Vestrymen

The following details regarding various Stepney vestrymen are taken, in the main, from Memorials of Hackney, edited by Hills and Frere.

At the February 1654-5 Vestry there were no less than eleven captains from Ratcliffe and Limehouse out of an attendance of thirty parishioners. No doubt as many were at sea and so unable to attend. The parish, now a hive of industry, had at its command on the vestry, persons of some standing and importance, who were, at some time in their lives, at the very centre of adventure and exploration.

The dates in brackets after a name are the dates they attended the Vestry.

E.I.C. refers to the Honourable East India Company.

List of Sites

Hugh Allaby was a Limehouse vestryman in 1639. He was buried 30 July 1658. His only daughter Frances, married on 4 May 1647, William Warcapp, Fishmonger and merchant of Limehouse.

William Ambrose of Stepney was given the task by the vestry meeting on 23 January 1625-6 of keeping the register up to date and he received forty shillings for his work. He was later to become parish clerk and was described in the burial register a a man of piety and learning. He was buried on 28 February 1637-8.

Edward Arlibeare attended a 1645 vestry. He was a mast maker of Wapping Wall and also a benefactor of St Paul's Church, Shadwell. He married Mary Williams, a widow of Shadwell by licence on 10 April 1626 and Mary Cope of 21 May 1646. He was buried 23 March 1667 and his widow on 22 December 1669.

Captain Arthur Bailey was a member of the Independent congregation in Stepney and was chosen as deacon by them on 30 April 1658. He was buried 9 February 1682 at Stepney.

John Bennett, signed the Trinity House petiton in 1632, was a mariner and waterman of Limehouse. He was married twice, firstly on 9 March 1627-8 to Margaret Matthews and secondly on 16 November 1631 to Jane Thwaites. He was buried on 2 March 1638.

Thomas Best was a captain of the East India Company's Navy and was also a parishioner, of Limehouse. He had gone to sea in 1583 and was involved with the Stepney vestry from 1597. He was said, in 1598, to be 'a man of substance and repute well known in Ratcliffe and Limehouse'. In 1611-12 he sailed for India and defeated the Portuguese. He served in the Royal Navy and in 1633 became warden of Trinity House. His daughter Elizabeth married Henry Dithick, son of Sir William Dithick of Poplar.

William Bigate, who had been involved with the Vestry, firstly for Limehouse and then for Ratcliffe, since 1589 was a mariner of Ratcliffe. He was an auditor for Limehouse in 1584. He was buried 24 September 1618.

Thomas Biggs of Limehouse, churchwarden for Limehouse in 1645, was a citizen and chirurgeon and owned land in Limehouse and by the East India Yard, Poplar. He was the churchwarden for Limehouse. He left his land, in his will dated 2 February 1656, to his wife Rachel. He was buried 5 March 1656.

Sir Thomas Bludder (1594-98), resided at Mile End Green, and was Joint Surveyor-general of Victuals to the Navy. He was knighted at Chatham in 1604. He and his wife, Maria Herris of Shenvile, Essex, were married for twenty seven years and died in 1618 within a week of each other and were buried at Reigate.

John Brewster (1584-96), vestry auditor for Poplar between 1589-91 and Churchwarden 1589-90) was Secondary of the Fines Office.

Richard Bromfield petitioned on behalf of his daughter, who was the widow of Captain Browne who had died in the East India Company service.
At the Vestry of February 1625-6 he had overspent by £8 2d and would have to bear the cost himself however by 1627 it was agreed he should only pay £5.

Christopher Browne

William Burrough (1581-94): Drake's second in command on the Cadiz expedition in 1587, William Burrough of Limehouse, was one of the famous family of navigators from Northam, Devon. His early voyages were private but he later joined Her Majesty's service. He published some important charts of the North Sea and the Baltic and served the Queen as her 'Controller of the Navy at Sea' in 1583. In 1588 in command of the 'Bonavoglia' he fought against the Armada. In 1589 he married the widow of the second Lord Wentworth.

John Burrell of Ratcliffe (1581-98) was a mariner and shipbuilder and twice Master of the Trinity House. He was offered 6000 crowns a year by the Spaniards to act as their spy, which he refused.

