Thomas Andrewes

Sir Thomas Andrewes (died 1659) was a London financier who supported the parliamentary cause during the English Civil Wars, and sat as a commissioner at the High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I. During the Third English Civil War, as Lord Mayor of London, he made sure that there was no trouble in London. During the Interregnum he supported Oliver Cromwell, and was knighted by him in 1657. Many sources confuse him with another Thomas Andrewes, who had a more prominent role in the British East India Company and was a contemporary of the London politician; this other Andrewes was still alive in 1660.

Life In the 1620s Andrewes followed the lead of his father Robert and traded with the Plymouth Colony. During the 1630s he traded with the New England colonies, and as a member of the guild of the Leathersellers' Company, ran a successful wholesale linen drapery business at the White Lion, Fish Street Hill. By the end of the decade he had been the master of the guild (from 1638 to 1639), and had made enough money to become an undersharer holder in a syndicate that farmed customs (a speculative venture where the syndicate paid the Crown a fixed sum against the hope of collecting a larger sum from those who owed custom revenue to the Crown).

In 1642 at the start of the Civil War Andrewes was a member of the committee which oversaw the City of London militia, a body of men willing to defend London against the Cavaliers (see for example the Battle of Turnham Green). It was also during 1642 that he became an Alderman of the City

In April that year Andrewes was appointed to succeed Abraham Reynardson, the Royalist Lord Mayor of London, on the latter's deposition in April 1649. Having served until the following October, he was, after a year's interval, again chosen for the year 1650–1651. His successful performance of his duties during his second period as Lord Mayor was of importance to the Commonwealth as he was responsible for keeping the capital quiet, and a bulwark against any resurgence of Royalism in support of the King Chales II during the third English Civil War. He also acquired more sequestered properties including Mucking Hall in Essex.