solidarity and the Limits of Popular Agency in a Yorkshire Valley c. 1596-1615", Past & Present, 193 (November 2006), p. 69
In August 1609, Proctor and Timothy Whittingham were involved in the capture of the Catholics John Mush and Matthew Flathers at Upsall Castle.Michael Questier, Conversion, politics, and religion in England, 1580–1625 (Cambridge, 1996), p. 141: Christopher Howard, Sir John Yorke of Nidderdale, 1656–1634 (London, 1939), pp. 15–16. Proctor investigated Sir John Yorke (1566–1635) of Nidderdale and Gowlthwaite Hall (a relation of William Ingleby) after hearing of theatrical performances of recusant character by the Simpson family at Christmas 1609 and Candlemas 1610.Adam Fox, "Religious Satire", Patrick Collinson & John Craig, The Reformation in English Towns, 1500–1640 (Bloomsbury, 1998), pp. 230–232. The first informer was Elizabeth Stubbs, a former servant at Gowlthwaite, or her husband, the minister William Stubbes.Richard Dutton, Shakespeare's Theatre: A History (Wiley Blackwell, 2018), pp. 58–59: G. W. Boddy, "Players of Interludes in North Yorkshire in the Early Seventeenth Century", North Yorkshire County Record Office Journal, 3 (Northallerton, 1976), pp. 95-130 at 105. Proctor alleged that Yorke's servants danced to a piper in the churchyard on the Sabbath, claiming that with "theire piping and revellinge wolde make such a noyse in time of praier, as the mynyster colde not well be h[e]arde".Phebe Jensen, "Singing Psalms to Horn-Pipes: Festivity, Iconoclasm, and Catholicism in The Winter's Tale", Shakespeare Quarterly, 55:3 (Autumn, 2004), p. 288 citing court record Hobart v. Yorke, TNA STAC 8/19/10 p. 40. Charges against Yorke grew into complicity in the Gunpowder Plot. Proctor also said that he had disrupted Prince Charles's visit to Fountains.Christopher Howard, Sir John Yorke of Nidderdale, 1656–1634 (London, 1939), p. 14. Eventually, Yorke was heavily fined by the Star Chamber for hosting the players.Siobhan Keenan, "The Simpson players of Jacobean Yorkshire and the professional stage", Theatre Notebook, 67:1 (2013), pp. 16–35: Cora Louise Scofield, A Study of the Court of Star Chamber: Largely Based on Manuscripts in the British Museum and the Public Record Office (Chicago, 1900), p. 47
Amongst the evidence, there is a suggestion that Proctor had seen the players perform, and perhaps a Saint Christopher play with suitable adjustments was played at Gowlthwaite and a house of the Danby family.Phebe Jensen, "Recusance, festivity, and community", Richard Dutton, Alison Gail Findlay, Richard Wilson, Region, Religion and Patronage: Lancastrian Shakespeare (Manchester, 2003), pp. 101–119. The performances were said to have included a dispute between a Catholic priest and a Protestant minister, which was the main focus of the prosecution,Martin Wiggins & Catherine Richardson, British Drama, 1533–1642: 1609–1616 (Oxford, 2012), pp. 14–15.Phebe Jensen, "Singing Psalms to Horn-Pipes: Festivity, Iconoclasm, and Catholicism in The Winter's Tale", Shakespeare Quarterly, 55:3 (Autumn, 2004), pp. 286–287. as the direct presentation of religious controversy on the stage was forbidden by statute.Gina M. Di Salvo, The Renaissance of the Saints After Reform (Oxford, 2023), p. 100: Paul Hughes & James Larkin, Tudor Royal Proclamations, 2 (Yale, 1969), pp. 115–116.