Sir John Pulteney

Sir John Pulteney was part of the gentry from Sussex and Leicestershire, and, unusual for men of his background, he went into commerce. However, he became one of the richest men of 14th century England.

Sir John Pulteney was apprenticed to a London draper, probably around 1305 or 1310, and by 1330 he was rich enough to negotiate on behalf of the king and the City with the great Flemish traders. Pulteney was four times Mayor of London in 1331, 1332, 1334, and in 1337. During his last term as Mayor he was knighted in the company of Edward, the Black Prince (1330 – 1376) by the King Edward III (r. 1327 – 1377). Besides money made through trade, Pulteney inherited sizeable lands in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, owned 23 manors in five counties and land in Middlesex, Kent, Cambridgeshire, Warwick, Suffolk and London, and owned three beautiful houses, at Pevsner, Coldharbour and Pulteney Inn and later the London house of the Black Prince and of the Duke of Exeter.

At the time of his death Pulteney had given away a lot of his wealth to charity but is still thought to have been worth about £50,000, in 2010 equivalent of £13.8bn.