Richard Lyons

Richard Lyons had an obscure background, and was likely illegitimate Fleming who settled in London what may explain his slow acceptance into the ranks of the ruling classes of London.

He probably became resident of London in the 1340s, but it was not until the later 1350s that he became accepted into the London merchant community. By 1359, when he started buying property in London, Lyons become a very wealthy vintner and shipowner dealing in wine, wool, cloth, iron, and lead. With an apparently Flemish background, he had considerable business interests in Flanders and was heavily involved in overseas trade. After 1359 he emerged as a leading city merchant and became increasingly involved in city politics and government. By the mid 1360s, Lyons had leases on taverns and around fifty properties in the capital and was also actively buying up manors and land in Essex and Kent.

In 1376 Lyons and two of his business associates were were impeached on various charges of corruption by the Parliament, including the misuse of his position as collector of the wool subsidy and member of the king's council to avoid exporting his wool via the staple at Calais; the appropriation for himself of customs duties that had not been sanctioned by parliament; the charging of usurious levels of interest on loans to the crown; and the purchase of royal debts owed to others at a fraction of their worth but obtaining full repayment of them at the exchequer. His impeachment and forfeiture of his assets was regarded as political as Lyons was too close to unpopular politicians and seemed to have been a scapegoat. He was pardoned by the crown in March 1377, and started up his business again in 1379.

Richard Lyons was killed in Cheapside during the peasants' revolt on 14 June 1381, and was buried in the church of St Martin Vintry, London. At the time of his death he held lands in Essex, Kent, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, Middlesex, and Hertfordshire, as well as London property. All in all he was worth around £10,000, an equivalent of over £3.8bn in 2010’s money.