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A wool-stapler is a dealer in 
Some wool-staplers acquired significant wealth, such as Richard Chandler of
Early 20th century publicity for a wool-stapler.
Wool trade Medieval English merchants
A wool-stapler is a dealer in wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...
. The wool-stapler buys wool from the producer, sorts and grades it, and sells it on to manufacturers.
Some wool-staplers acquired significant wealth, such as Richard Chandler of Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
(England) who built Winston Hall in 1750.
Staples
"Staple" in this particular context means a market. Before the 17th century a staple was also a particular type of market, "a place appointed by royal authority, in which a body of merchants had exclusive right of purchase of certain goods destined for export". The now best known English staple was at Calais but inmedieval times
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire an ...
there were, at various times, many others throughout the kingdoms of England and Ireland and the facing coast of the Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
all involved, though not exclusively, with the English wool trade.
Etymology
The term "wool-stapler" fell out of use during the 20th century.References and sources
;References {{reflist ;Sources *''Oxford English Dictionary'' entries for 'wool-stapler' and 'staple'.External links
Early 20th century publicity for a wool-stapler.
Wool trade Medieval English merchants