John Burston (1645), was probably the engraver which Pepys mentioned on 18 February 1664-5. 'Took my Lord Sandwich's draught of the harbour of Portsmouth down to Ratcliffe to one Burston, to make a plate for the King, and another for the Duke, and another for himself, which will be very neat.

Captain William Bushell (1632) commanded the 'Neptune', (400 tons, 32 guns and 160 men) in 1635 and was employed in redeeming captives at Algiers. On his way home, with 30 freed captives, he and another captain, Thomas Scot of Ratcliffe were fined at Dunkirk for 'preseuming to wear their flags in full view of the Fleet.' This was apparently an open insult to the 200 ships. Presumably it was felt that they were showing the Navy that they had successfully concluded a matter that should have never happened if the Navy had taken care of the pirates in the first place.
Relatives of other captives petitioned the Admiralty to send him again to redeem others and he and the 'Neptune' were employed for this purpose by the Navy. He had a dispute with his purser (and was condemned by the Officers of the Navy) for making money out of his stores but he continued in the service of the Crown until his death. In the St Dunstan parish register is entered on 7 March 1637. 'William Bushell, of Limehouse, mariner, died at Morbein, in France - a Captain.' He had never married and his possessions went to his father.

John Caterall, a shipwright of Poplar, and employed by the East India Company as a timber measurer, was a sidesman from 1631 to 1636, following which nothing further is known of him. He had been dismissed by the Company in 1626 but employed again for just over a year when he was again discharged. He spent the next few years petitioning them to employ him as a shipwright. He married by Licence on 1 February 1625-6, Jacquament Whetherdon, a widow of Wapping Wall. His wife was buried on 13 January 1650.

William Cooper (1649) was chosen as the churchwarden for Shadwell. He was possibly the master of the 'James' of London, 300 tons, and left Southampton for New England on 6 April 1635 with fifty three men and women and female children. A person of the same name is named in a Bishop's (Chester) marriage licence of 26 October 1626 to Ellen Lambert, widow.

John Crane (1598), a pulley maker of Ratcliffe Highway, made his last appearance at the Vestry in 1623. His wife was Hester Cheston whom he married on 20 May 1588. He was buried on 8 November 1625.

John Craven of Shadwell, vestryman of 1643, a shipmaster and a member of Trinity House.

John Crowther was in attendance at the vestry meeting of 23 May 1649. He was master and part owner of the privateer 'Jonas' of London in 1627. In 1653 he was recommended by the 'Commissioners for the Sick and Wounded' as a trustee for a sum granted by Parliament to the widow of Captain Buton. He married firstly Alice James of Stepney, by licence, on 26 June 1626 and secondly Elizabeth Damarell of Stepney, widow, on 9 May 1627. He lived in White Horse Street and is 'of Mile End 'in the burial register on 13 July 1659. He left a tenement for the use of poor seamen and is possibly the donor of the Old Poplar Town Hall which was demolished in 1769.

George Cullimer, a draper of Poplar was a vestryman for Poplar in 1622-3. He applied to the East India Company in 1614 for an appointment as a factor or agent. He was commended as a very honest and sufficient man. The only thing against him was that he was a married man! The Company promised to 'entertain him if he brings some of his wife's friends to speak for him.' The Company gave no reason, later, for not employing him and ordered that the reasons should be kept secret. His wife was buried on 16 July 1625.

Nicholas Cumberford or Commerford, attended a 1645 vestry. He was 'of the precincts of St Katherine, draper and married Marie Kithen of Ratcliffe on 10 June 1624.

John Dalby was the Churchwarden for Ratcliffe in 1635. He owned land in Hackney, Ratcliffe Cross and The White Horse in Mile End. His daughter, Susan, married Captain William Thomas, and was buried in Shadwell Church in 1662.

John Davies a vestryman in 1611 was a sailor employed by the East India Company. In 1609 'notwithstanding some matter of misgovernment and misdemeanour against him' he was allowed 10 pounds in return for a book presented by him to the Governor and Company which contained an account of his last voyage. In 1615 he had command of the 'James' but his conduct was again called into question. After this he appears to have sailed no more for he attended the vestry regularly until 1626. He was buried on 3 November 1626.

