Thomas Foulis (fl. 1580–1628) was a Scottish goldsmith, mine entrepreneur, and royal financier.
Thomas Foulis was an Edinburgh goldsmith and financier, and was involved in the mint and coinage, gold and lead mining, and from May 1591 the receipt of money given to James VI by Queen Elizabeth, known as the English annuity or subsidy.
He was a son of Henry Foulis of Colinton and Margaret Haldane.Julian Goodare, (2004, September 23). 'Foulis, Thomas (c. 1560–1628), goldsmith, financier, and mining entrepreneur', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 29 Sep. 2018, , subscription or library login required. As a financier to the mint and crown his business partner was Robert Jousie, or Jowsie, an Edinburgh cloth merchant who later became Groom of the Chamber.Calendar State Papers Scotland, 13:1 (Edinburgh, 1969), p. 228: Neil Cuddy, 'The Revival of the Entourage' in David Starkey, The English Court (London, 1987), p. 187.
Craftsman Foulis was made a master of the Edinburgh Incorporation of Goldsmiths and a burgess on 18 June 1581 after submitting an essay of silverwork. His master had been Michael Gilbert. A son David followed him into the craft.Jean Munro & Henry Steuart Fotheringham, Edinburgh Goldsmith's Minutes (Edinburgh, 2006), pp. 32, 142.
In February 1581/2 he made new dies for minting coins, following the designs of Lord Seton's painter.Robert William Cochran-Patrick, Records of the Coinage of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1876), p. 248. He was appointed "sinker of irons" at the mint in January 1584, as the successor of James Gray.Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, 8 (Edinburgh, 1982), p. 286 no. 1722.
In March 1588 Foulis complained to the Privy Council about James Acheson, a son of John Acheson in Edinburgh's Canongate, who had a licence to make counters or jetons. Acheson's activities interfered with Foulis' monopoly as "sinker" or die maker. The Council declared that Acheson's making of latten (pewter) counters was not prejudicial to Foulis' rights.David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1585-1592, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1881), p. 266.
In 1590 he made a silver-gilt and engraved basin and ewer for Queen Elizabeth's christening gift to Elizabeth Stewart, the daughter of Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell and Margaret Douglas, and he advanced the English ambassador Robert Bowes £20 sterling to reward the servants and musicians at the baptism, which was held in Edinburgh.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10, pp. 857-8: James David Marwick, Extracts from the Burgh Records of Edinburgh: 1573-1589 (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 332.
In April 1593 the English ambassador Lord Burgh and the resident diplomat Robert Bowes borrowed £300 sterling from Robert Jousie, Thomas Foulis, and John Porterfield in order to reward potential supporters of English policy.Annie I. Cameron, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1593-1595, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 75-6.
Royal costume and jewelry Michael Gilbert and his former apprentice Foulis provided rings and other jewels for James VI to give to courtiers as New Year's Day gifts. The bill was £763 in 1582/3 and rose in January 1588 to £5,100.Maria Hayward, Stuart Style (Yale, 2020), p. 216.
In 1587, Edinburgh burgh council and the Provost John Arnot challenged exemptions from taxes claimed by some royal servants including the tailors James Inglis and John Murdo, the apothecary Alexander Barclay, the surgeon Gilbert Primrose, the clockmaker Robert Purves, and the goldsmiths Thomas Foulis and John Burrell.Robert Cochran-Patrick, Records of the coinage of Scotland, 1 (Edinburgh, 1876), p. 252. Working for the king and the royal mint brought Foulis privileges and exemptions from taxes which brought resentment in Edinburgh, and the town's authorities refused to 'book' one of his apprentices in February 1591.David Masson, Register of the Privy Council, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1881), p. 574.
In June 1589 Foulis provided the king with two gold chains and rings worth £953 Scots to give to the captains of an English fleet commanded by George Beeston. Beeston was also given a gold locket set with diamonds, costing £373, and 100 crowns worth £266 were given to his sailors. This generosity was connected with the aftermath of a fatal struggle between Beeston's sailors and Armada veterans on the streets of Edinburgh.Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588-1596', Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), pp. 11-2, 22-3, 61: National Records of Scotland, treasurer's accounts, June 1589.
