Thomas Green, Gunmaker, and Persecuted Popish Recusant

Abstract

Thomas Green came from the small northern market town of Kirkby Stephen in Westmorland, served his apprenticeship in the Gunmaker’s Company under Edward Nicholson 1686 − 1693, and established an active gunmaking business in the Minories, close to the Tower of London. His business was commercially successful despite his being persecuted as a Popish Recusant and being forced into exile for allegedly supplying arms to the Jacobite rising of 1715 and the Atterbury Plot against King George I in 1722. Thomas Green’s nephew, Richard Wilson, also from Kirkby Stephen, served his apprenticeship under his uncle and eventually took over the business which thrived for over another 100 years. This article briefly describes what has been learned of the life of Thomas Green and is illustrated by a fine hallmarked example of his work.