¹ J. D. Alsop, ‘The origin of a radical: Gerrard Winstanley 1609–48’ (forthcoming). I am very grateful to Professor Alsop for allowing me to read and comment on his article in advance of publication.

² B.L. E. 2137(1) Winstanley, G., ‘The saints paradise’ (London, 1648), p. 60Google Scholar.

³ The works of Gerrard Winstanley, ed. Sabine, G. H. (New York, 1941), p. 490Google Scholar. See also pp. 188, 264, 271, 309, 315, 374, 382, 425, 511, 529, 580.

⁴ Corporation of London Record Office (hereafter C.L.R.O.) Mayor's court: Depositions Box one 1641–6, unfol. The deposition is the sole surviving document of the case. The signature is identical to the known signature of the Digger leader in the state papers. It is also identical to those which appear in the vestry minutes of St Olave Jewry, London, from 30 Apr. 1641 to 19 Jan. 1643. P.R.O., SP 18/42 fo. 144; Guildhall Library, London (hereafter G.L.) MS 4415/1 Vestry minutes of St Olave Jewry 1574–1680 fos. 101^r, 102(2), 103^r, 105(2), 109^v.

⁵ ‘Mr Winstanley’ received one shilling and one penny from the parish ‘poor stock’ in 1641. G.L. MS 4409/1 Churchwardens accounts of St Olave Jewry 1581–1643, fo. 269^v.

⁶ C.L.R.O. Mayor's court: Deposition box one, unfol.

⁷ G.L. MS 5576/1 Apprenticeship bindings and freedom admissions of the Fishmongers' company 1593–1646, unfol. See entry for 14 Feb. 1633. Richard Backhouse was most likely the mercer whose house was seized ‘for the publique use’ when parliamentary forces captured Stafford in May 1643. By March 1645 the Committee of Stafford were meeting in his house. The Committee of Stafford 1643–5, eds Pennington, D. H. and Roots, I. (Manchester, 1957), pp. xxiv, 39, 237–8, 275Google Scholar.

⁸ G.L. MS 5576/1 see entry for 19 Nov. 1627; G.L. MS 5570/2 Court minutes of the Fishmongers' company 1610–31, fo. 937. Smyth was chosen as an Assistant 9 Mar. 1646. G.L. MS 5570/3 Court minutes of the Fishmongers' company 1631–1646, fo. 897.

⁹ The inhabitants of London in 1638, ed. Dale, T. C. (London, 1931), p. 90Google Scholar; The poll tax of 1641 in the wards of Aldersgate and Langboume, ed. Dale, T. C. (London, 1934), p. 70Google Scholar.

¹⁰ G.L. MS 5576/1 see entry for 14 Jan. 1641; G.L. MS 5570/3 fo. 490; Dale, , The poll tax of 1641, p. 70Google Scholar; The members of the city companies in 1641, ed. Dale, T. C. (London, 1935), pp. 9, 156Google Scholar.

¹¹ C.L.R.O. Mayor's court: Depositions box one, unfol. See depositions of William Mahew, Thomas Norcopp and John Milner.

¹² Grassby, R., ‘Social mobility and business enterprise in seventeenth century England’ in Puritans and revolutionaries: essays in seventeenth century history presented to Christopher Hill, eds. Pennington, D. and Thomas, K. (Oxford, 1978), pp. 366–7Google Scholar.

¹³ G.L. MS 5578A/2 Quarterage accounts of the Fishmongers' company 1642–1670, see entries for 1644–6, fo. 29.

¹⁴ Supple, B. E., Commercial crisis and change in England 1600–1642 (Cambridge, 1959), pp. 128–31Google Scholar; Jones, D.W., ‘The “Hallage” receipts of the London cloth markets, 1562 – c. 1720’, Economic History Review (second series), XXV, 4 (1972), 569, 586, 587Google Scholar.

¹⁵ G.L. MS4415/1 fo. 106^r, 113^r, 117^r.

¹⁶ P.R.O., C 9/412/269 Chancery proceedings (Equity suits) Six clerk series: Reynardson division.