Captain Thomas Davis was a mariner of Mile End and served the 1639 vestry for Ratcliffe. He was in partnership with Henry Lee and others and obtained a Letter of Marque in June 1627. This was a privateer's licence to commit acts of hostility. The ship was the 'Marigold' of London, 200 tons under the command of Captain Pulberry. Six months later the partnership obtained Letters for the privateer 'Paragon', 300 tons and Davis took command. He died in 1651 and buried 25 September. He made a verbal will to his friends Captain John Crowther and Thomas Hill and left everything he owned to his wife Anne and upon her decease to his son Roger Davis.

Alexander Davison (1587-1602), ropemaker of Poplar. He left the area soon after 1602. He married his first wife Jone Cox on 27 July 1571 and the second, Anne Fundal, a widow of Poplar, by License on 16 October 1606. She died in May 1621. He survived her for a few months and was buried on 4 October 1621.

Captain Robert Dennis served in St Dunstans vestry in 1647 and in four years would rise to be Commander-in-Chief of the fleet and Commissioner for reducing Virginia to the authority of Parliament. In 1652 his ship the 'John' was lost and his wife was a petitioner to the Admiralty.

Sir William Dethicke (1603) was the second son of Sir Gilbert Dethick of Poplar. The Dethicks were said to be Dutch and Henry VIII granted them an acre of land and an old manor house in Poplar. He held the office of Rouge Croix Pursuivant and York Herald and was appointed to the Garter and was knighted in 1603. He was a man of such ungovernable temper that he was detested by everyone. He resigned his office in 1604-5 and retired on an annuity of £3200 and was buried at St Pauls Cathedral in 1612. His wife was Thomasine, only daughter of Robert Young, citizen and fishmonger and she survived him for twenty years. Her funeral was in Stepney on 18 July 1633 but her remains were buried in London.

James Ducy was appointed to the vestry in 1634. He worked for the Company at Blackwall Dockyard. First he was timber measurer at 12 shillings a week and gradually he was promoted. In 1624 he took over Fotherby's lodgings after he had moved out. In 1644 he was surveyor of timber to the Navy. (it was another of the same name, and unconnected, Sir John Ducy, who was Master of the Shipwrights' Company and Alderman of London.)

Christopher Dyve, chandler and constable of Poplar and Blackwall was given the sum of 40 shillings by the East India Company to make good his losses when one of his prisoners escaped. His first wife was Isabell who was buried 4 April 1610 and his second wife was Grace whom he married in the same year. He was buried on 16 October 1618.

Captain John Elison, vestryman of 1643, went, in 1635, to the Canaries with Richard Beck as quartermaster. Beck was severely punished for taking drink by receiving twenty one blows. Isaac was his master trumpeter and he was threatened with seven times that punishment. Both deserted in Calais and their wives were unable to obtain their pay and appealed to the Admiralty. Later he commanded the 'Persia'.

John Elvins (1594-99) was a Churchwarden who died in service. He was buried on 1 July 1611 and his widow and son were ordered to repay the four pounds of the eight he had collected. If they did not repay the four pounds then the whole debt would become due.

Robert Fotherby was elected to the vestry on 21 November 1634. In 1615 he was serving on board ship and the East India Company said he was 'a very fit person to be employed upon a discovery for the South side of the Cape.' In 1618 he was established at Deptford and in 1621 he moved to a Blackwall shipyard. In 1623 he received80 pounds as a clerk of the stores, yard and check, continuing there as a manager for the Company. In 1624 'he was required to conceive some order to restrain the workmen resorting to the taphouse at other than meal times'. He was no doubt then blamed by the workmen for restricting their enjoyable tippling interludes during work hours.

