Sir Arthur Ingram ( – 1642) was an English investor, landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1610 and 1642.S. Healy, 'Ingram, Sir Arthur (b. before 1571, d. 1642), financier and politician', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The subject of an influential biography,A.F. Upton, Sir Arthur Ingram, c. 1565–1642: a study of the origins of an English landed family (Oxford University Press 1961). he has been celebrated for his "financial skill and ruthless self-interest",J.T. Cliffe, The Yorkshire Gentry from the Reformation to the Civil War (Athlone Press, London 1969), p. 30. and characterized as "a rapacious, plausible swindler who ruined many during a long and successful criminal career".C. Singer, The earliest Chemical Industry: an Essay in the Historical Relations of Economics & Technology Illustrated from the Alum Trade (Folio Society, London 1948), p. 187. Probably of London birth but of Yorkshire background, he was a very extensive landowner in Yorkshire. He acquired and rebuilt the former Lennox residence at Temple Newsam near Leeds, which became the principal seat of his family, including the Lords Ingram, Viscount Irvine and their descendants, for over 300 years.H.W. Forsyth Harwood, 'Ingram, Viscount Irvine', in J. Balfour Paul, The Scots Peerage: Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland (David Douglas, Edinburgh 1908), V (1908), pp. 9-20.
Origins and early life The date of Sir Arthur Ingram's birth is not known. He was the second of three sons of Hugh Ingram (died 1614),Will of Hughe Ingram, Tallow Chandler of London (P.C.C. 1614), Lawe quire. a prosperous merchant and citizen Tallow Chandler of London who originated from Thorpe-on-the-Hill in Yorkshire. Hugh imported goods from the Continent for sale as well as being a money lender and debt collector.
The eldest son, Sir William Ingram (died 1623), was Doctor of Civil Law (of Trinity College, Cambridge, and the Inner TempleJ. Venn & J.A. Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses, I.ii (Cambridge University Press 1922), p. 449.), and became Secretary to the Council in the North. Their mother was Anne, daughter of Richard Goldthorpe,J. Foster, Yorkshire Pedigrees I: West Riding (W. Wilfred Head, London 1874). haberdasher, Lord Mayor of York 1556-57 and M.P. for the City of York in 1559.
Little is known of Arthur Ingram's early years. A merchant in London, there are indications that he had been a factor in Italy, and was at some time in Turkey. In the early 1600s he developed an association with Lionel Cranfield. Having been a Waiter (customs officer) in the Port of London, in 1603 he was appointed Comptroller of Customs (until 1613), a role in which he made himself useful to the Earl of Suffolk and Earl of Nottingham. In 1605, (until 1614) he took over the management of the wine licence patent for Lord Admiral Nottingham,J.P. Ferris and S. Healy, 'Ingram, Arthur (c.1565-1642), of Fenchurch Street, London; later of Dean's Yard, Westminster, Temple Newsam and York, Yorks.', in A. Thrush and J.P. Ferris (eds), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629 (Cambridge University Press 2010), History of Parliament online. (Retrieved 29 July 2017) who remarked in 1610 that "the whole and many pains and scandals of the business did ever since the beginning thereof lie upon Mr. Arthur Ingram only, with an incessant trouble to him and his house."Upton, Sir Arthur Ingram, p. 56.
The Howards became somewhat dependent upon his services and assistance, and he benefited from their patronage by advancement where opportunity arose.Ferris and Healy, 'Ingram, Arthur (c.1565-1642)', History of Parliament Online. Accessed 14 January 2023.
From 1607 until 1615, Ingram was, with Sir Walter Cope (associate of the Earl of Salisbury), contractor for the sale of Crown lands, through which office he acquired several excellent estates.Ferris and Healy, 'Ingram, Arthur (c.1565-1642)', History of Parliament online.
Historian Thomas Birch (1705–1766) wrote that, in buying land, Ingram's practice "was to pay the one half down fairly and fully, but the second half by a Chancery bill, that is, he would find some flaw, some incumbrance or other, to baulk the second payment, and so call the seller into and hold him in the Chancery."Thomas Birch, in British Library Birch MS 4460, quoted in J.J. Cartwright, Chapters in the History of Yorkshire (B.W. Allen, Wakefield 1872), pp. 197-98 (note). At one time he had no fewer than 21 lawsuits in progress.
These methods won him control of large purchases, but cost him friends. On the other hand, it has been argued that the King, knowing him to be a pragmatic man, and one discreet in speech and demeanour, advanced him at a time when many people were enriching themselves and had money to spend on great projects, and knew that he would be useful in finding ways to accumulate revenue for the crown: and that by doing so, he was disliked and described as a "mean fellow" by those whom he had successfully mulcted to the crown's advantage.G. Goodman (ed. J.S. Brewer), The Court of King James the First: to which are added Letters, 2 Vols (Richard Bentley, London 1839), I, pp. 252-55. (Google). D. Lloyd (ed. C. Whitworth), 'Observations on the Life of Sir Arthur Ingram', State Worthies, Or, The Statesmen and Favourites of England from the Reformation to the Revolution, 2 vols (J. Robson, London 1766), II, pp. 85-86. (Internet archive).
