Thomas Western

Thomas Western was a prominent early modern ironmaster who became one of the first armament tycoons in England. Although he started his career as grocer, soon he turned his interests to weaponry as a better source of money in times marked by constant wars. During the second and third Dutch wars he was the largest supplier of governments after the Brownes, who held the monopoly as king's gun-founders. By February 1666 he delivered fifty-four guns and 200 tons of shot, and over 550 guns in 1678 and 1679. Western finally emerged as the most important gun-founder under William III.

Eventually Western also became involved in international trade and dealt in iron and weapons on wider scale. He bought iron from the Netherlands and Sweden, exporting it to Guinea and the East. In his ownership was Brede furnace and he leased others such as Ashburnham, Robertsbridge, and Waldron. He was also shareholder in the Royal African Company and the Bank of England. Following the established pattern, profit from trade Western invested in purchase of land owning estates in East Anglia and the Sussex weald. At the time of his death his fortune was estimated to £200,000 or around £3.6bn in today's money.