¹⁷ P.R.O., C 33/220 Chancery proceedings (Equity suits) Entry books of decrees and orders, 1661–2, fo. 226^r. This vital reference is missing from Professor Alsop's otherwise thorough account. Alsop, J. D., ‘Ethics in the marketplace: Gerrard Winstanley's London bankruptcy 1643’, Journal of British Studies, XXVIII, 1 (1989), 100Google Scholar.

¹⁸ Vann, R. T., ‘The later life of Gerrard Winstanley’, Journal of the History of Ideas, XXVI (1965), 136Google Scholar; Alsop, J. D., ‘Gerrard Winstanley's later life’, Past and Present, LXXXII, 1 (1979), 80Google Scholar ; Hayes, T. W., Winstanley the digger: a literary analysis of radical ideas in the English revolution (Cambridge, Mass., 1979), p. 7CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁹ Winstanley, G., ‘Truth lifting up its head above scandals’ (London, 1649), p. 60Google Scholar. Sabine, , Works, p. 137Google Scholar.

²⁰ P.R.O., SP 28/245 Commonwealth exchequer papers: Surrey (orders, accounts, papers), unfol.

²¹ J. D. Alsop, ‘The origin of a radical’ (forthcoming).

²² P.R.O., SP 28/245 unfol. The assessments were levied under the ordinance of 3 Aug. 1643. Acts and ordinances of the Interregnum, eds. Firth, C. H. and Rait, R. S. (3 vols., London, 1911), 1, 227Google Scholar.

²³ Moore, N., The history of St Bartholomew's hospital (2 vols., London, 1918), II, 623–5Google Scholar; PRO., E 134/19 Jas 1/T2 Depositions taken by commission: Surrey: James Starr etc. v Robert Bickerstaffe (unfol. membranes – see deposition of William King).

²⁴ Winstanley, G., ‘A wachword to the city of London’ (London, 1649)Google Scholar, Preface, n.p. Sabine, , Works, p. 315Google Scholar.

²⁵ The surviving papers of the Surrey committee of safety contain twenty-two warrants for Elmbridge hundred for the years 1643–4 relating to the requisition of provisions, horses and wagons, and the imposition of additional minor levies. P.R.O., SP 28/244 Commonwealth exchequer papers: Surrey (orders, accounts, papers), unfol; C.S.P.D., 1644–5, pp. 41, 143.

²⁶ P.R.O., SP 28/179 Commonwealth exchequer papers: Surrey (accounts and schedules), unfol.

²⁷ Ibid.

²⁸ P.R.O., SP 28/244 unfol. Warrant dated 25 June 1644.

²⁹ C.S.P.D., 1644–5, p. 433, See also p. 437.

³⁰ Sabine, , Works, pp. 256, 258, 264, 273, 274, 276, 286, 287, 288, 296, 302, 304, 305–6, 308, 310, 315, 325, 335, 343, 347, 363, 370, 371, 372, 379, 380, 431, 501, 503, 505, 506, 508–9, 511, 524, 525. 543Google Scholar.

³¹ Winstanley, G., ‘A letter to Lord Fairfax’ (London, 1649), p. 6Google Scholar. Sabine, , Works, p. 286Google Scholar.

³² Winstanley, G., ‘A letter to Lord Fairfax’, p. 5Google Scholar. Sabine, , Works, p. 284Google Scholar.

³³ P.R.O., SP 28/179 unfol. See Cobham accounts 1643–5 and Henry Hastings and John Redferne's accounts for the Middle division of 1644; Matthews, A. G., Calamy revised (Oxford, 1934), p. 226Google Scholar; Walker, T. E. C., ‘Cobham incumbants and curates’, Surrey Archaeological Collections, LXXI (1977), 208–9Google Scholar.

³⁴ Winstanley, G., ‘Truth lifting up its head above scandals’ (London, 1649), p. 68Google Scholar. Sabine, , Works, p. 141Google Scholar.

