Richard Fermor was an English wool merchant. His father was also a wool merchant in Witney

Witney

Witney is a town on the River Windrush, west of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England.The place-name 'Witney' is first attested in a Saxon charter of 969 as 'Wyttannige'; it appears as 'Witenie' in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name means 'Witta's island'....

, Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

, called Thomas Fermor.

He was a merchant of the staple at Calais.

He married Anne, daughter of Sir William Browne, Lord Mayor of London

Lord Mayor of London

The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...

. They had five sons, inclusing John and Thomas, and five daughters.

In 1509, he was one of the jurors who convicted Richard Empson

Richard Empson

Sir Richard Empson , minister of Henry VII, King of England, was a son of Peter Empson, an influential inhabitant of Towcester....

 and he benefited financially from Empson's fall by buying the manor of Easton Neston

Easton Neston

Easton Neston is a country house near Towcester, Northamptonshire, England, and is part of the Easton Neston Parish. It was designed in the Baroque style by the architect Nicholas Hawksmoor. Easton Neston is thought to be the only mansion which was solely the work of Hawksmoor...

. From 1520 to 1523, Fermor was the warden of the Grocers' Company. In 1540, Fermor was found guilty of misprision of treason

Misprision of treason

Misprision of treason is an offence found in many common law jurisdictions around the world, having been inherited from English law. It is committed by someone who knows a treason is being or is about to be committed but does not report it to a proper authority...

 and on 9 May 1540 he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Marshalsea Prison and attainted

Attainder

In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura is the metaphorical 'stain' or 'corruption of blood' which arises from being condemned for a serious capital crime . It entails losing not only one's property and hereditary titles, but typically also the right to pass them on to one's heirs...

. In 1541, he was pardoned.