ABSTRACT
In 1543 Thomas Gresham ended an eight-year apprenticeship to his uncle John and was admitted a member of the Mercers' Company. As he himself later explained, this was a somewhat unusual course of events as 'I need not have bynne prentisse for that I was free by my Father's coppye: albeit my Father Sir Richard Gresham being a wyse man, although I was free by his coppye, it was to no purpos, except I was bound prentisse to the same; whereby to come by the experience and knowledge of all kinds of merchandise.'1 Yet due to this paternal foresight, by the time of his admittance to the Mercers' Company, although he continued to operate in the shadow of his father, Thomas had so thoroughly acquired that requisite 'knowledge of all kinds of merchandise' that he was well on the way to becoming the de facto head of the Netherlands branch of the commercial operations of the 'House of Gresham'. Before he could assume, in 1546-47, this mantle fashioned for him by his father, however, he had one major obstacle to overcome. On 3 March 1545 Secretary Paget wrote from Brussels that Thomas, then trading in his own right, was one of the English merchants whose goods had been seized by order of Charles V. In a section of his letter which is worth quoting in full he also explained why the Greshams, because of their particular activities, were likely to survive this disastrous turn of events.
