ABSTRACT
Phillipp Smyth came from Corsham in Wiltshire, and was probably a nephew of Thomas Smythe the customer. A document of 1575 suggests that Philip Smyth was the principal factor of William Burd the Mercer, Thomas Smythe's Custom House colleague. He was a warden of the Haberdashers' Company in 1591; 5 and it was possibly he who, in the same year, captained a ship which sailed in company with Lord Thomas Howard's fleet. Together with John Byrd, Philip Smyth was named in the Spanish Company's patent of 1577. During his imprisonment Smyth and another prisoner, Robert Fisher, made a complaint against George Reynell. Smyth was probably able to conduct business while in the Fleet, and was the sponsor when one of Symond Byrd's sons was made free of the Haberdashers Company. The elder Philip Smyth was in the Fleet when he died. He was buried at St Bride Fleet Street on 20 July 1604.
