# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Martin, Richard (1534-1617)

​MARTIN, Sir RICHARD (1534–1617), master of the mint and lord mayor of London, was born in 1534. He adopted the business of a goldsmith, and in 1594 is mentioned as one of the goldsmiths to Queen Elizabeth (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1591-4 p. 559, 1603-10 p. 574). In 1559-60 he was appointed warden of the mint, and held ​this office till 1594–5, and perhaps later. In 1580–1 he was appointed master of the mint, and appears to have held this office till his death in 1617 (ib. 1611–18, p. 489; cf. ib. 1603–10, p. 566). In September 1597 he petitioned the queen for sixteen pence on every pound weight of silver coined, on account of his losses in connection with the mint. He declared that he had done good service in apprehending counterfeiters of the coin, and that the money made in his time was richer by 30,000l. at the least than the like quantity made by any former mint master, ‘by reason of his care to keep the just standard’ (ib. 1595–7, p. 506). A manuscript tract by Martin, entitled ‘A brief Note of those Things which are to be done by the Warden of the Mint,’ is in the British Museum (Harl. MS. No. 698, fol. 13), and some extracts from it are given in Ruding's ‘Annals of the Coinage,’ i. 71. About 1600 Martin made an offer to improve the coinage of Ireland, and to make ‘small copper moneys’ for currency in England (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1598–1601, pp. 516, 517). In May (?) 1601 he issued the report of himself and eleven other commissioners appointed by the queen ‘to inquire concerning the preservation and augmentation of the wealth of the realm’ (ib. 1601–3, pp. 47, 48). On 11 Sept. 1610 Martin received a warrant from James I for the repayment of 410l. still due to him as warden of the mint under Elizabeth (ib. 1603–10, p. 632; cf. Nichols, Progresses of James I, ii. 411).
Martin was elected alderman of the city of London on 29 May 1578, and was sheriff in 1581. He was lord mayor for the remainder of the year, on the death of Sir Martin Calthorpe, on 5 May 1589, and again on the decease of Sir Cuthbert Buckle, on 1 July 1594. He was a strenuous supporter of the city's rights. On 31 Aug. 1602 he was removed from his aldermanship, the reasons assigned being his poverty and imprisonment for debt, and his refusal to surrender his office after having accepted one thousand marks as a condition of his retirement (Remembrancia, 1579–1664, 20 Dec. 1602).
Martin was knighted by Queen Elizabeth some time between 1562 and 1594. In 1562 he became a governor of the Highgate free school, on its foundation by Sir Roger Cholmeley (Lysons, Environs, iii. 64), and was president of Christ's Hospital, 1593–1602. In 1579 he held the manor of Barnes, under the chapter of St. Paul's (ib. iv. 578), and on 30 Nov. 1599 was granted the lease of the manor of Barton in Rydall, Yorkshire (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1598–1601, p. 345). He had a residence at Tottenham, where in October 1581 he entertained William Fleetwood [q. v.] the recorder, who was inquiring into a riot on the river Lea.
Martin died in July 1617, and was buried in the south chancel of Tottenham Church. He married (in or before 1562) Dorcas, daughter of Sir John Ecclestone (or Eglestone) of Lancashire. She died on 1 Sept. 1599, and was buried at night in Tottenham Church. Five sons and one daughter, Dorcas, were the issue of the marriage. One of the sons, named Richard, was citizen and goldsmith of London, and was from about 1584 associated for several years with his father in the mastership of the mint. He died about 1616. The daughter married, first, Richard Lusher of the Middle Temple, and secondly, on 26 Feb. 1582, Sir Julius Cæsar [q. v.], master of the rolls.
A fine silver medal in the British Museum, cast and chased by Stephen of Holland in 1562, and believed to be unique, bears portraits of Martin and his wife (Hawkins, Medallic Illustr. i. 107 ; Pinkerton, Medallic Hist. pl. x. 1, engraving; Grueber, Guide to Engl. Med. Exhibit. in Brit. Mus. 1891, pl. i. No. 35, photograph).
[Hawkins's Medallic Illustrations, ed. Franks and Grueber, i. 107, 108; Calendars of State Papers, Dom., as above; Overall's Remembrancia; Robinson's Tottenham, ii. 59; Ruding's Annals; authorities cited above.]
W. W.