James VI sent Foulis and Robert Jousie to London in July 1589 to buy clothes and ornaments in preparation for his marriage to Anne of Denmark.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), no. 154. In pledge of payment for these purchases and for jewels and silver plate made in his workshop, James gave him two cut rubies and three cabochon rubies set in gold "chatons" or buttons, enamelled with red, white and black. Foulis returned these royal jewels to the depute-treasurer Robert Melville in October 1589, when James VI sailed to Norway. At Leith, Foulis also returned a large table cut diamond which he had held in pledge since January 1586 for the jewelry supplied to the king for New Year's Day gifts.David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1585–1592, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1881), p. 421: National Records of Scotland, treasurer's accounts May and June 1590. When James returned to Scotland in May 1590, Foulis provided gold chains for gifts to the Danish Admiral Peder Munk and his companions.James Thomson Gibson Craig, Papers Relative to the Marriage of King James the Sixth of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1828), Appendix II, pp. 16, 18
Foulis supplied jewels to James VI and Anne, while Jousie supplied clothes and fabrics, paid for in part by a subsidy or annuity provided by Queen Elizabeth.Jemma Field, 'Dressing a Queen: The Wardrobe of Anna of Denmark at the Scottish Court of King James VI, 1590–1603', The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), p. 154: Michael Pearce, 'Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland', The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), p. 138: Maria Hayward, Stuart Style (Yale, 2020), pp. 53-4, 163, 171. In August 1594 Foulis bought eight ruffs in London for queen.Jemma Field, 'Dressing a Queen: The Wardrobe of Anna of Denmark at the Scottish Court of King James VI, 1590–1603', The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), p. 159. Foulis also had a stock of fabric at his death.Julian Goodare, ODNB (2004): See Scotlands People, '1629 Foullis, Thomas' (Wills and testaments Reference CC14/5/3, Lanark Commissary Court.
In January 1597 Foulis was paid for a diamond and ruby ring, a ring with a great table cut diamond, a ring set with seven diamonds, a ring with eleven diamonds, a tablet or locket with an emerald and ten diamonds, and a "carcan" necklace with diamonds rubies and pearls. The total value was 790 crowns or £2,765 Scots. James VI had given some of these rings and jewels as New Year's Day gifts to his courtiers.Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588-1596', Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), pp. 81-2, 91-2. His account mentions three rings set with eleven diamonds, one given to Marie Stewart, Countess of Mar. The rings may have been of a similar design, but were valued at 80, 120, and 300 crowns.Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, "James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts", Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), pp. 82, 92.
According to the Scottish diplomat and intriguer Archibald Douglas, James VI gave a valuable ring to Anthony Bacon, the secretary of the Earl of Essex. The ring was selected from a goldsmith in London by Foulis who gave it to Bacon and accounted for it from the subsidy money the king received. Bacon later tried to pawn the ring with the same London goldsmith, who said it was worth only half the amount that Foulis had claimed.John Duncan Mackie, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1597-1603, 13:2 (Edinburgh, 1969), p. 918 no. 746. While this story may be in part malicious gossip, it shows that some of the subsidy money was spent in London. There is also evidence that textiles were supplied to Foulis and Jousie by the London merchant Baptist Hicks.William Fraser, Memoirs of the Maxwells of Pollok, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 51
Miner and refiner In March 1592 Foulis was involved in a project to refine old silver Scottish coins with Sir William Bowes in London.Register of the Privy Council, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1881), pp. 730-3. Foulis also operated a copper mine near Edinburgh for the king and was permitted to use wood from the forest of Torwood to make charcoal for refining.National Records of Scotland, Privy Seal Register, PS1/65 f35r and f62v. In January 1594 he had a tack or lease given in acknowledgement of money owed to him by the king and queen, to mine and export all minerals and metals in the Friarmoor in Lanarkshire, a former possession of Newbattle Abbey.Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1882), pp. 117-8.
In March 1594 one of his mining experts Bernard Fechtenburg was tempted away by Lord Menmuir, Master of Metals, to work for Sir David Lindsay of Edzell Castle. Fechtenburg said that Edzell's samples of ores were more promising than an assay made by Foulis' other experts.Lives of the Lindsays, vol. 1 (London, 1849), pp. 342-4. In April 1594 he received a grant to prospect and mine for gold, silver, lead, tin and other metals, in Lanarkshire.The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707, K.M. Brown et al eds (St Andrews, 2007-2018), 1594/4/82. Date accessed: 28 September 2018. The grant mentioned mines previously worked by George Douglas of Parkhead.Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1816), pp. 84-5.
He became known as Thomas Foulis of Leadhills. In June 1597 after one of his convoys carrying lead towards Edinburgh was robbed by border outlaws, the Privy Council authorised Foulis's carriers to have a lead badge with the king's arms and wear Foulis's own insignia, and anyone who tried to rob them would be executed.Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 395.
The English gold prospector George Bowes complained in a letter to Lord Essendon that Foulis had disrupted his workings in 1604 by detaining his English timber man. He hoped that Lord Balmerino, Secretary for Scotland would help him. Bowes was staying at Codrus Cottage, above Wanlock Water.Robert William Cochran-Patrick, Early Records Relating to Mining in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1878), pp. 110-11, 113.
Silver at Hilderston Silver was discovered on lands at Hilderston near Bathgate in 1607. The prospector Bevis Bulmer and Thomas Foulis opened a silver mine called "God's Blessing".HMC 9 Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 19 (London, 1965), pp. 213, 236-7. In 1608 Thomas Foulis and George Foulis, also a goldsmith, assayed ore from the mine. The site at Hilderston was developed by Bulmer, the "knight governor of the works of his majesty's mines under ground", with George Bruce of Carnock acting as treasurer. In 1613 Foulis obtained the contract for the mine with William Alexander of Menstrie and Paulo Pinto from Portugal.Robert William Cochran-Patrick, Early Records Relating to Mining in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1878), pp. 123, 141-152, 159-161, 163-6.
Royal finance