John Fuller was Churchwarden for Mile End in 1591. He was a judge and formerly lived at St Pauls Wharf in the City and later at Bishopshall the old manorial home of the Bishops of London in Bethnal Green. Gave 50 pounds to the Armada Defence Fund.
He died in 1592 and was buried at Stepney on 2 May.
In his will dated 29 March 1592, which appears in the Vestry Minutes for May 1594, he left benefactions to Stepney. The main part of his estate went to his wife, Jane and he requested that she should build two Almshouses. One in Stepney (Eagle Place on the north side of Mile End Rd) for twelve poor single men of good name and age fifty or over and the second in Shoreditch for twelve poor widows of good name aged fifty or over. The rents from his lands in Lincoln paid for the upkeep of these two institutions. The Almshouses were to be governed by eight of the 'most ancient persons' of the Company of Mercers.
In his will he also names the occupants of his estates in the parishes of St Benet and St Peter near Paul's Wharf in the City of London. These were William Jenkins, Edward Drinkell, Willian Corden, Richard Askew, Mary Lorimer, widow, Peter Derrick, John Nicolls, John Collins, Richard Dawson, Elizabeth Taylor, widow, James Austen, Thomas Wade, John Ellis, Thomas Wrothe, Nicholas Collins, Frances Fuller, Jeffry Brock, William Dalby, Richard Burton, Richard Browne, John Humfry, Robert Glover, and Hugh Wollaston, gent.
He also left money to William Fuller the son of James Fuller; his cousin, Margaret Burton wife of Richard Burton.

Michael Geere (1603), was knighted at Plymouth in 1625. He became Master of Trinity House and one of the Surveyors of the Navy and lived in a mansion on Stepney Green. He married on 21 August 1587, Alice daughter of David Bachus (or Barkhouse) of Stepney. He lived in a mansion on Stepney Green. His wife died on 17 May 1630.

Richard Gonston, churchwarden of Ratcliffe, was too ill when auit time came in January 1621-22 and the curate and four vestrymen had to attend him at his home to receive his accounts, He died in 1623.

William Gouldstone of Wapping Wall (1627) was a timber merchant to the East India Company. He and his son were discharged in 1621.

John Graves (1637), shipwright of Limehouse, made his last appearance on this vestry. His first wife, Sarah Chester, died a few months after their marriage and almost immediately he married Susan Hoxton on 24 June 1624. He again married on 18 May 1630 to Mary Raymond. He had his own shipyard. The Graves shipyard at Limehouse built the 54 gun 'Gloucester' in 1654, the fireship 'HMS Hound' in 1690 and 'HMS Dreadful' in 1695.

William Greaves or Graves of Limehouse also attended the General Vestry. He was the son of John Graves, master shipbuilder. He had shipworks at Limehouse and was employed on building naval ships. He was buried 22 February 1667.

Thomas Grimley, churchwarden of Mile End in 1645, a yeoman of Mile End was buried 3 September 1661. His wife was Joanna and his son Thomas, to whom he left his property.

Captain Edmund Grove was chosen as churchwarden for Ratcliffe on 1 April 1651. He was in the navy and was in disgrace and court-martialled for cowardice in 1665 for staying at Lowestoft while an engagement was going on and was said to be 'a prating coxcombe and of no courage'. He was chosen as reeve of the manor on 2 December 1654 and was fined 10 pounds because he refused to serve. He died 24 April 1666 and his widow, Anne (widow of Roger Hackwell and daughter of Roger Gunston) and his two sons, Edmund 11 years old and George four years old, inherited his land at Limehouse.

Robert Hackwell, vestryman of 1643, was a Captain in the East India Company's service and later in the Royal Navy. In 1623 he was the master of the 'Rose' and was paid 5 pounds per month 'the better to encourage deserving men of his coat.'
However three years later on 22 December 1626 he was 'suspended until he could clear himself of the foul imputation of a barbourous and inhuman cruelty committed by his order on two blacks in the Indies.'
On the following 19 January he was dismissed the service because 'he so confidently denied' the charges against him. After ten days the court said they detested the 'barbourous inhumanity rumoured against him' and resolved not to employ him again unless he cleared himself. If he appeared culpable they said they would prosecute however they still paid him his wages because he had carried himself well, denied the fact and no one had given evidence against him! He then joined the Royal Navy and rose to the post of commander-in-chief of the Irish seas.

