Richard Gresham

Sir Richard Gresham
Born	c.1485 Holt, Norfolk
Died	21 February 1549 (aged 63–64) Bethnal Green
Spouse(s)	Audrey Lynne
Children	John Gresham Sir Thomas Gresham Christian Gresham Elizabeth Gresham
Parent(s)	John Gresham, Alice Blythe

Sir Richard Gresham (c.1485 – 21 February 1549) was an English mercer, Merchant Adventurer, Lord Mayor of London, and Member of Parliament. He was the father of Sir Thomas Gresham.

The Gresham family had been settled in the Norfolk village of Gresham since at least the late 14th Century. Richard Gresham's grandfather, James Gresham, moved to Holt, Norfolk, about three miles from Gresham, where in the mid-fifteenth century he built a manor house in the centre of the small town. Richard Gresham, born about 1485 at Holt, was probably the third of four surviving sons of James Gresham's son, John Gresham, by his marriage to Alice Blythe of Long Stratton, Norfolk.

Gresham was admitted a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Mercers in 1507. As a mercer, he was in partnership with his brother, John Gresham, in exporting textiles and importing grain from the continent. He supplied King Henry VIII with arras, velvets, and satins. Most of his trade was with the Low Countries, which were the most significant area for English overseas trade for most of the sixteenth century, and he amassed a large fortune. He became Sheriff of London and Middlesex in 1531, and was knighted the same year. On 19 May 1536, he was present at the execution of Anne Boleyn in the Tower of London. He was elected as Lord Mayor of London in 1537, and when Cardinal Wolsey was on his death bed he called Gresham his "fast-friend". Gresham paid for the Cardinal's funeral.

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