Company of Adventurers of London for the Discovery of New Trades

Company of Adventurers of London for the Discovery of New Trades
Name	Company of Adventurers of London for the Discovery of New Trades
Founded	1620s
Founders	Sir Walter Raleigh; Merchants of the Staple; City of London Corporation
Type	Chartered company
Headquarters	London
Dissolved	17th century (effectively)
Key people	Francis Bacon; Sir Thomas Smythe; Sir William Strode; John Tradescant the Elder

Company of Adventurers of London for the Discovery of New Trades was an early 17th-century London chartered corporation created to promote manufacturing, import substitution, and colonial raw-material exploitation through investment, experimentation, and patronage. It drew participants from the City of London Corporation, merchant adventurers connected to the East India Company and the Muscovy Company, parliamentary figures from the English Parliament, and intellectual patrons from circles around Francis Bacon and the Royal Society (1660) precursors.

History

The Company emerged amid the commercial expansion following the Spanish Armada aftermath, the reconfiguration of the Merchant Adventurers networks, and the revival of interest in industrial projects championed by figures linked to James I of England. Early activity intersected with enterprises such as the East India Company, the Virginia Company, and the Somers Isles Company, and engaged with technologists associated with the Livery Companies of the City of London and innovators connected to John Dee and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester. Parliamentary debates during the Addled Parliament and the Happy Parliament framed its privileges and conflicts with guilds like the Worshipful Company of Drapers and the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers.

Founding and Charter

Charter negotiations involved trustees and patrons drawn from the Privy Council of England, members of the House of Commons of England, and investors from the Royal Exchange, London. The Company’s charter sought monopolistic privileges resembling grants to the Virginia Company and the East India Company; contemporaneous legal disputes invoked precedents from the Court of Chancery and rulings by judges such as Sir Edward Coke. Backers included aristocrats with colonial interests—figures related to the Duke of Buckingham (George Villiers) faction—and merchants associated with ports like Bristol and Liverpool.

Objectives and Activities

The Company pursued diversification of English industry by importing skilled artisans and experimenting with new manufacturing techniques related to silk, dyeing, metalworking, and glass, interacting with innovators in Venice, Antwerp, and Leiden. Projects involved transplantation of craftspeople from France and Flanders, collaboration with craftsmen linked to the Huguenots and the Walloon community, and commissions for pattern-books similar to efforts by Christopher Simpson and collectors like John Tradescant the Elder. It contracted with manufacturers in Derbyshire and Kent, financed overseas raw-material procurement from New France and the Caribbean, and intersected with colonial trade routes of the Dutch East India Company and Portuguese India Armadas.

Key Figures and Membership

Prominent backers and managers included parliamentarians, court officials, and scientific patrons: Francis Bacon as intellectual exemplar, administrators akin to Sir Thomas Smythe, and investors with links to Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir William Strode. Recruitment drew from the Merchant Adventurers, aldermen of the City of London Corporation, and gentlemen connected to Oxford University and Cambridge University networks. Craftsmen and technical advisers included émigré artisans from Florence, Lyon, and Nuremberg; botanical and natural-history correspondents such as John Tradescant the Elder and collectors in the circle of Robert Hooke provided knowledge transfers.

Economic and Social Impact

The Company stimulated proto-industrialization by encouraging the diffusion of techniques associated with continental centers like Florence and Antwerp, supporting artisanal communities in counties such as Surrey and Sussex, and pressuring traditional guilds including the Worshipful Company of Mercers. Its policies affected markets in commodities traded at the Royal Exchange, London and port traffic in Hull and Plymouth. Socially, it fostered immigration of skilled workers from Huguenot communities and influenced patronage patterns linking the Court of James I and provincial elites, while provoking resistance from entrenched interests represented in the House of Lords.

Decline and Legacy

The Company’s influence waned as legal challenges in the Court of King’s Bench and fiscal pressures during the English Civil War era reconfigured investment priorities; competing chartered corporations such as the Royal African Company and renewed focus on the East India Company marginalized its projects. Nevertheless, its experiments in technology transfer, artisan migration, and state-private collaboration prefigured initiatives by the Board of Trade (United Kingdom) and the later industrial policies associated with the Industrial Revolution. Archival traces persist in estate papers of families connected to the City of London Corporation, manuscript collections linked to Francis Bacon, and compilations in the libraries of Bodleian Library and the British Library.

Category:17th-century companies Category:History of London