Thomas Aldersey

Thomas Aldersey was an English merchant born at Bunbury, near Spurstow in Cheshire. After an education in Bunbury, Aldersey's apprenticeship began in London where he joined the Haberdashers' Company.

Aldersey obtained freedom of the city and livery of the Haberdashers' Company on 13 July 1548. He developed trade connections with merchants of Emden, and as a respected member of the merchant community he entered into a circle conducting diplomatic and trading negotiations with Countess Anna of Emden. On 18 July 1564 he was made deputy governor of the Merchant Adventurers' Company. Aldersey rose rapidly within London's merchant circles and in 1572 the privy council made him responsible for the sale of the goods and shipping seized from Spanish merchants in 1568. His interests in trade with Spain began in 1558 and in 1578 he was a leading merchant or assistant in the Spanish Company. In 1579 he was a leading London merchant involved in export of English woolen cloth to Baltic markets.

Aldersey also had a distinguished career as a public servant. He was a Member of Parliament in 1572, 1584, 1586, and 1589. Although his business interests were in London, he maintained close contact with Cheshire, settling £130 a year on the Haberdashers Company for the maintenance of a free school at Bunbury in 1576 and organizing relief after a fire at Nantwich in 1584. In his will he left considerable funds for charities in London, Bunbury, and Chester.