Edward Osborne

Sir Edward Osborne (1530?–1591), was one of the principal merchants of London in the later sixteenth century, and Lord Mayor of London in 1583.

Osborne was the eldest son of Richard Osborne of Ashford, Kent, by his wife, Jane Broughton. In May 1547—although another account makes the date three years later—he was apprenticed to Sir William Hewett, clothworker, one of the principal merchants of London and lord mayor in 1559. His admission to the freedom of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers is assigned to 8 May 1554, although it possibly took place in 1551. According to a romantic legend, which in its main feature may be accepted, Hewett's infant daughter was dropped by a careless nurse from an apartment on London Bridge into the current below. Young Osborne immediately leaped into the river and saved the child. The date of this event must have been about 1545, as the lady, who became Osborne's wife, was twenty-three years old at the time of her father's death in January 1566-7. Pictoral representations of Osborne's feat are preserved at Clothworker's Hall and at Hornby Castle, Yorkshire, the seat of the Duke of Leeds.

In his early days Osborne travelled, and probably resided much abroad, principally at Madrid, and in 1561 he was well known as a merchant and financial agent. On the death of his father-in-law, in 1566-7, Osborne acted as executor jointly with his wife, and succeeded to Hewett's extensive business, his mansion in Philpot Lane, and to the greater part of his estates.

Osborne engaged extensively in foreign commerce, trading principally with Spain and Turkey. On 17 February 1569 his depositions, together with those of John Stow, were taken as to his knowledge of the handwriting of the Spanish ambassador. He was at the time the owner of a well-appointed ship. He was governor of the Turkey Company, and his name heads a list of principal members of the company on a petition to the lord treasurer in 1584 to be 'mean [mediator] unto her Majesty for the loan of ten thousand pounds' weight of bullion for certain years for the better maintenance of their trade.' He made zealous efforts to procure a charter for the company, and before and after its incorporation he frequently petitioned the court for redress of injuries committed upon their fleet, trade, and factors by pirates and others. He represented that the company was willing to pay the expenses of the queen's ambassador at Constantinople. These negotiations continued through 1590 and 1591, and the company was finally incorporated under the title of 'Merchants of the Levant trading to Turkey and Venice,' with Osborne as their first governor.

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