³⁵ Sabine, , Works, p. 7Google Scholar; Zagorin, P., A history of political thought in the English revolution (London, 1954) P. 43Google Scholar; Winstanley, G., The Law of freedom in a platform, ed. Kenny, R. W. (New York, 1973), p. 11Google Scholar ; Hill, C., ‘The religion of Gerrard Winstanley’, Past and Present, Supplement V (1978), 21Google Scholar; Davis, J. C., Utopia and the ideal society, (Cambridge, 1981), p. 172Google Scholar; A biographical dictionary of British radicals in the seventeenth century, eds. Greaves, R. L. and Zaller, R. L. (3 vols., Brighton, 1982–4), III, 330Google Scholar.

³⁶ P.R.O., C 9/412]/269. Aldworth died on 12 March 1649. The obituary of Richard Smyth, ed. Ellis, H. (London, 1848), p. 27Google Scholar. For a brief biographical sketch of Aldworth see Alsop, , ‘Ethics in the marketplace’, p. 101Google Scholar.

³⁷ P.R.O., Prob II/237 fo. 1; P.R.O., E 179/147/585 Cheap ward: assessment subsidy 1645–6; Ellis, , Obituary, p. 27Google Scholar; The register of St Mary Magdalen Milk Street 1558–1666, ed. Hughes-Clark, A. W. (2 vols., London, 1942), 1, 53Google Scholar; Dale, , The inhabitants of London, pp. 84, 137Google Scholar; Dale, , The members, pp. 3, 103Google Scholar; Liu, T., Puritan London (Newark, Delaware, 1987), pp. 77, 169–70Google Scholar.

³⁸ Alsop, , ‘Gerrard Winstanley's later life’, p. 75Google Scholar.

³⁹ C.L.R.O. MC1/83/232 Mayor's court: Files of original bills 1652–6, King v Hicks. The case is examined below.

⁴⁰ Pelling, M., ‘Appearance and reality: Barber-surgeons, the body and disease’, London 1500–1700: the making of a metropolis, eds. Beier, A. L. and Finley, R. (London, 1986), pp. 86, 95Google Scholar.

⁴¹ The register of St Lawrence Jewry, London 1538–1676, ed. Hughes-Clarke, A. W. (2 vols., London, 1940), 1, 21Google Scholar; Moore, N., St Bartholomew's, II, 623–4Google Scholar.

⁴² G.L. MS 5265/1 Barber-Surgeons company: register of freedom admissions 1522–1665, fo. 48^v. The bulk of the company archives have been recalled and access is restricted. Moore, N., St Bartholomew's, II 624Google Scholar.

⁴³ The register of St Lawrence Jewry, 1, 32, 33, 34, 35, 38, 40. The three girls were Susan, Winstanley's future wife, baptized 13 Dec. 1612; Mary, the future wife of Giles Hicks, baptized 20 Jul. 1620; and Sarah, a spinster mentioned in King's will, baptized 24 Aug. 1624.

⁴⁴ Bloom, J. H. and James, R. R., Medical practitioners in the diocese of London licensed under the act of 3 Henry VIII c. ii. An annotated list 1529–1725 (Cambridge, 1935), p. 22Google Scholar.

⁴⁵ Dale, , The members, p. 103Google Scholar.

⁴⁶ House of Lords Record Office: Main Papers, 5 June 1641.

⁴⁷ P.R.O., SP 28/131 (Part 4) Commonwealth exchequer papers: military accounts, London and Middlesex, fo. 3^v.

⁴⁸ Moore, N., St Bartholomew's, II 303Google Scholar.

⁴⁹ Young, S., The annals of the barber-surgeons of London (London, 1890), p. 218Google Scholar; Dobson, J. and Walker, R. M., Barbers and barber-surgeons of London (Oxford, 1979), pp.126–7Google Scholar; Moore, N., St Bartholomew's, II, 624Google Scholar.

⁵⁰ G.L. MS 1108 Barber-surgeons company: List of masters and wardens 1308 and 1453–1854, unfol. See entries for 1646 and 1650; Young, S., The annals, p. 9Google Scholar.