Henry Hall a vestryman for Poplar in 1639, captain in the navy, was assessed at 80 pounds in 1643 by the committee for the advance of money. He took 22 pounds worth of plate to the Guildhall in October and was dismissed for the time. But one year later he was ordered to pay half and the rest when the navy committee paid him what he was owed. This he did but was still in arrears ten years later because the navy committee had not yet paid him 'to his utter undoing'.
He died on 9 December 1659. His will was dated 2 February 1658-9 and his wife, Elizabeth, and son, Henry, were admitted to his property.

Thomas Harman (1653) was chosen as churchwarden for Ratcliffe. He was a mariner living at Dolphin Row, Poplar and married Grace Chick by license on 1 January 1628-9. He died in 1670 and his will was proved on 3 January and is described as 'Thomas Harman, the elder of Poplar'. He left bequests to his wife, three children Thomas Harman, Mary Browse and Helen Greenaway and to many grandchildren and cousins. It may be his sons exploits which were recorded in a series of small pictures at Greenwich Hospital. A man of the same name rebuilt an almshouse at Poplar in 1676.

Captain John Harris (1654-5) of the Commonwealth Navy. He was master of the 'Phoenix' frigate in 1649 and rescued certain prizes from 'the Jerseymen'. In 1653 he sailed for Virginia and in 1654 petitioned for a licence to ship horses to Barbados. He married Rebecca Adams, a widow on 12 September 1644 and secondly Susan, daughter of William Jones. He died circa 1670.

Thomas Hartly, a yeoman of Ratcliffe had been a vestryman in 1622-3, and he took over the post of churchwarden for Ratcliffe vacated by Robert Bell in 1626. His six months in office produced a lot of quarrelling. Some difference had occurred between him and Richard Bromfeild, the churchwarden for Limehouse.
He again caused problems in December 1627. He had spent £14 12s 11d more than he was allowed by the Vestry and had to carry the expense himself. When the accounts were finally presented the vestry agreed he would only have to pay £10. In April 1929 the Vestry was still waiting for his payment. Thomas was buried on 20 October 1630

William Higges (1597) was buried on 19 October 1612. He had also been a vestryman for several years. His wife had been buried on 1 March 1609 and the following note appears in the burial register. 'Judith, wife of Mr Willim Higges of Stepney, in the hamlet of Ratclif, within the brickwall nere the Church, Citizen and Mercer of London, was buried the 1st day of March; whose good and vertuous life I cannot sufficiently as she deserved here sett downe: hir husbande gave both cloaks and gownes at hir funerall bountifully and more I cannot set downe.'

Sir Owen Hopton (1589) was knighted in 1561and became Sheriff of Norfolk in 1565 and Lieutenant of the Tower 1570-91. When he died in 1591 he was buried at Stepney.

John Hoxton, a Justice of the Peace, was elected as churchwarden for Ratcliffe on 26 April 1649. He came from a Suffolk family and married Martha the daughter of Robert Borne of Wapping. He had two children by this marriage, John and Judith. He married again but his wife's name is unknown. A John Hoxton was buried at Stepney on 13 September 1670.

William Hunt, churchwarden for Poplar in 1645, was a shipwright of Poplar. He was buried on 9 May 1648 and he left a legacy of 5 pounds per annum for widows.

John Jenney was elected sidesman in 1639. In 1636 he was appointed to collect in Wentworth St, Spitalfields and Artillery Lane, the rate made by the J.P.'s and vestry on behalf of sufferers of the plague. A Mrs Pearson had refused to pay her rate and was imprisoned. She took her revenge by summoning him and James Dantier and others for false imprisonment and he had to appeal to the Council for protection. He lived in Wentworth St and was buried 6 January 1671.

In 1620 William Jobourne, a baker of Ratcliffe, was elected Sidesman. He later became vestryman and in 1633 and in 1634 was a churchwarden.

