This is the story of a young man who left his country home in Staffordshire and found that the streets of London were, indeed, paved with gold. Born about 1590, he was the son of Edward Wollaston (1552-1629), a yeoman of Perton in Staffordshire, and his cousin Elizabeth. How he came to be in London and was able to secure an apprenticeship as a goldsmith, we can only conjecture. It seems that his uncle Henry (1556-1616), a man of some standing in London, sponsored him and his brother Henry.
He served his seven-year apprenticeship under the auspices of the Goldsmiths' Company from 1604 to 1611. He went into business on his own account, but is not known whether he achieved eminence as a working goldsmith or as a banker (the two were closely connected). The fact that, according to the records of the Goldsmiths' Company, he took two members of the Wollaston family (see footnote) as his apprentices suggests that he was a working goldsmith. His rapid rise to fame in the City of London, however, suggests that his wealth must have come from financial enterprises. He lived and carried on his business in Foster Lane, very close to the Goldsmiths Hall.
In 1618 Sir Walter Raleigh was committed to the Tower following upon the failure of his marauding expedition to South America. The crown hoped to obtain evidence that Raleigh had been plotting with the French so that he could be executed for treason, a suspended sentence from 1603 still hung over him. Lady Raleigh was under house arrest and Sir John, being a solid citizen of London and favoured in Court circles, was entrusted with her custody. The task of acting as gaoler of Lady Raleigh must have been onerous and unpleasant. John Wollaston had to reside at Raleigh's house in order to keep a watch on Lady Raleigh and to act as an agent provocateur. But the task only lasted a short time from the 20th August to the 10th September 1618, for he then represented to the Privy Council "the hindrance which it caused to his many great occasions and affairs" and the safekeeping of Lady Raleigh was transferred to another. In 1624 John Wollaston was appointed the sole refiner of the Mint. He was deputy-governor of the Irish Society 1631-1634. He was Prime Warden of the Goldsmiths Company in 1639 and his relations with the company were obviously friendly for they gave him £100 and loaned him a quantity of plate during his year of office as Lord Mayor of London. In return he invited the whole of the Court of Assistants of the Goldsmiths Company to the Lord Mayor's Banquet, instead of the customary twelve or sixteen.
Like most of the City of London he supported Parliament against the King in the period leading to the Civil War. He was an opponent of the Crown in the ship-money controversy and later on during the Civil War he was an active supporter of the Parliamentary party. But he was not such an outspoken or extreme opponent to the Crown that his election as Lord Mayor of London or his Knighthood was vetoed by the King as happened to certain vehement opponents of the Crown. He was Alderman of Farringdon Without 1638-9, Dowgate 1642, Aldersgate 1644, Bridge Without 1657, Father of the City 1657-8. He held the office of Sheriff of the City of London from 1638-1639, he was knighted at Hampton Court on 3rd December 1641 and he was appointed Lord Mayor in 1644.
He took an active part in the Civil War on the side of the Parliamentary party. He was colonel of the Third or Yellow Regiment of the City trainbands 1642-5 and colonel of the City's train bands 1641, though this does not mean that he took part in any of the fighting. He was for some time Treasurer at War and acted as one of the Commissioners for the sale of the lands, which had belonged to the Crown and the Bishops. He himself purchased some of the estates belonging to the Bishop of-London for about £7, 000. All these estates were restored to the bishopric of London at the Restoration, and the purchase money was lost to the family. Sir John was a member of the Church of England, but he was puritanically inclined and was intimately associated with Joseph Caryll and other Presbyterian divines of the New Covenant. He purchased the advowsons of Womburne and Trysull in the county of Staffordshire, no doubt in order to fill them with persons of the same religious views as himself. In his will he desired that the livings be filled by a "learned and painful preacher, honest life and conversation whereby souls may be gained to Christ" his will he also left £10 each to eight "ministers of the gospel" as a remembrance of his love, for them. Sir John strove actively to improve the quality and education of clergymen and was a leading subscriber to a scheme in 1647 for maintaining poor young men at the university so that they could be trained up to be ministers of God and fill the scarcity of a "godly, learned and orthodox ministry" (Mss at the British Museum).
Sir John was a charitable man. He was elected a Governor of the free school and chapel of Highgate in 1630. He took an active interest in the school and chapel and in his will gave £10 a year to improve the salary of the preacher. He also founded six almshouses, which were built near the chapel. The almshouses were rebuilt in 1722. Sir John was president of Christ's Hospital 1649-1658 and president of the hospital of Bethlehem 1642-9. In his will, dated 14th May 1658, he left the following bequests: £100 a year to Christ's Hospital, £100 a year to Emmanuel College, Cambridge and £20 a year to the hospital of Bethlehem. He also left £25 for the poor.
Sir John's wife's brother-in-law was Captain John Mason was granted large tracts of New England. In his will Mason left Sir John 3,000 acres in New Hampshire. But Sir John derived no advantage from this bequest nor did he participate in the many schemes of colonial enterprise in which so many of his contemporaries risked their lives and fortunes. The absentee 1andlords in New England found it very difficult to enforce their rights against the colonial settlers, and Sir John never attempted to do so.
Footnotes:
The two apprentices were, in 1633, William Wollaston described as the son of William Wollaston, yeoman, of Perton. The other apprentice was Edward, also the son of William, who is now a "gent. deceased" It is far from clear where these two young men fit into the family tree.
Train bands were a form of militia.
Bibliography:
History of the Wollaston Family- Henry Wood Wollaston, 1960
Edwards "Life of Sir Walter Raleigh"