Crisp, Nicholas (1599 -1666)

Nicholas Crisp was the first son of Ellis Crisp, salter, of Bread Street, London, and Hester, daughter of John Ireland, salter, of London. Ellis Crisp who became sheriff of London, was one of the richest merchants in Jacobean London. Nicholas Crisp invested in numerous projects and built himself a magnificent house at Hammersmith for £25,000.  He became a wealthy merchant who pioneered the West African trade in the 1630s. Member of Parliament for Winchelsea Nov. 1640-1 (being expelled as a monopolist), he was knighted in 1640 or 1641 by Charles I.

He raised a regiment for the King’s service, and large amounts of gold to the Royalist cause. His allegiance to the crown was steadfast, even after Charles I was executed in 1649, and he was forced to flee to France.

Crisp was active in the royalist conspiracies prior to the Restoration, and signed the declaration of London Royalists in support of George Monck in April 1660.

Crisp was mentioned several times in Samuel Pepys' diary. Pepys notes his inventiveness and mentions his proposals for a wet-dock. He was returned to Parliament again in 1661 to represent Winchelsea until 1666. In 1665 Charles II honoured his loyal servant by creating him a baronet.

He died on 26 Feb. 1666, aged 67. At his request, his heart, enclosed in an urn, was placed on the pedestal of the bronze bust ‘of that glorious martyr, King Charles I, of blessed memory’ erected by him in his chapel at Hammersmith.