Jerome Horsey

Sir Jerome Horsey (c. 1550 – 1626), of Great Kimble, Buckinghamshire, was an English explorer, diplomat and politician in the 16th and 17th centuries.

On arriving in Moscow he supposedly rescued Madelyn van Uxell from being sent to a brothel by the Tsar,[citation needed] an act which served him well later.

The Russia Company asked Horsey to negotiate a new charter and to use his influence to get extra land for the English compound (which still stands on Varvarka Street in Zaryadye).

During his time in Moscow, Horsey seems to have carried out private trading on behalf of members of the English Court, such as Leicester and Walsingham, which was against the rules of the Russia Company.

This later caused a dispute with the company, but eventually the problem was resolved by his giving up the property he owned in Moscow, and it was found that they owed him money rather than the other way around.

This journey was very difficult and included being arrested at the Danish island of Oesel, but the wife of the governor happened to be Madelyn van Uxel whom he had saved earlier.

On arrival in London, Horsey had several meetings with Queen Elizabeth, translating the papers he had carried into English.

[citation needed] The queen had no choice but to sign a warrant for his arrest, but she said "I still believe Jerome Horsey will prove himself honest".

He was made an Esquire of the Body to Queen Elizabeth in 1580, was knighted on 23 July 1603 and Receiver of Crown Lands in nine counties in June 1604.

Horsey is occasionally cited as a contemporary authority on Eastern Europe, Russia, and the reign of Ivan the Terrible.