Tobias Gentleman ( fl. 1614) was an English mariner and writer, known for his book ''England's way to win wealth'', recommending development of the herring fisheries in England.

Life

Gentleman was a son of Thomas and Joan Gentleman, of

Southwold Southwold is a seaside town and civil parish on the English North Sea coast in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk. It lies at the mouth of the River Blyth within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town is a ...

, in Suffolk, England; Thomas Gentleman's father William was a merchant and shipowner. He wrote that he was "borne a fisherman's sonne by the seashore," and spent his "youthful time about fisher affaires, whereby I am more skilfull in nets, lines, and hookes then in Rethoricke, Logicke, or learned bookes." About 1612 he was consulted by John Keymer, a writer on economics, who was collecting information about the herring fisheries with a view to stimulating their development. Gentleman gave Keymer the benefit of his experience, but, nothing having come of the scheme, Gentleman determined to publish his ideas himself. The result appeared in 1614, published by

Nathaniel Butter Nathaniel Butter (died 22 February 1664) was a London publisher of the early 17th century. The publisher of the first edition of Shakespeare's ''King Lear'' in 1608, he has also been regarded as one of the first publishers of a newspaper in Engl ...

of London, under the title ''England's way to win wealth, and to employ ships and marriners, or, A plain description what great profite, it will bring unto the Commonwealth of England, by the erecting, building, and adventuring of busses, to sea, a-fishing. With a true relation of the inestimable wealth that is yearely taken out of his majesties seas, by the Hollanders, by their numbers of busses, pinkes and line-boates … and also a discourse of the sea-coast townes of England''. It was dedicated to

Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, KG (25 February 154015 June 1614), was an important English aristocrat and courtier. He was suspect as a crypto-Catholic throughout his life, and went through periods of royal disfavour, in which his reputati ...

and warden of the Cinque Ports.

Later history of the book

Nothing more is known of Gentleman. In 1660 a new edition of his book, with an address to the reader instead of the dedication, and other alterations, appeared as ''The Best Way to make England the richest and wealthiest country in Europe by Advancing the Fishing Trade''. It was also included in ''

The Harleian Miscellany ''The Harleian Miscellany'' is a collection of material from the library of the Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer collated and edited by Samuel Johnson and William Oldys between 1744 and 1753 on behalf of the publisher Thomas Osborne. Its subtit ...

'' (editions of 1744 and 1808). Gentleman's scheme was similar to that propounded by the military writer Robert Hitchcock in his ''Politique Platt for a Prince'' (1581), and both Hitchcock and Gentleman are commended by

Thomas Mun Sir Thomas Mun (17 June 157121 July 1641) was an English writer on economics and is often referred to as the last of the early mercantilists. Most notably, he is known for serving as the director of the East India Company. Due to his strong b ...

Gerard de Malynes Gerard de Malynes (fl. 1585–1627) was an independent merchant in foreign trade, an English commissioner in the Spanish Netherlands, a government advisor on trade matters, assay master of the mint, and commissioner of mint affairs. His dates of b ...

gives an abridgement of Gentleman's book in his ''Lex Mercatoria'' (1622) (chapter xlvii).

References

Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gentleman, Tobias People from Southwold 17th-century English economists