Jack O’Newbury

"Jack of Newbury" or John Winchcombe (c.1489 −1557) was a leading English clothier from Newbury in Berkshire. When Tudor cloth-making was booming, and woollen cloth dominated English exports, John Winchcombe was producing for export on an industrial scale.

He was a leading clothier in other ways. Cloth-making was heavily regulated, and in the 1530s and 1540s Winchcombe led dozens of clothiers in a national campaign to persuade King Henry VIII to change the law on the making of woollen cloth – a campaign which proved ultimately successful.

He was the son of a clothier, but became a clothier in his own right before his father's death in 1520, and combined the two businesses, taking on property which had been leased to his father. He was already wealthy in the 1520s, and his growing prosperity led to a significant rise in his status.

Winchcombe became a wealthy landowner, spending over £4,000 on the purchase of property in the 1540s, including the manors of Thatcham and Bucklebury in 1540, Farnborough (on the Berkshire Downs) in 1542, and Lockinge and Ginge in 1546.

In addition, he held a large portfolio of other property (much of it leased), mainly in and around Newbury. Some of this had previously been held by Sandleford Priory, dissolved in the 15th century.

He was one of the Berkshire gentry while continuing as a clothier, becoming a Justice of the Peace and a member of parliament.

As one of the county gentry, John Winchcombe was asked to provide Newbury men to fight in Henry VIII's armies, beginning when he was listed as one of those to be approached "…for aid against the rebels in the north" (i.e. the Pilgrimage of Grace) in 1536. He was listed to supply men for the army in Flanders in 1543, with 10-foot soldiers specified; and for the Boulogne campaign in 1544. For the latter, contemporary documents show him at the head of 150 named Newbury men, all furnished with new coats. His will of 1557 includes references to 20 sets of armour and two demi-lances.

He was among those present for the reception of Henry VIII's fourth wife Anne of Cleves, and his personal contacts included Sir Thomas Gresham and the Protector Somerset. He was granted a coat of arms, and had his portrait painted in 1550.

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