Richard Gresham

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

[3] As a mercer, he was in partnership with his brother, John Gresham, in exporting textiles and importing grain from the continent.

He was elected as Lord Mayor of London in 1537,[4] and when Cardinal Wolsey was on his death bed he called Gresham his "fast-friend".

In part payment, in January 1521, Gresham asked Wolsey to obtain a licence for him to profit by international trade, including the right to send a ship to Turkey.

Gresham asked Wolsey to sign a letter in his support in March 1521, and wrote that he had obtained eight cloths-of-gold for hanging in the Cardinal's closet at Hampton Court.