The Alum Company Serving as collector for dyewood and starch duties in 1607–08, Ingram investigated revenues from the English alum refinery (for use in cloth dyeing processes) then being established in Yorkshire. In 1607 Sir Thomas Chaloner,S. Healy, Chaloner, Sir Thomas (?1564-1615), of Richmond Palace, Surr., Steeple Claydon, Bucks. and Clerkenwell, Mdx., in A. Thrush and J.P. Ferris (eds), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629 (Cambridge University Press 2010), History of Parliament online. Sir David Foulis, Sir John Bourchier and Lord Sheffield in partnership obtained a 31-year monopoly based upon the Chaloner estates at Guisborough and Redcar. The concession was leased to London merchants who made substantial losses, despite the use of expert workmen from Germany.Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Most Hon. the Marquis of Salisbury, K.G., preserved at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, Historical Manuscripts Commission 9, Part XVIII (HMSO London 1940), p. 271. See Chapters in the History of Yorkshire, p. 195 (note), citing Harleian MS 6115. As their investments failed, on Ingram's advice the Lord Treasurer Salisbury bought out the patent in 1609, and upon Ingram's favourable reportGuildhall tracts, Beta, no. 60 (6 May 1609). a new lease was issued, the dues of which however soon became onerous to the farmers of the industry.'The Royal Alum Works', in W. Hyde Price, The English Patents of Monopoly (Houghton, Mifflin & Company, Boston and New York 1906), pp. 82-101, at pp. 83-85.
In November 1609 Ingram entered parliament as representative for Stafford, presumably under Salisbury's patronage in connection with the Great Contract.Ferris and Healy, 'Ingram, Arthur (c.1565-1642)', History of Parliament online. He served on several committees for bills touching his own knowledge and interest, and that of his patrons, who by their continuing support taught him the advantage of a parliamentary career.Upton, Sir Arthur Ingram, pp. 251-52. As he became over-engaged in land transactions doubts over his liquidity emerged, but confidence in his credit-worthiness was restored by means of a declaration signed by the Earl of Salisbury, the Earl of Northampton and the Lord Chancellor. At this time he was operating from premises in Fenchurch Street.British Library Lansdowne MS 92, cited in Chapters in the History of Yorkshire, p. 194 (note).
By 1612 the Alum Company was failing, and went into insolvency shortly before the death of Lord Treasurer Salisbury.R.B. Turton, The Alum Farm, together with a History of the Origin, Development and Eventual Decline of the Alum Trade in North East Yorkshire (Horne & Son, Whitby, 1938), pp. 83-153. Following various proposals Ingram, with Walter Cope and Robert Johnson, persuaded the Lords Commissioners to grant them control as contractors under a new adjustment, and in 1613, as the works passed into the King's hands, they became managers for the Crown, and claimed to have invested large sums of their own money.English Patents of Monopoly, pp. 86-90. In March 1613 Ingram obtained by purchase the position of Secretary and Keeper of the Signet of the Council in the North, a position he held until 1633, his elder brother Dr William Ingram serving as his Deputy until his death in 1623.R.R. Reid, The King's Council in the North (Longmans, Green & Co, London 1921), Appendix II, pp. 489, 497 (State Papers, Domestic, James I, lxvi, no. 79). This post was acquired for £5,200 from Sir Robert Carey, governor to Prince Charles.Ferris & Healy, 'Ingram, Arthur', History of Parliament online. For his residence he entirely remodelled two large houses including the ruined former Archbishop's palace in York between 1616 and 1623.R.J. Roberts, "'Two meane fellows grand projectors': the self-projection of Sir Arthur Ingram and Lionel Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex, 1600-1645, with particular reference to their houses" Unpublished PhD thesis, Teesside University (2012), pp. 111-118. He received the honour of knighthood on 9 July 1613, and his brother in 1617.W.C. Metcalfe, A Book of Knights Banneret, Knights of the Bath, and Knights Bachelor (Mitchell and Hughes, London 1885), pp. 164, 170.
Three marriages Ingram's first marriage was to Susan, daughter of Richard Brown of London. There were four sons including his heir, the younger Arthur Ingram (knighted 1621), and a daughter.The Scots Peerage, pp. 10-11.
Following the death of his wife Susan in July 1613, Ingram remarried soon afterwards to a London city widow, Alice Halliday. "She had withstoode an army of wooers, and I thincke is now lighted on the worst", wrote John Chamberlain.N.E. McClure (ed.), The Letters of John Chamberlain, American Philosophical Society Memoirs XII Part 1 (Philadelphia 1939, reprinted 1962), Letter 181 (9 September 1613), at p. 476. (HathiTrust) Alice, daughter of the London citizen Mercer William Ferrars, was formerly married to John Halliday, son and heir of Sir Leonard Halliday (Lord Mayor of London 1605–06), and was worth £3000. On 9 March 1614 he took a seat in parliament for New Romney. There was one child of his second marriage, Thomas Ingram, who became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster: Alice died in October 1614 of a quinsy,Letters of John Chamberlain, I, Letter to Isaac Wake (12 October 1614), at p. 556. not long after his birth.G.E. Cokayne, Some Account of the Lord Mayors and Sheriffs of London, 1601-1625 (Phillimore and Co., London 1897), pp. 26-27. (Internet archive)