⁵¹ Young, S., The annals, pp.343–4Google Scholar.

⁵² The royal hospital of Saint Bartholomew 1123–1973, eds. Medici, V. C. and Thornton, J. L. (London, 1974), p. 388Google Scholar.

⁵³ Alsop, , ‘Gerrard Winstanley's later life’, p. 75Google Scholar. See also P.R.O., Prob 8/59 fo. 91^r.

⁵⁴ Alsop, J. D., ‘Gerrard Winstanley: religion and respectability’, The Historical Journal, XXVIII, 3 (1985), 706Google Scholar.

⁵⁵ A transcript of the registers of the company of Stationers of London 1554–1640 A.D., ed. Arber, E. (5 vols., London, 1875–1894), III, 321bGoogle Scholar; McKenzie, D F., Stationers' company apprentices 1605–1640, (Charlottesville, Virginia, 1961), p. 98Google Scholar.

⁵⁶ G.L. MS 5265/1 fo. 94^r.

⁵⁷ G.L. MS 10, 091/21 London marriage licence allegations Jan. 1640 – Dec. 1640, fo. 73.

⁵⁸ C.L.R.O., MC1/83/232. The attached schedule includes five shillings for ‘the signe at the doore’ and refers to ‘severall instruments of surgery’ and ‘severall pots of ointment’.

⁵⁹ G.L. MS 1108 unfol. See entries for 1650.

⁶⁰ C.L.R.O., MC1/83/232.

⁶¹ A Pulling, A practical treatise on the lawes, customs and regulations of the city and port of London (2nd edn, London 1844), p. 190Google Scholar.

⁶² C.L.R.O., MC1/83/232.

⁶³ Pulling, , Treatise, p. 191Google Scholar.

⁶⁴ Ibid. Percivall was one of six sergeants at mace serving the court.

⁶⁵ C.L.R.O., MC1/83/232. William Forder was a freeman of the London Carpenters' company who lived in the parish of Allhallows the Great. G.L. MS 10, 091/15 London marriage licence allegations May 1633 – Jun. 1634, fo 22; Records of the worshipful company of carpenters, ed. Marsh, B. (4 vols., Oxford, 1913–1916), I, 10, 34Google Scholar.

⁶⁶ Ibid.

⁶⁷ Ibid.

⁶⁸ P.R.O., Prob 11/320 fo. 104.

⁶⁹ Sabine, , Works, pp. 188, 256, 264, 288, 311, 320–1, 323–4, 358, 361–2, 387–8, 464–5, 468, 492–3Google Scholar.

⁷⁰ Winstanley, G., ‘The law of freedom in a platform’ (London, 1652), p. 6Google Scholar. Sabine, , Works, pp. 504–5Google Scholar.

⁷¹ Sabine, , Works, pp. 58, 509–10Google Scholar; Petegorsky, D. W., Left wing democracy in the English Civil War (London, 1940), p. 211Google Scholar; Davis, , Utopia, p. 171Google Scholar; Winstanley: the law of freedom and other writings, ed. Hill, C. (Cambridge, 1983), p. 32CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Aylmer, G. E., ‘The religion of Gerrard Winstanley’, in Radical religion in the English revolution, eds, McGregor, J. F. and Reay, B. (Oxford, 1984), p. 108Google Scholar.

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⁷⁶ Alsop, , ‘Ethics in the marketplace’, p. 98Google Scholar.

⁷⁷ Clarkson, L., ‘The lost sheep found’ (London, 1660), p. 27Google Scholar. A collection of Ranter writings from the seventeenth century, ed. Smith, N. (London, 1985), p. 182Google Scholar.

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⁸⁰ C.L.R.O., MC1/83/14 Mayor's court: files of original bills 1652–6, Walker v Thompson, Wood, and Walter.

