A HISTORY OF SURREY 



within our own county, Richard Neede of 

 Rotherhithe in the year 1600.' Possibly his 

 mill was the old one which Henry Reve had 

 set up by the year 1555, or, if it was not the 

 same, that of Francis Lee. In 1603 Evelyn 

 and his fellow patentees complained that 

 since the queen's death the validity of their 

 patent had been vexatiously questioned, and 

 requested the Council's letters of assistance to 

 confirm it.* 



The patent had been granted for a term of 

 ten years, but one half only of this term had 

 elapsed when it was cancelled on the requisi- 

 tion on 18 October 1604 of the two Evelyns 

 and Hardinge.^ Of the two remaining 

 patentees Simeon Furner was now dead,* and 

 John Wrenham, if still alive, had evidently 

 relinquished all his right and interest in the 

 undertaking to the others. Simultaneously 

 with this surrender the three makers were 

 granted a new patent,* for which they had 

 previously made their ' humble offer.' The 

 terms of this offer or tender, so far as they 

 relate to the production of saltpetre, have 

 been already commented upon. The peti- 

 tioners represented that they had effected a 

 saving to the treasure of the kingdom of 

 ;^20,000 a year, and were maintaining 

 1,000 people with their families who had no 

 other trade of life. They offered to serve 

 the Crown with 100 or 120 lasts yearly, 

 but prayed that they might have all houses 

 and grounds fitting the service, and a year's 

 warning before their contract should be de- 

 termined. 



By the terms of their new compact with 

 the Crown they were to supply i 20 lasts of 

 cornpowder yearly at Sd. the pound, 10 lasts 

 to be sent in every month. Cornpowder re- 

 quired over and above this amount, both for 

 callivers and cannon, was to be paid for at the 

 rate of lod. the pound. 



The term of the present patent was en- 

 larged to twenty-one years, and a penalt)' of 

 /50 for every monthly default on the part of 

 the powder makers was imposed. The pre- 

 amble sets out in detail the advantages which 

 had been gained by the making of powder with- 

 in the realm. These are said to include, be- 

 sides freedom from the caprice of princes who 

 might demand unreasonable rates, and from 

 the hazards of contrary winds at sea and 

 shipwreck, the riddance of that special bug- 



1 Surr. Anh. Coll. xi. 117. 

 a S. P. Dom. Jas. I. i. 64. 

 ' See the ' vacatur ' clause at the end of the 

 indenture enrolled on Pat. 41 Eliz. pt. 4, ra. 12. 

 « Pipe Office Declared Accts. 2 70S. 

 » Pat. 2 Jas. I. pt. 7, ms. 20, 25. 



bear of the old mercantile theory of com- 

 merce, the necessity, that is to say, of sending 

 ready money out of the kingdom. 



This patent had been in operation for a 

 little more than two years and a half, when 

 it would seem to have been superseded on 

 8 May 1607 by one granted to the Earl of 

 Worcester, to make and work for all manner 

 of saltpetre and gunpowder within the realms 

 of England and Ireland for twenty-one years.* 

 The preamble to this makes mention of ' such 

 inconveniences as have grown through the 

 abuses of some such as have had the dealing 

 in making of saltpetre,' to avoid which the 

 Crown had sought to fiirnish its stores from 

 the parts beyond the seas, a course which 

 however had proved expensive and impractic- 

 able. 



Then follows a period of ten years during 

 which we hear little of the supply of gun- 

 powder, and are left in ignorance as to 

 whether the earl himself turned powder 

 maker or whether he deputed his powers to 

 others, and if so to whom. At any rate 

 powder more than sufficient was supplied to 

 the Tower stores, for in January 16 10 the 

 king licensed the earl to send 1,200 barrels 

 abroad to friendly nations, and afterwards 

 ' all such as shall not be required in our 

 stores.' ' Probably John Evelyn continued to 

 work his mills, for he was able, when the 

 Earl of Worcester relinquished his patent on 

 28 March 161 7, to continue the service. In 

 December 1620 we find him again account- 

 ing for decayed powder and saltpetre received 

 from the ordnance stores, and for new powder 

 supplied in place of the same.* 



Hitherto the sovereign had kept in his own 

 hands the business of appointing his gun- 

 powder contractors, but about this time it is 

 evident that he was endeavouring to make 

 some new arrangement and to depute his 

 authority. For a short time the whole gun- 

 powder business seems to have been in an 

 unsettled state. On 24 January 1619-20" 

 the king granted the licence to make gun- 

 powder to his Lord High Admiral, the 

 Marquis of Buckingham and some others, 

 and again on 2 1 September of that year ** to 

 a commission which included the same officer 

 and the Masters of the Ordnance and of the 

 Court of Wards. These commissioners 

 would seem to have no sooner assumed their 

 functions than they were anxious to be rid 



« Pat. 5 Jas. I. pt. ii.m. 4id. 



' S. P. Dom. Jas. I. Add. xxxix. 1 14. 



' Ibid. Jas. I. cxviii. 74. 



» Ibid. Grant Bk. 281. 



" Ibid. Docquets. 



314 