Captain Edward Johnson, vestryman of 1643, master of the 'Unicorn' (launched in 1634 by the King) in the Royal Navy. He was once master and part owner of a privateer the 'William and Francis' of London 180 tons. He married twice. Firstly to Hannah Browne of Wapping, widow by Licence on 18 May 1644 at Stepney and secondly Elizabeth who was buried 25 September 1662 . He was buried 14 July 1669. In the register and on the church monument he is 'of Low Leyton'. He left 400 pounds to the poor of Ratcliffe and Limehouse. A tablet on the outside south side of the church states 'Thomas Johnson, of Mile End, Esq. whose son Thomas died in 1689'. At the vestry of 20 June 1643 as churchwarden he was preparing to go to sea and another was chosen to serve as churchwarden in his stead.

Giles Lawrence of Wapping Wall was a chirurgeon who was to be buried on 16 May 1657. His widow married Captain Thomas Mann and died in 1688.

John Linford (1639) a smith of Poplar married on 13 July 1636 to Alice Matthews of Ratcliffe. He was buried on 13 June 1641.

Walter Mainard/Maynard, vestryman of 1643, (Captain) was master of the 'Lucretia' a privateer of London in 1627. He married Rose Heaman widow of Richard Heaman and was admitted at the Manorial Court to a house called 'Knights place, Limehouse' which belonged to his wifes' late husband, on 2 June 1655.

Hillary Mempris of St Michael, Crooked Lane had married Mary Evans of Christ Church, a widow, on 17 May 1608. He was a prominent man in local affairs and keeper of the Homage Book of the Manor. He died in 1652. His brother Thomas Mempris of Mile End Green succeeded to his property. Thomas died in December 1657 and was buried on the 11th. His will, dated 11 April 1655, left his wife and two sons, Michael and Hillary, his property.

Thomas Middleton of Poplar and Blackwall (Colonel) had dealings with the West Indies and the settlements of several colonies there. He became governor of Barbados in 1660. He married Jane, one of the beauties of Charles II's court, daughter of Sir Robert Needham. Her portraits are at Windsor Castle.

Captain John Moore of Shadwell, was the churchwarden for Shadwell in 1645. He was shown as a mariner of Ratcliffe when his burial was recorded on 29 April 1653. However he had been 'slain at sea in service' as his wife said in her petition for help sent to the Admiralty.

Robert Moore, mariner of Stepney and a vestryman in 1645, is probably one of the same name who petitioned the Admiralty Committee for the boatswains place in the prize 'Mary'. He stated that he had served many years and served as midshipman in the 'Mary' when Scilly and Barbados were taken and in the engagement with the Dutch off Portland. He was buried 9 March 1657-8.

Walter Mountfort, gent of Poplar was Sidesman in April 1625, and had only married a few months previously by Licence on 27 September 1624 to Frances Wund, a widow of Poplar.

Ralph Nelson was a yeoman of Poplar and a vestryman for 1642. He was buried 22 April 1658 and his widow Anne a week later.

Nicolas Neltrapp (1616) was a sailmaker of Ratcliffe. He was buried on 19 July 1622. His widow married Daniel Bexley a shipwright of Limehouse who was a sidesman in 1623. Daniel was buried on 6 December 1628.

Captain John Prowd of Shadwell (1654-5) married Joan Mouse in 1627 who seems to want to keep him at home for it was reported when asked to serve on a certain ship that 'he was probably not to be had, or it would much disquiet his wife'. Ill health also kept him from service but he was active in 1667.

Thomas Pye (1639) lived in North St, Poplar. In 1656 he sold a wood he owned there to John Swanley. He was assessed by the Parliamentary Committee for Advance of Money at 150 pounds. Henry Hall in 1643 and eight other parishioners stated that he only had 40 pounds a year for himself, his wife and three small children and his contribution was remitted. He died in about 1658-9.

William Pyot came to Stepney from Streetehay, Staffordshire and owned a great deal of land in Bethnal Green. This was his last appearance on the vestry.

Robert Rickman (1594-98) a shipbuilder of Limehouse was the master of a 700 ton ship. He complained that upon arriving in Venice on one voyage he and ninety three mariners had been seized and made to take a tedious journey to Stade. The ship was sold by two Venetian factors for 1200 ducats.

John Robinson was a sidesman in 1624. He was a yeoman of Mile End and was later appointed as parish clerk. He was buried on 26 June 1627.

