John Crosby (died 1476)

Sir John Crosby (died 1476) was a London merchant and alderman, diplomat and Member of Parliament. A Yorkist during the Wars of the Roses, he was knighted for his service in resisting an attack on London in 1471 by Lancastrian forces under Thomas Fauconberg. Crosby Hall, the mansion he built at Bishopsgate, was later moved to Chelsea, where it still survives.

John Crosby was the son of John Crosby of London, from whom he inherited the manor of Hanworth, which had previously been held by his grandfather. His mother's name is unknown. In his will he mentions a cousin, Peter Christmas.

As a youth Crosby was apprenticed to John Young, a member of the Worshipful Company of Grocers. He was made free of the Company in 1454, and became a wool merchant. By 1460 he was dealing on a large scale, and in 1462 was described as 'of London, grocer, Merchant of the Staple of Calais'. In 1465 his former master, John Young, accused Crosby of 'counterfeiting his seal and making a false indenture', and the quarrel between the two had to be submitted to arbitration.

By about 1469 Crosby was importing luxury fabrics, including damasks and satin, and exporting from England on Italian vessels. He was a Member of Parliament for the City of London in 1466, auditor from 1467-8, and alderman from 1468 until his death. In 1469 he became Master of the Grocers' Company, and in 1470 was one of the two Sheriffs of London. At about this time he was also Mayor of the Staple of Calais.

By 1466 Crosby had amassed sufficient wealth from his trading ventures to obtain a 99-year lease of land from the prioress of St Helen's Priory in Bishopsgate, and to build Crosby Hall, a house which John Stow described as ‘of stone and timber, very large and beautiful, and the highest at that time in London’. The house was later taken over by Richard III; a scene in Shakespeare's Richard III is set at Crosby Hall. In 1502 Sir Bartholomew Rede, Lord Mayor of London, kept his mayoralty there.