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Winthrop Family Papers

Papers of the Winthrop Family, Volume 3

John Winthrop on Reformation without Separation

March 1631

Henry Paynter to John Winthrop, Jr.

1 March 1631
15
John Winthrop to the Lord Chief Justice of England1
Winthrop, John Hyde, Nicholas, Sir Lord Chief Justice of England

1631-03

 Right Honorable,

Our humble dutyes to your good Lordshipp presented: may it please you to vnderstand that whereas one Robt. wright Citisen and merchanttayler of London without our privity was come into N: E: and had setled him selfe in Charles towne, we had intelligence that he was fledd out of England for Treason: wherevpon we Caused him to be apprehended, and vpon examination he confessed to vs that about 2 yeares since he had Clipped some of the Coyne of our sovereign Lord the Kings majestie and the officers coming to search his house he fledd and so was not taken, but vsed meanes by his freinds to obtaine his majesties pardon: but forasmuch as he could produce no Record therof before vs we thought it our dutye to send him over prisoner by this bearer mr. Wm. Peirce master of the Shippe Lyon.2 So we humbly take leave and rest At your Lordshipps Comand for his majesties service

John Winthrop

Endorsed by Governor Winthrop: Copy lettre to Lord Chief Justice de Wright March 1630/31.

1.

Suffolk County Court Files, No. 4. The Lord Chief Justice was Sir Nicholas Hyde.

 2.

This episode is mentioned by Thomas Dudley in his letter to the Countess of Lincoln, March 12, 1630/31, where Wright is described as having been “sometimes a linen draper in Newgate market, and after that a brewer on the Bank side and on Thames street.” Alexander Young, Chronicles of the First Planters of the Massachusetts Bay, from 1623 to 1636 (Boston, 1846), 332–333. Wright’s contention that he had been pardoned is confirmed by the records, which mention (November 23, 1629) a pardon “to Robert Wright, late of Southwark, brewer, for clipping coin.” Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1629–1631, 103. The order of the Court of Assistants for his deportation was voted on March 1, 1630/31. Records of the Court of Assistants of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, 1630–1692, II (Boston, 1904), 10.