Samuel Fortrey (1622–1681) was an English landowner and fen drainer, author of ''England's Interest and Improvement, consisting in the increase of the Store and Trade of this Kingdom'' (Cambridge, 1663).

Life

Fortrey, born on 11 June 1622, was the eldest son of Samuel Forterie, a merchant of

Walbrook Walbrook is a City ward and a minor street in its vicinity. The ward is named after a river of the same name. The ward of Walbrook contains two of the City's most notable landmarks: the Bank of England and the Mansion House. The street runs ...

Ward, London, who was grandson of John de la Forterye, a refugee from Lille, and owned a house at

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

, eventually bought by

Queen Charlotte Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and of Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until the union of the two kingdoms ...

. He is identified with Samuel Fortrey of Richmond and Byall Fen,

Isle of Ely The Isle of Ely () is a historic region around the city of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. Between 1889 and 1965, it formed an administrative county. Etymology Its name has been said to mean "island of eels", a reference to the creatures th ...

Clerk of the Deliveries of the Ordnance {{Infobox official post , post = Office of the Clerk of the Deliveries of the Ordnance , body = , nativename = , insignia = File:Badge of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps on a RML 10 inch 18 ton gun in Gibraltar. ...

in 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 ...

, and a bailiff in the corporation of the Great Level.

Works

''England's Interest and Improvement'' is described on the title-page as "one of the gentlemen of his majesties most honourable

privy chamber A privy chamber was the private apartment of a royal residence in England. The Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber were noble-born servants to the Crown who would wait and attend on the King in private, as well as during various court activities, f ...

". It was reprinted in 1673, 1713, and 1744; in Sir Charles Whitworth's ''Scarce Tracts on Trade and Commerce, serving as a supplement to Davenant's Works'', 1778, and in the Political Economy Club's ''Select Collection of Early English Tracts on Commerce'' (ed. McCulloch), 1856. Its most specific advice is that immigration and enclosure should be encouraged, and that the king should set a good example by preferring fabrics of home manufacture. It was for many years frequently referred to by financial writers in consequence of a very circumstantial statement contained in it to the effect that the value of the English imports from France was £2,600,000, and the value of the exports to France £1,000,000, "by which it appears that our trade with France is at least sixteen hundred thousand pounds a year clear lost to this kingdom.Samuel Fortrey experimented with small wooden models in a tank using falling weights"

Family

On 23 February 1647 Fortrey married Theodora Jocelin, the child for whom

Elizabeth Jocelin Elizabeth Brooke Jocelin (sometimes spelled "Joceline" or "Joscelin") was an English writer believed to have lived from 1595–1622. She is best known for her work ''The Mother's Legacy to her Vnborn Child''. The book was first published two year ...

wrote ''The Mother's Legacie to her Unborn Childe''. His children included: * His daughter, Mary married Sir Philip Parker, 2nd Baronet. * His third son, James, groom of the bedchamber to James II, married Lady Belasyse. He died in February 1681.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Fortrey, Samuel 1622 births 1681 deaths 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers