Hugh Kayle or Keale or Keall (died by 1598) was a London goldsmith who served

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

. He was a son of John Keale, also a goldsmith. Hugh Kayle was a churchwarden of

St Mary Woolnoth St Mary Woolnoth is an Anglican church in the City of London, located on the corner of Lombard Street and King William Street near Bank junction. The present building is one of the Queen Anne Churches, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor. The pari ...

in 1574 and 1575. Kayle marked silverware supplied to the queen with a special punch. In 1578 he made a silver basin for the queen's privy chamber. In 1581, amongst other plate, he made two silver setting sticks for the queen, weighing together 4.25 ounces. These were used to set or shape the queen's ruffs. The sticks went missing in 1595 and a lady of the bedchamber, Margaret Astley (the second wife of John Astley), was held responsible. He worked in partnership with Alderman Richard Martin from 1590. In 1591 they supplied plate given by the queen at several christenings. In October 1594 Kayle and Martin were paid £2635 for their work over a year. This included the costs of plate given to ambassadors or as New Year's day gifts, mending the queen's plate, for paying craftsman working on the queen's coffers, and expenses made by officers of the

Goldsmiths' Company The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, commonly known as the Goldsmiths' Company and formally titled The Wardens and Commonalty of the Mystery of Goldsmiths of the City of London, is one of the Great Twelve Livery Companies of the City of Londo ...

looking for stolen plate. Kayle and Martin received £2236 in May 1597, and £2377 in 1599. In October 1600, Hugh Kayle, Leonard Bushe, and the German-born

John Spilman Sir John Spilman (also spelt Spielman) (died 1626) was a Lindau, German-born entrepreneur who founded the first commercially successful paper-mill in England, establishing a factory on the River Darenth in Dartford, Kent in 1588.Dartford: Cradle of ...

appraised and sold a quantity of old jewels, precious stones, and other stones, from the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

on the orders of Queen Elizabeth. These included pearls that had been embroidered on the Queen's gowns, and "diverse Dutch agates and counterfeit stones". His children included John, Hugh, Lancelot, Anne, and Rowland. The historian Arthur J. Collins notes that Kayle was sometimes required to pay back some of the costs he charged Elizabeth for gold and silver plate which was found to be under weight. Collins notes that Kayle's widow made such a payment in 1598 and so later references may be to his son.Arthur J. Collins, ''Jewels and Plate of Queen Elizabeth'' (London, 1955), pp. 567 no. 1492, 571-23 no. 1512.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kayle, Hugh 1598 deaths English jewellers Kayle 16th-century English people Material culture of royal courts