Robert Rook of Ratcliff, a cross-tailor, tailor, or merchant tailor, had once been a coal merchant. He married firstly Sarah Hill, a widow on 19 November 1623; she was buried on 28 July 1624. He married secondly Anne Burlock of Shadwell, also a widow on 16 May 1625. She was buried on 3 June 1637. Another Robert Rook of West Ham married Elizabeth Lee at Stepney on 24 July 1626.

Sir William Ryder (1589-90) was a citizen and Haberdasher. He was Sheriff 1591-2 and Lord Mayor of London in 1601. Later he was Collector-General of Customs, Commissioner for the sale of Church property and other financial transactions.

Sir Henry Palmer (1590) had served under Lord Leicester in an expedition in the Low Countries, where he was knighted in 1586. He also commanded the 'Antelope' against the Armada and succeeded William Borough the same year as Controller of the Navy. He was in active service until 1601 and lived in Stepney. (His son Henry succeeded him in the same post and was knighted in 1618.)

Robert Salmon, one of those who signed the Trinity House petition of 1632, was a merchant of Whitehorse St, Ratcliffe and was also a Stepney vestryman. He was a prominent member and director of the East India Company, a Master of Trinity House during the Spanish Armada (1588) and a man of much substance and well thought of. He petitioned the Privy Council for redress against the Dutch in 1618, claiming 900 pounds damages. The Dutch paid him 250 pounds (3000 guilders) for his losses four years later. He married Joan, daughter the John Vassall who had been a vestry auditor in 1589, on 25 February 1619-20. Salmon Lane was named after him. His tomb is in St Clement's Church, Leigh on Sea.

William Sorrocold (or Serocold or Serecole) of Poplar was elected sidesman for Poplar in 1639. He was a London ironmonger and had married Anne Spencer. He was buried on 11 January 1651-2 and she survived him by three months and was buried on 19 April 1652.

John Southerne was appointed churchwarden of Poplar in July 1632 following the death of George Smith. He was a shipwright, firstly at Woolwich and later at Poplar. He married Barbara Brewer, a widow on 31 October 1625 and was buried on 27 August 1645.

Laurence Spence was the parish clerk and many complaints were received about him by several inhabitants of Stepney for various abuses. He was given until the Sunday to resolve to reform himself and to 'take the Covenant, also to Cary himselfe Soberly and honest in his place' and to give correct accounts for auditing. 'And yf hee hereafter shall give Just Cause of Complaynte hee shalbe put out of his place of beinge Clarke.' The same was to apply to William Cullham, the sexton.

Humfrey Stillego (1645) was a shipwright of New Gravel Lane, Wapping and had been recommended by William Burrell to be master carpenter of the 'Vanguard' on 30 March 1627. As churchwarden he collected money for the king at Shadwell. He was buried 2 July 1651 and Agnes, his wife, on 11 July 1663. He left a will in which he refers to himself as 'a Citizen and Clothworker of London, Gent; by trade a Shipwright Carpenter.

Thomas Sutton was the founder of Charterhouse. He died at Sutton Place, Hackney in 1611.

Richard Swanley vestryman 1627, general shipmaster to the East India Company and became an admiral of the Commonwealth navy and was described as a master mate in 1622 when he was appointed to command the 'Royal Exchange'.
In 1643 he was 'Admiral of the Irish seas' doing great damage to the Royal cause on the west coast. In March the same year he captured, at Bristol, ships carryin arms and ammunition for the King. In May 1644 he made a descent on Caernarvon capturing 400 prisoners and arms. That year he relieved Plymouth and captured many prisoners. Parliament voted thanks to him on 4 June 1644 and he was called to the Bar of the House and presented with a gold chain valued at £200. He was buried on 25 September 1650 at Stepney and his wife Elizabeth was buried there on 1 July 1662. he had three children. Mary, John and Richard. Richard, the son, may be the same who was in command of the 'Eaglet' ketch at the Restoration and later a lieutenant in the 'Anne' and 'Truimph'.

