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Sir Richard Clough – ‘The Most Complete Man’ |
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Merchants and Markets
© Denbighshire Record Office, Ruthin |
Back in London, Richard entered the services of Sir Thomas Gresham as a ‘factor’ or manager, and was admitted into the Mercers’ Company – a long established Guild of Merchants who exported woollen materials and imported luxury fabrics. Gresham, a wealthy merchant and financier in his own right, was also the special financial representative of Queen Elizabeth on the continent.
Gresham and Clough’s trade frequently took them abroad, and in 1552, Clough moved to Antwerp, the commercial capital of Northern Europe. Antwerp had the most active and important exchange bank in northern Europe, brokering trade between England, Spain and the Low Countries. Clough married a local girl, Catherine Muldart of Antwerp and had a son, who later inherited one of his father’s properties in North Wales.
Clough’s own business thrived, and he accumulated a considerable fortune. With the influence of Gresham, he invested heavily in Crown lands, and his activities gave rise to the expression, once well known in Denbigh – ‘Efe a aeth yn Clough’ - “He has become a Clough”, applied to anyone who had acquired great wealth. A Welsh bard of the period described his rapid success as “Faen tros Iaem” (as rapid as the motion of a stone on ice).
Clough continued to work on Gresham’s behalf, and therefore the Queen’s, both in negotiating loans and smuggling money, arms and foreign goods back to England.
Clough’s success in these matters earned him the trust and confidence of his employer, whom he wrote to often, and at length. His letters would cover over 20 pages and describe not only the commercial details, but provide commentaries on local events such as a state funeral, or festivals. These letters, when forwarded by Gresham, would provide Sir William Cecil, the Queen’s first overseer of the gathering of political intelligence, with invaluable information regarding the Low Countries.
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