See also
- Thomas VYNER's father: John VYNER ( - )
Thomas VYNER ( - )
1. Thomas 1 VYNER, son of John VYNER of North Cerney ( - ), married Anne EYCOTT.
Anne EYCOTT was the daughter of Richard EACOTT Snr. ( - ). She and Thomas 1 VYNER had the following children:
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Second Generation
2. Mary VYNER, daughter of Thomas 1 VYNER and Anne EYCOTT, married Samuel MOORE.
Samuel MOORE was a Goldsmith. He and Mary VYNER had the following children:
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3. Sir Thomas 2 VYNER MP, 1st Baronet, son of Thomas 1 VYNER and Anne EYCOTT, was born on [Julian] 15 December 1588 in North Cerney, Gloucestershire. He had the title 'Lord Mayor of London'. He was a Goldsmith, Banker, Lord Mayor of London. He died in [Julian] 1665. He married Anne PARSONS. He married Alice BAT.
Thomas Vyner was born into a family from near Cirencester in Gloucestershire. His mother, an Eacott (sometimes spelled Ecott, Ekott or other variations), came from a well-to-do family who may have had farming connections and also something to do with the goldsmith trade in Cirencester.
Thomas relocated to London, where he became immensely successful as a goldsmith, at a time when the company was going through extremely difficult times, with King James I repeatedly forcing the company and other city companies to lend the exchequer vast sums of money; this included money for the notorious "plantation of Ulster", when Irish land was sequestered from the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell, and an attempt was made to settle Ulster with English and Scottish protestants. However, it was when there were not enough takers for this venture that the King forced companies such as the Goldsmiths' Company to become involved.
In 1662, Sir Thomas and his nephew Robert were granted a contract to coin small silver money in Irealnd.
Thomas fared better under the Protectorate, and was in 1665 knighted by Oliver Cromwell, took over the pivotal role of Comptroller of the Mint, and was also, between 1653-4, Lord Mayor of London.
As an insight into his religious beliefs, Sir Thomas, on his death in 1665, left money for the work of the non-conformist church of Dr. Spurstow in Hackney: Dr. Spurstow's assistant at this time was one Ezekiel Hopkins (who married Sir Thomas' niece Alicia Moore, daughter of the goldsmith Samuel Moore). Incidentally, Hopkins later conformed and was to become Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, and be embroiled in the turmoil of contemproary Irish poiltics.
Thomas groomed his nephew Robert to be his successor, both in business and in politics (see article on Sir Robert Vyner).
Anne PARSONS was the daughter of Richard PARSONS ( - ) and Honor HUMBLE ( - ). She and Thomas 2 VYNER had the following children:
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Alice BAT died after 1665. She was buried in East Acton.
4. William VYNER, son of Thomas 1 VYNER and Anne EYCOTT, was born. He died.
.. of East Coope, Warwickshire.
William VYNER had the following children:
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Third Generation
5. Alicia MOORE, daughter of Samuel MOORE and Mary VYNER, was born in [Julian] 1645 (estimated). She was baptised in [Julian] 1645. She married Ezekiel HOPKINS circa 1670. She died on [Julian] 21 May 1681.
