William Abell
Encyclopedia
William Abell was an English vintner
who became master of the Vintners' Company
. As a politician he was an alderman
and later sheriff of London. He is associated with a controversy over the manner and terms on which a monopoly in the area of wine retailing was granted to members of the Vintners' Company.
to Thomas Abell and wife, Suzanna Barker. Between 1598 and 1602 he was apprenticed to the London Vintners' Company. He took ownership of The Ship tavern off Old Fish Street, and was married with four children. He sought office within the Vintners Company, being raised to the livery in 1614 and being appointed an assistant in 1628, eventually becoming its master in 1637. He also sought political office within London, being elected deputy alderman for the Queenhithe ward in 1634. He was subsequently alderman for Bread Street ward in 1636, and elected sheriff of London in 1637-8.
In both offices he was engaged in the controversies of the time. In 1637, as sheriff, he caused the arrest of a puritan
minister, Henry Burton
, in a manner which earned him the enmity of the puritan community in the city.
The vintners guild was engaged at the time in a financial dispute with the king. Charles I
had made heavy and illegal demands upon the vintners' resources, and on their resisting his proposals his ministers had threatened proceedings against them in the Star Chamber
. But Abell undertook, at the instigation of the Marquis of Hamilton
, and with the aid of Richard Kilvert, a liveryman
, stated to be the alderman's cousin, to bring the vintners to terms. With some trouble he obtained from them a promise to pay to the king 40s. per tun
on all wine sold by them, on the understanding that they might charge their customers an additional penny per quart
. Abell was nominated one of the farmers of the new duty; but many merchants refused to pay it, and Abell petitioned for means to coerce them.
In 1639 Abell, whose name had become a byword in the city as a venal supporter of the government and as a placehunter, became the licenser of tavern-keepers, and in that office did not diminish his unpopularity.
Barely a month elapsed after the first meeting of the Long Parliament
before Abell was summoned to answer the committee of grievances for his part in the imposition of the arbitrary duty of 40 shillings per tun on wine. On 27 November 1640 he was committed to the custody of the sergeant-at-arms
by order of the Commons
. Bail
was refused, and on 26 May 1641 it was resolved to bring in a bill against Abell and Kilvert as ‘projectors’ of the 40s. duty, ‘to the end to make them exemplary.’ On 1 September following Abell was released on bail in £20,000, and on 9 April 1642, having been declared a ‘delinquent,’ he offered to make his submission to the house; on payment of £2,000 his request was granted, and pardon promised him. In the same year he resigned his office of alderman.
Ten years later Abell was again imprisoned. On 12 March 1652 he was given into the custody of Sir John Lenthall
on the petition of certain persons to whom he owed money, borrowed in behalf of the Vintners' Company several years previously. He was not, however, kept in close confinement, but allowed to reside with his son at Hatfield, Herts
. On 5 May 1652 it was reported to the council of state that he had spoken ‘dangerous words’ against the existing government, and measures were devised to keep him under closer surveillance. On 25 February 1653–4 he petitioned the judges sitting at Salters' Hall for the payment of £1,333. 13s. 4d. owing to him from persons concerned with him in farming the wine duty. On 7 June 1655 a passport to Holland was given to him, but nothing seems ascertainable of his subsequent career.
A number of pamphlets and broadsides condemning Abell's action in the matter of the wine duty appeared in 1640 and 1641. Soon after his first imprisonment by the Commons Thomas Heywood
published (18 December 1640) a tract dealing with ‘a priest, a judge, and a patentee,’ in which Abell was severely attacked as the patentee. In 1641 appeared An Exact Legendary, compendiously containing the whole life of Alderman Abel, the maine Proiector and Patentee for the raising of Wines. He is here described as springing from the lowest class of society, and thriving through his extreme parsimony. His wealth is computed at from ‘ten to twelve thousand pounds.’ He is denounced as having ‘broken’ both ‘merchants and retailors,’ and the city is described as rejoicing in his removal from his shop in Aldermanbury to a ‘stronger house.’ Other tracts relating to Abell, all of which appeared in 1641, bear the titles: The Copie of a Letter sent from the Roaring Boyes in Elizium, to two errant Knights of the Grape in Limbo, Alderman Abel and Mr. Kilvert; Time's Alteration; and The Last Discourse betwixt Master Abel and Master Richard Kilvert. An attempt to defend Abell from the charge of obtaining by undue influence the consent of the Vintners' Company to the wine duty was printed under the title of A True Discovery of the Proiectors of the Wine Proiect, and a reply to this defence appeared in A true Relation of the Proposing, Threatening, and Perswading of the Vintners to yeeld to the Imposition upon Wines.
