Thomas Gare

Thomas Gare was one of the richest merchants in late medieval York. He was the son of a local mercer, and as such was admitted to the freedom, along with his brother, John, in about 1385. Two of them inherited their father’s property, but John died in 1393 and his property was inherited by Thomas.

By 1388 Thomas started to lay foundations of his fortune accumulated through trade. Together with a consortium of merchants from York and Kingston-upon-Hull, Thomas obtained permission from the Crown to dispatch a cargo of wool and woolfells to Middleburg free of customs, in lieu of a valuable consignment which had been lost in a shipwreck off the Norfolk coast. He was a major exporter of wool, although his dealings in finished cloth were equally impressive. Some of the merchandise was even manufactured by his own work force. During the first decade of the 15th century, and probably for the rest of his life, Gare remained one of the principal dealers in these two lucrative commodities in the north of England. Quite a few of his cargoes left the country from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where he also began to deal in locally mined coal as well. At various times he dealt in herring, wine, woad and Spanish iron. Occasionally his ships were plundered by pirates.

In his later years Thomas took grater interest in public affairs, he was elected as Member of Parliament in 1419 and 1421.