Right Rev Ezekiel HOPKINS, son of Rev'd John HOPKINS (c. 1600-1678) and Anne UNK ( -1676), was born on 3 December 1634. He was a Bishop in the Anglican Church; Puritan. He had the title 'Right Rev, Bishop of Derry and Raphoe'. He married Araminta ROBARTES on 21 October 1685 in Derry, Ireland. He died in 1689. He and Alicia MOORE had the following children:
| 10 | Francis HOPKINS (bef1664- ). Francis was born before [Julian] 1664. |
| 11 | Charles HOPKINS (1664-1699?). Charles was born in [Julian] 1664. He died in 1699 (estimated). |
| 12 | Mary HOPKINS (1666-1667). Mary was born in [Julian] 1666. She was baptised on 29 March 1666 in Exeter. She died on [Julian] 3 March 1667. |
| 13 | Anna HOPKINS (1667?-1668). Anna was born in [Julian] 1667 (estimated). She died on [Julian] 11 September 1668. |
| 14 | Ezekill HOPKINS (1668?-1669). Ezekill was born in [Julian] 1668 (estimated). He died on [Julian] 29 July 1669. |
| 15 | Job HOPKINS (1669?- ). Job was born in [Julian] 1669 (estimated). |
| 16 | Samuel HOPKINS (c. 1674-1743). Samuel was born circa [Julian] 1674. He married Susanna PRIOR circa [Julian] 8 January 1732. He died on [Julian] 5 July 1743. He made a will in 1754. He was. He was buried in Bucknell Church. |
| 17 | John HOPKINS (1675- ). John was born on 1 January 1675. |
| 18 | Mary Anne HOPKINS ( - ). Mary was born. She married Thomas STEWART in 1693. |
6. Rebecca VYNER, daughter of Sir Thomas 2 VYNER MP, 1st Baronet and Anne PARSONS, married Richard PIGOT.
7. Mary VYNER, daughter of Sir Thomas 2 VYNER MP, 1st Baronet and Anne PARSONS, married Richard NAPIER.
8. Elizabeth VYNER, daughter of Sir Thomas 2 VYNER MP, 1st Baronet and Anne PARSONS, married Henry PICKERING.
9. Sir Robert VYNER Baronet, son of William VYNER, was born in [Julian] 1631. He had the title 'Lord Mayor of London'. He was a Banker, Lord Mayor of London. He died in [Julian] 1688 in Windsor Castle.
Robert Vyner, born in Warwickshire in 1631, rose rapidly to a position of great power and influence under the tutelage and patronage of his uncle Sir Thomas Vyner (see article on Sir Thomas). In 1661, at the age of thirty, he became the King's Goldsmith (Charles II). He was knighted in 1665, and in the following year became an Alderman of the City of London and Sheriff of London, which position he held at the time of the Great Fire of 1666. The King attended the Mayoral Banquet at which Sir Robert was confirmed as Lord Mayor of London in 1674. Sir Robert also became a baronet at this time.
It is a snapshot of the power and status enjoyed by Sir Robert Vyner that "in 1675, three hundred and fifty richly-habited archers marched through the city to compliment Sir Robert Vyner, the Lord Mayor, who entertained them at dinner".
Sir Robert Vyner at one time or another owned Sutton House (in Hackney), Swakeley House (in Ickenham, Middlesex) and the house that is now the post-office on the south side of Lombard Street.
He won and lost vast sums of money: when the goldsmiths, at a time of great difficulty already alluded to, all but abandoned the practice of making and selling plate, they took to running full-time banking houses, using the promissory notes which were the forerunner of our first bank notes. From this Sir Robert and other goldsmiths made an immense fortune. At one time he "bought the crown jewels of Charles II and furnished £300,000 to the Restoration Navy. And yet, earlier in his career, before his success as a banker, he was owed £400,000 by the national exchequer, and, when the it suspended payment in 1672, Robert had to deal with his creditors!
In about 1670, Sir Robert set up an equestrian statue of Charles II at Stocks Market, the site of the present Mansion House, this to complement another , at Charing Cross, of Charles II's father Charles I: the poet Andrew Marvell was somewhat sceptical of Sir Robert's motives and of both Stuart monarchs -
"That he should be styled Defender of the Faith
Who believes not a word what the Word of God Saith"
and:
"Though he changed his religion, I hope he's so civil,
Not to think his own father is gone to the devil!"
... he says of Charles I; and, when the Stocks Market horse launched out at Charles I for having fought so desperately for the "surplice, lawn sleeves, the cross and the mitre", the Charing Cross horse retorted with a sneer:
"Thy king will ne'er fight unless for his queens".
Whether Sir Robert himself was aware of his own ambivalent position of his family having first risen to its position through Oliver Cromwell and the Protectorate, and having fared so badly under the James and Charles I, now flattering and sidling up to the later Stuart monarchs, is not known. But then, politics has always been about expediency!