An engraved portrait of the alderman by Hollar was issued in 1641. Above it is written Good wine needs not A-Bush nor A-Bell. Abell is often referred to in hostile broadsides as ‘Cain's brother,’ and as ‘Alderman Medium.’
The wine retail monopoly and Abell's place within the controversy is discussed in an academic paper for the American Historic Association, Public Discourse, Corporate Citizenship, and State Formation in Early Modern England.
Vintner
A vintner is a wine merchant. You pronounce it like this In some modern use, in particular in American English, the term is alsoused as a synonym for winemaker....
who became master of the Vintners' Company
Worshipful Company of Vintners
The Worshipful Company of Vintners is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London, England.- History and origins :It probably existed as early as the twelfth century, and it received a Royal Charter in 1364. Due to the Royal Charter, the Company gained a monopoly over wine imports from Gascony...
. As a politician he was an alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
and later sheriff of London. He is associated with a controversy over the manner and terms on which a monopoly in the area of wine retailing was granted to members of the Vintners' Company.
Biography
Abell was born at OundleOundle
Oundle is an ancient market town on the River Nene in Northamptonshire, England, with a population of 5,345 or 5,674 . It lies some north of London and south-west of Peterborough...
to Thomas Abell and wife, Suzanna Barker. Between 1598 and 1602 he was apprenticed to the London Vintners' Company. He took ownership of The Ship tavern off Old Fish Street, and was married with four children. He sought office within the Vintners Company, being raised to the livery in 1614 and being appointed an assistant in 1628, eventually becoming its master in 1637. He also sought political office within London, being elected deputy alderman for the Queenhithe ward in 1634. He was subsequently alderman for Bread Street ward in 1636, and elected sheriff of London in 1637-8.
In both offices he was engaged in the controversies of the time. In 1637, as sheriff, he caused the arrest of a puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
minister, Henry Burton
Henry Burton (Puritan)
Henry Burton , was an English puritan. Along with John Bastwick and William Prynne, Burton's ears were cut off in 1637 for writing pamphlets attacking the views of Archbishop Laud.-Early life:...
, in a manner which earned him the enmity of the puritan community in the city.
The vintners guild was engaged at the time in a financial dispute with the king. Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
had made heavy and illegal demands upon the vintners' resources, and on their resisting his proposals his ministers had threatened proceedings against them in the Star Chamber
Star Chamber
The Star Chamber was an English court of law that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster until 1641. It was made up of Privy Counsellors, as well as common-law judges and supplemented the activities of the common-law and equity courts in both civil and criminal matters...
. But Abell undertook, at the instigation of the Marquis of Hamilton
James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton
General Sir James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton KG was a Scottish nobleman and influential Civil war military leader.-Young Arran:...
, and with the aid of Richard Kilvert, a liveryman
Liveryman
For Livery Companies in the City of London, a Liveryman is a full member of their respective Company.Livery Company members fall into two basic categories: Freemen and Liverymen. One may join as a Freeman, and thereby acquire the "Freedom of the Company", upon fulfilling the Company's criteria...
, stated to be the alderman's cousin, to bring the vintners to terms. With some trouble he obtained from them a promise to pay to the king 40s. per tun
Tun
- Science and technology :* TUN/TAP, a computer network device driver* TUN , a Danish product standard for building materials* Tun , a part of the Mayan long count calendar system* A unit of time in the Mayan Long Count calendar...
on all wine sold by them, on the understanding that they might charge their customers an additional penny per quart
Quart
The quart is a unit of volume equal to a quarter of a gallon, two pints, or four cups. Since gallons of various sizes have historically been in use, quarts of various sizes have also existed; see gallon for further discussion. Three of these kinds of quarts remain in current use, all approximately...
. Abell was nominated one of the farmers of the new duty; but many merchants refused to pay it, and Abell petitioned for means to coerce them.
In 1639 Abell, whose name had become a byword in the city as a venal supporter of the government and as a placehunter, became the licenser of tavern-keepers, and in that office did not diminish his unpopularity.
