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Sir George Bolles of London, Grocer
Back to The Bowles of London and Middlesex and The Bolles of Gosberton
It should be understood that a Grocer in the 16th Century was not what we think of as one now. At that time a Grocer would be actively involved in international trade, either chartering or owning his own ships to transport English goods overseas for sale or trade throughout the known world of the time and to return with valuable spices, silk, etc. to sell in England. This was a hugely lucrative business for some, should their ships return, and complete disaster to others, should their ships with their valuable trade articles sail away and just never return and many did succumb to pirates or just sink without a trace. George was one of the ones who thrived.
George was born in about 1539 in the branch of the Bolles of Swineshead line which had settled at Gosberton, Lincolnshire in the early 1500's. See George Bolles of London's Family Tree He must have made an apprenticeship as a Grocer and gained some trade experience in that business in the approximate period from 1555 to 1576 but he first appears on record in London as a full Member of the Worshipful Company of Grocers in the Grocers Books of 1577. He continued to rise in status, success and profit and was elected as Master of the company in 1606. Grocers were influential men in their communities and were expected to take leadership roles. He was elected the Alderman for the Dowgate Ward of London on July 14, 1607 and served as Sheriff of London in 1608/09.
As England's empire overseas grew, the individual trader's efforts were soon replaced by groups of traders who formed companies which were influential enough to obtain trade monopolies from the reigning Queen or King for specific markets thus ensuring a lack of competition and creating a valuable source of revenue for their country through import duties. The Honourable East India Company (formally called the Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies) obtained a charter from Queen Elizabeth in 1600 and George is listed on the Managing Committee of the East India Company from1602-1607 and from 1610-1611. The Sheriff George Bools mentioned as being in the Virginia Colony in 1607. was probably him on a trade trip; ; Listed as George Bolls, Esq., Sheriff of London in the King’s grant of the Second Charter of Virginia on May 23, 1609 as a member of the commanality called The Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters of the City of London for the First Colony in Virginia; London Alderman for Walbrook Ward 1616; Lord Mayor of London for one term from October 1617to Sept. 1618; Knighted May 31, 1618; Member of the Virginia Company 1620.
From this minute it would seem as if Peirce had some understanding with George, in view of the profits from fishing, of settling the Leyden people beyond the confines of the territory of the London Company, although he did not receive a patent from the Council of New England until June 1, 1621. In decision No. XI. TRANSPORTATION OF HOMELESS LONDON CHILDREN. Sir George Bowles or Bolles, the Lord Mayor of London, and an Aldermen thereof in 1617, "fearing lest the overflowing multitude of inhabitants should, like too much blood, infect the whole city with plague and poverty," devised as a remedy, the transportation to Virginia of their overflowing multitude, and in 1618-19 one hundred children were sent to Virginia.
Mayors of London (Bowles connected)
1589-90 John Harte (George Bolles father-in-law)
1591-92 William Webb (see note)
1617-18 George Bolles
Note: William Webb’s widow Dame Bennett’s will of Jan. 14, 1602 left bequests to the children of her cousin William Bowles.
(acquired Scampton estate through his wife)
See Sir George Bolles of London's Family Tree