Sir Christopher Clitherow (10 January 1578 – 11 November 1641) was an English merchant and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1628 to 1629. He was

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

in 1635. Clitherow was the son of Henry Clitherow and his wife Bridget Hewett. His father was a prosperous citizen of London and a Master of the

Worshipful Company of Ironmongers The Worshipful Company of Ironmongers is one of the Great Twelve Livery Company, livery companies of the City of London, incorporated under a Royal Charter in 1463. History The Ironmongers, who were originally known as the Ferroners, were in ...

. Clitherow was also a member of the Ironmongers company. He was a prominent member of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

as early as March 1601 and in 1604 was a member of the committee of the company. He was also active in efforts to discover the North West passage, being named in a grant of incorporation to promote expeditions in 1612. In 1618 he was Master of the Ironmongers Company. He was nominated unsuccessfully for the positions of Deputy Governor and Treasurer of the East India Company in 1619. In 1624 he was master of the Ironmongers Company again. He was elected an alderman for Aldersgate ward on 2 January 1625 and was chosen as a

Sheriff of London Two sheriffs are elected annually for the City of London by the Liverymen of the City livery company, livery companies. Today's sheriffs have only nominal duties, but the historical officeholders had important judicial responsibilities. They have ...

and Middlesex in the same year. Also in 1625 he became Deputy Governor of the East India Company.London Leaders
/ref> Clitherow transferred as alderman to the Billingsgate ward on 7 February 1627 and remained until his death. Around this time he was appointed member of a Commission formed to examine the accounts of moneys raised to repress pirates from Algiers and Tunis. In 1628, Clitherow was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

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and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. In 1635 Clitherow became Lord Mayor of London when a pageant was performed entitled "London's Harbour of Health and Happiness". He was knighted at Hampton Court on 15 January 1637. From 1636 to 1640 he was President of Christ's Hospital. He created two scholarships at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

which bear his name. From 1638 to his death he was Governor of the East India Company. Clitherow died at the age of 63 and was buried in the church of St Andrew Undershaft. Clitherow married twice. One wife was a daughter of Sir Thomas Cambell, Lord Mayor in 1609–10, and their daughter married

Sir Thomas Trollope, 1st Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English language, English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist i ...

. 'Notes on the aldermen, 1502–1700', The Aldermen of the City of London: Temp. Henry III – 1912 (1908), pp. 168–195. Date accessed: 15 July 2011
/ref> Another daughter Rachel married Dr William Paule,

Bishop of Oxford The Bishop of Oxford is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Oxford in the Province of Canterbury; his seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. The current bishop is Steven Croft, following the confirmation of his electio ...

, and his son James purchased

Boston Manor Boston Manor is an English Jacobean manor house built in 1622 with internal alterations, intensively restored in later centuries and Boston Manor Park is the adjoining publicly owned green space including a lake. It was the manor house o ...

References

External links

Portrait of Sir Christopher Clitherow
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clitherow, Christopher 1578 births 1641 deaths Members of the Parliament of England for the City of London Sheriffs of the City of London 17th-century lord mayors of London 17th-century English merchants English MPs 1628–1629