Richard Tylman of Faversham was an English food commodity dealer and exporter. He served as

Mayor of Faversham The following were among the mayors of Faversham, Kent, England: Pre 21st Century *1438 Simonis Orwell *1465 Willelmus Norton *1480 Edward Thomasson hompson*1535 Richard Colwell *1550: Thomas Arden, who was murdered by his wife, Alice Arde ...

in 1580 during the reign of

Elizabeth I of England 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 ...

, at an ancient sea port established before the Roman conquest. Around 1580, when Tylman served as Faversham's mayor, England was still underpopulated with millions of acres of land lying in waste or covered by bog. "Roads were worse than the Romans had left them" observed the Kent Archaeological Field School study. The grain harvest was the main source of income, with timber as the essential building material. Most industry was cottage based with spinning, knitting, weaving, tanning, and smithying at the centre of the local economy.

Life

Richard Tylman was born in

Pluckley Pluckley is a village and civil parish in the Ashford (borough), Ashford district of Kent, England. The civil parish includes the nucleated village, adjacent hamlet of Pluckley Thorne. Geography The landscape of the area itself is the edge of a ...

, Kent, England in 1546 to Nicholas Tylman and his wife Mildred. Richard married Ellen, the daughter of Thomas Cobb (Cobbes) of the Cobb

Coat of Arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

, and had 7 children with her: Alice, Avie, Margery, Nicholas, Richard, Thomas, and William (1562–1614, mayor of Faversham in 1594). Richard Tylman died on 8 September 1584 in

Faversham Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British t ...

, Kent. His children were bequeathed 20 shillingsthe equivalent of £179 each based on retail price index or £3,210 using average earnings in 2010 each at the age of 20< by their maternal grandfather Thomas.

Business dealings

Richard Tylman of Faversham, was a leading corn, wheat and malt exporter to London. His name was sometimes spelled Tillman in official records (used in books) since the spelling of names wasn't fixed, as it is today. Nevertheless, the mayor and grain exporter were one and the same person, identified through his business correspondence with the Lord Treasurer, preserved by the City of London Corporation. In 1580 all corn sold by Faversham dealers to the London merchants came from Richard Tylman, including 17 cargoes of wheat, delivered in 33 ship voyages carrying grain, an average of 64 quarters per voyage. Also in 1580, along with Nicholas Freeman, Tylman exported 745 quarters of malt to the capital. Thames barges - geograph

The prosperous trade with London allowed Tylman (Tillman) to make new acquisitions. In 1581 he bought three houses (

messuage In law, conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of real property from one person to another, or the granting of an encumbrance such as a mortgage or a lien. A typical conveyancing transaction has two major phases: the exchange of contracts ...

s) with two gardens, two additional storerooms and one

granary A granary is a storehouse or room in a barn for threshed grain or animal feed. Ancient or primitive granaries are most often made of pottery. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animal ...

, as well as two

wharfs A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring location ...

in the harbour fitted with a capstan and

appurtenance An appurtenance is something subordinate to or belonging to another larger, principal entity, that is, an adjunct, satellite or accessory that generally accompanies something else. The valuable surplus grain produced by local farmers used to be delivered to Faversham wharfs in carts, and unloaded at merchants'

quay A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring location ...

s (like the ones bought by Tylman) for export by sea. Sending similar quantities by road was simply not possible. Already during the reign of Elizabeth I of the

Tudor dynasty The House of Tudor was a royal house of largely Welsh and English origin that held the English throne from 1485 to 1603. They descended from the Tudors of Penmynydd and Catherine of France. Tudor monarchs ruled the Kingdom of England and it ...

, England began to experience dramatic shortages of timber. The rising price of wood lead to a greater demand for coal. Meanwhile, the physical distance of timber deliveries steadily grew. Richard Tylman along with all traders of Faversham exported processed timber to London.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tylman, Richard 1546 births 1584 deaths English merchants Mayors of places in Kent 16th-century merchants 16th-century English businesspeople People from Faversham People from Pluckley