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, eventually bought by Queen Charlotte. He is identified with Samuel Fortrey of Richmond and Byall Fen, Isle of Ely, Clerk of the Deliveries of the Ordnance in the Tower of London, and a bailiff in the corporation of the

Great Level Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

Works

''England's Interest and Improvement'' is described on the title-page as "one of the gentlemen of his majesties most honourable privy chamber". It was reprinted in 1673, 1713, and 1744; in

Sir Charles Whitworth Sir Charles Whitworth (c. 1721 – 22 August 1778) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons for 31 years from 1747 to 1778. He was known for his expertise in statistics and finance. Whitworth was the son of Francis Whitworth, ...

's ''Scarce Tracts on Trade and Commerce, serving as a supplement to Davenant's Works'', 1778, and in the

Political Economy Club The Political Economy Club is the world's oldest economics association founded by James Mill and a circle of friends in 1821 in London, for the purpose of coming to an agreement on the fundamental principles of political economy. David Ricardo, ...

'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 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 Groom of the Chamber was a position in the Household of the monarch in early modern England. Other ''Ancien Régime'' royal establishments in Europe had comparable officers, often with similar titles. In France, the Duchy of Burgundy, and in Eng ...

James II James II may refer to: * James II of Avesnes (died c. 1205), knight of the Fourth Crusade * James II of Majorca (died 1311), Lord of Montpellier * James II of Aragon (1267–1327), King of Sicily * James II, Count of La Marche (1370–1438), King C ...

, 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