Barely a month elapsed after the first meeting of the Long Parliament
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...
before Abell was summoned to answer the committee of grievances for his part in the imposition of the arbitrary duty of 40 shillings per tun on wine. On 27 November 1640 he was committed to the custody of the sergeant-at-arms
Serjeant-at-Arms
A Sergeant-at-Arms is an officer appointed by a deliberative body, usually a legislature, to keep order during its meetings. The word sergeant is derived from the Latin serviens, which means "servant"....
by order of the Commons
House of Commons of England
The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...
. Bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
was refused, and on 26 May 1641 it was resolved to bring in a bill against Abell and Kilvert as ‘projectors’ of the 40s. duty, ‘to the end to make them exemplary.’ On 1 September following Abell was released on bail in £20,000, and on 9 April 1642, having been declared a ‘delinquent,’ he offered to make his submission to the house; on payment of £2,000 his request was granted, and pardon promised him. In the same year he resigned his office of alderman.
Ten years later Abell was again imprisoned. On 12 March 1652 he was given into the custody of Sir John Lenthall
John Lenthall (politician)
Sir John Lenthall was an English politician, Roundhead soldier, castle governor, lawyer, civil servant and baronet.John was the son of William Lenthall, Speaker of the House of Commons, and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Ambrose Evans of Lodington in Northamptonshire. He was educated at Corpus...
on the petition of certain persons to whom he owed money, borrowed in behalf of the Vintners' Company several years previously. He was not, however, kept in close confinement, but allowed to reside with his son at Hatfield, Herts
Hatfield, Hertfordshire
Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It has a population of 29,616, and is of Saxon origin. Hatfield House, the home of the Marquess of Salisbury, is the nucleus of the old town...
. On 5 May 1652 it was reported to the council of state that he had spoken ‘dangerous words’ against the existing government, and measures were devised to keep him under closer surveillance. On 25 February 1653–4 he petitioned the judges sitting at Salters' Hall for the payment of £1,333. 13s. 4d. owing to him from persons concerned with him in farming the wine duty. On 7 June 1655 a passport to Holland was given to him, but nothing seems ascertainable of his subsequent career.
A number of pamphlets and broadsides condemning Abell's action in the matter of the wine duty appeared in 1640 and 1641. Soon after his first imprisonment by the Commons Thomas Heywood
Thomas Heywood
Thomas Heywood was a prominent English playwright, actor, and author whose peak period of activity falls between late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre.-Early years:...
published (18 December 1640) a tract dealing with ‘a priest, a judge, and a patentee,’ in which Abell was severely attacked as the patentee. In 1641 appeared An Exact Legendary, compendiously containing the whole life of Alderman Abel, the maine Proiector and Patentee for the raising of Wines. He is here described as springing from the lowest class of society, and thriving through his extreme parsimony. His wealth is computed at from ‘ten to twelve thousand pounds.’ He is denounced as having ‘broken’ both ‘merchants and retailors,’ and the city is described as rejoicing in his removal from his shop in Aldermanbury to a ‘stronger house.’ Other tracts relating to Abell, all of which appeared in 1641, bear the titles: The Copie of a Letter sent from the Roaring Boyes in Elizium, to two errant Knights of the Grape in Limbo, Alderman Abel and Mr. Kilvert; Time's Alteration; and The Last Discourse betwixt Master Abel and Master Richard Kilvert. An attempt to defend Abell from the charge of obtaining by undue influence the consent of the Vintners' Company to the wine duty was printed under the title of A True Discovery of the Proiectors of the Wine Proiect, and a reply to this defence appeared in A true Relation of the Proposing, Threatening, and Perswading of the Vintners to yeeld to the Imposition upon Wines.
An engraved portrait of the alderman by Hollar was issued in 1641. Above it is written Good wine needs not A-Bush nor A-Bell. Abell is often referred to in hostile broadsides as ‘Cain's brother,’ and as ‘Alderman Medium.’
The wine retail monopoly and Abell's place within the controversy is discussed in an academic paper for the American Historic Association, Public Discourse, Corporate Citizenship, and State Formation in Early Modern England.
External links
- Public Discourse, Corporate Citizenship, and State Formation in Early Modern England, by Phil Withington, The American Historic Review, vol. 112 no.4