Hall marks on gold & silver plate

22 HALL MARKS ON PLATE.
at the sign of the " Purse " in Chepe, of which the said Calton made
two communion cups weighing but fifty-two ounces, the balance due
being 17s. 8d. ("Surrey Church Notes," by J. R. D. Tyssen.)
1 53 1. William Symson, goldsmith. In the records we find
that there were certain chains of a censor, weighing 6\ ounces, which
were attached by him, brought to be set by one Richard Allen, which
chains belonged to the Abbot of Reading, in Berkshire; Robert
Trappes and JoJ'in Patterson being then wardens of the Company.
1540. ^At an assembly of the Goldsmiths' Company, "the fol-
lowing six goldsmiths were appointed to ride to fetch the Queen :
Mr. Spendley, Mr. Aldewyn, Mr. Chaundeler, Mr. Draper, Mr. Morton,
and Mr. Hatwoode" to ride in black velvet coats with chains of
gold about their necks, and velvet caps with broches of gold, and
their servants to ride with them in russet coats of good cloth."
1540. Sir Martin Bowes, goldsmith. Sheriff, 1540, Mayor in
1545-6, Master of the Mint in 1542 and 1546, M.P. for London four
times from 1546 to 1555. Lie was Mayor five times, and lent Henry
VIII, whose purse was a cullender, the sum of ^^300. Sir Martin
was butler at Queen Elizabeth's coronation, and left his gold fee
cup, out of which the Queen drank to the Goldsmiths' Company.*
His portrait, attributed to Holbein, hangs in the <strong>Hall</strong>. He presented
a state sword to the Corporation of York, inscribed on the
blade, "
Syr Martyn Bowes, knight, borne within this citie of Yorke,
and Maior of the citie of London 1545. For a remembrance gave
this sword to the maior and communaltie of this honorable citie."
Many of the coins of Henry VIII and Edward VI, struck while he
was Master of the Mint, bear the Mint <strong>marks</strong> of a swan, rose, arrow,
or a bow, coined at the mint in Durham House, Strand. The bow
and the swan form part of his armorial bearings. The shield of
Sir Martin Bowes has in chief a swan between two leopards' heads,
and below three bows, the ground semee with ermine. Stowe, in
speaking of the illustrious personages buried in the old church of
"
All
Grey Friars, in Newgate Street, says, while naming many :
these and five times as many more monuments, seven score marble
grave-stones, alabaster tombs, etc., were all sold for ^^50 by Sir Martin
Bowes, goldsmith and alderman." Even the name of Grey Friars
became extinct when Christ's Llospital was founded. He died
August 4, 1566, and was buried in the church of St. Mary Wolnoth.
Sir Martin Bowes founded almshouses at Woolwich, in Kent, by a
bequest to the Goldsmiths' Company.
1 541. Sir John Williams. He was styled the King's Goldsmith
and Master of the King's Jewels; he dwelt in Elsing Spital.
"In 1 541, on Christmas even about 7 o'clock, a great fire began in
the gallery thereof, which burned so sore that the flame, firing the
* The elegant cup presented by him to fhe Company, and which is still
preserved among their plate, could not be given him in right of his office, at
the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, as chief butler, because Sir William
Hewett, citizen and clothworker, was T^ord Mayor that year, and had the
cup in his own right. Probably the above cup was a royal gift upon another
occasion.