Stephen Vaughan

Stephen Vaughan was an English merchant, agent and diplomat in the royal service known as supporter of the Protestant Reformation.

Vaughan was a merchant of London and member of the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London. Around 1523 he entered the service of Thomas Cromwell, and through his influence he was employed by Cardinal Wolsey on the business of Cardinal College.

As merchant Vaughan often travelled to Antwerp and was entrusted with instructions on behalf of King Henry VIII and Cromwell. Around 1530 he was appointed royal agent (factor) in the Netherlands with the task to negotiate loans on commission with the wealthy Fugger family. In the subsequent period he was appointed president of the factory of English merchants at Antwerp, dwelling in the so-called “the English House”. Following the death of John Hutton, he became Governor of the Merchant Adventurers’ Company in 1534. After 1536 he started to work as under-treasurer in the Royal Mint, and two years later, in 1538, he was appointed governor of the merchant-adventurers in Bergen.

In the meantime, Vaughan participated in several missions of different character. In 1531 he was charged by the King Henry VIII to persuade William Tyndale to retract his heretical opinions and return to England. The following year, he was sent on a mission to Paris and Lyons, and Germany in 1533.

Vaughan returned from the Netherlands around 1546, and continued to work as under-treasurer of the Mint.

He was married twice and died in London in 1549.