William Swanley (Vestryman 1627), general shipmaster to the East India Company where he 'enjoyed' the salary of 110 pounds per annum. His brother Richard held the same post until he fell ill in 1627.

John Totton had a son Samuel who succeeded to John's land as the eldest brother John had died.

Robert Tranckmore (1649) of Blackwall, gent. was the churchwarden for Poplar. He came originally from New Shoreham, Suffolk. He married Elizabeth Roche of Ratcliffe by license on 14 December 1635. He was buried 17 November 1652. His daughter Alice married Robert Browne of Stepney. During Sir Balthazar Gerbier's, (courtier and painter) absence in 1649 from his house in Bethnal Green it was reported that Parliamentarians broke in and ransacked the place.

Anthony Tutchin a mariner of Limehouse, was married by Licence at Stepney on 23 November 1607 to Margaret Chapman, widow of Limehouse. He was in command of a vessel lent to the French in 1625. In 1626 he was Master-assistant of the Navy and later Master of Trinity House. He was buried at Stepney 27 January 1643-4.

Anthony Tutchen of Poplar and Blackwall (Captain) was an officer in the Commonwealth navy. He was the master of the transport 'Brazil' in May 1650 and in 1653 was pressing seamen for the navy in the eastern counties. He married, Margaret and following her death was preparing to marry Grace Hazle, widow, upon whom he settled property in Poplar known as Oakfield. He died about 1667 and left property to his grandchildren, Margaret Gyles and Sarah, wife of Abraham Read.

John Vassall, (1582-1601), of French descent was a London Alderman but lived at Ratcliffe Wall. He was an enterprising man of great wealth and connected by marriage to the Borough family. One of the founders of the colony of Virginia, many of his large family (he married three times) were distinguished in the colonies and at home. At his own expense he fitted out two ships the 'Samuell' and 'The Little Toby' to fight the Armada, commanding one himself. In 1602 he moved away to Eastwood, Essex but returned to Stepney and died of the plague in 1625.

John Waterton, a timber merchant of Wapping Wall was constable of Ratcliffe in 1643 and Justice of the Peace. He was prominent in local affairs. He was entrusted with enquiries and commissions by the Government. In March 1653 he reported to the navy on the fitness of twenty one captains to be commanders at sea, this report includes many of the men mentioned in the last few paragraphs. He was buried on 26 January 1659.

Captain Henry West (1637) was the master of a privateer, the 180 ton 'Transport' of London, in 1626. In 1629 he was petitioning Secretary Dorchester, praying that the "'St Denis' alias 'Device', of Olona" taken by him during the war between England and France, should not be inserted in the treaty of Restitution between those countries. In 1630 he was again a petitioner asking for a permit to bring his prize into Minehead to sell her cargo of pitch and rosin. He died in 1657 and was buried in Stepney churchyard.

William Wildey, vestryman of 1643, who was to become a rear-admiral was an energetic, painstaking Commonwealth navy officer. In 1653 he was consulted regarding the fitness of forty ships for State service and until June was busy finding crews and victualling the fleet at Gravesend for war with Holland. In June 1653 he wrote from Ratcliffe to the Admiralty Committee which must have reprimanded him 'I must defend myself from your high displeasure of misrepresentation concerning me. I have been neither negligent nor unfaithful, and if I erred in carrying out your orders, it has been through misapprehension. I beg dismissal, as there are others better qualified.' He had been anxious that the crews were properly fed and clothed and constantly complained about the food. He was married twice, firstly to Margaret Hawkins on 18 April 1626 and secondly to Sarah Dover on 13 February 1633, and died 29 August 1679. Sarah died 6 April 1667. He left three sons, William, Richard and Thomas. The family lived in Stepney until 1782 when Samuel Wildey, the last of the male line, died.

Anthony Williamson of Poplar, a citizen of London, made his last appearance at a vestry on 4 May 1613. He had been connected with it for twenty years and was buried on 13 September 1613.

John Willoughby of Prusons (Prussian) Island, Ratcliffe was made Sidesman to the Churchwarden of Ratcliffe September 1635. He was a shipwright of Gravel Lane who married by Licence Rebecca Mountfort of White Horse St on 30 October 1634.