⁸¹ Grey, J. M., A history of the Gambia (2nd edn, London, 1966), pp. 30–31Google Scholar; Davies, K. G., The royal African company (London, 1957), pp. 40–41Google Scholar; Porter, R., ‘The Crisp family and the African slave trade in the seventeenth century’, Journal of African History, IX, 1 (1968), 67–8Google Scholar.

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⁸³ Documents illustrative of the history of the slave trade to America, ed. Donnan, E. (4 vols., Washington, D.C., 1930–1935), I, 128 n. 6Google Scholar.

⁸⁴ C.L.R.O., Mayor's court: Deposition box one, unfol. See depositions of George Twegg and William Mahew.

⁸⁵ Puckrein, G. A., Little England (New York, 1984), p. 70Google Scholar. Overall, five hundred African slaves were brought to Barbados in 1642.

⁸⁶ Dunn, R. S., Sugar and slaves (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1972), pp. 59, 61–2, 67–8Google Scholar; Sheridan, R. B., Sugar and slavery (Baltimore, Maryland, 1973), pp. 128–33, 267–8, 395–6, 412Google Scholar; McCusker, J.J. and Menard, R. R., The economy of British America 1607–1789 (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1985), p. 150–1, 153–6, 158, 221Google Scholar.

⁸⁷ C.L.R.O., MC1/83/13 Mayor's court: files of original bills 1652–6, Walker v Thompson, Wood, and Walter.

⁸⁸ Donnan, , Documents, 1, 127Google Scholar. The letters are printed from the Portland MSS and are calendared in H.M.C., 13th Report, App. pt. 2, Portland MSS, 11, pp. 28–31.

⁸⁹ Donnan, , Documents, I, 131Google Scholar.

⁹⁰ Donnan, , Documents, I, 134Google Scholar. Blake revealed that most had died within the last month.

⁹¹ C.L.R.O., Mayor's court: Depositions box seven 1656–7, unfol. Historians should note that common law depositions are mixed in with those for the equity jurisdiction.

⁹² Unusually, there are two identical copies: P.R.O., Prob 11/254 fo. 281 and Prob 11/260 fo. 341. Had he lived Backhouse would have become a royalist prisoner as the pinnace was the first ship seized by Prince Rupert in his daring raid on the company's fleet in March 1652. P.R.O., SP 18/41 fo. 34; P.R.O., HCA 3/45 fos. 414^v, 415, 416, 419, 420, 422, 426^v, 466; C.S.P. Col. 1574–1660, p. 383; Warburton, B. E. G., Memoirs of Prince Rupert and the Cavaliers (3 vols., London, 1849), III, 358Google Scholar.

⁹³ P.R.O., Prob 6/27 fo. 161. St Leonards Foster Lane was one of two parishes in St. Martinle-Grand.

⁹⁴ Standish died intestate but the calendar recording his administration is not extant (1653–4). Administrations in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury 1649–54, ed. Ainsworth, J. (London, 1944), p. 346Google Scholar; P.R.O., Prob 6/28 fo. 60. Backhouse died in ‘Ginnea’ not ‘Genieva’ as in Ainsworth, , Administrations, p. 13Google Scholar.

⁹⁵ P.R.O., Prob 11/254 fo. 281; Prob 8/50 fo. 213^r.

⁹⁶ The 1654 grant of administration had to be cancelled before the 1656 grant became legally valid. P.R.O., Prob 6/28 fo. 60 (margin).

⁹⁷ Pulling, , Treatise, pp. 188–92Google Scholar. Described in great detail in Brandon, W., A treatise upon the customary law of foreign attachment (London, 1861)Google Scholar, passim.

⁹⁸ C.L.R.O., MC1/83/13. Martin Bradgate had died in May 1652 and Rowland Wilson in March 1654. The letters of John Paige, London, merchant 1648–54, ed. Steckley, G. F. (London, 1984), p. 30 n. 3Google Scholar; Ellis, , Obituary, p. 37Google Scholar.

⁹⁹ Anon., Privilegia londoninensis: or the laws, customs, and privileges of the city of London (London, 1707), pp. 193, 194Google Scholar.

¹⁰⁰ C.L.R.O., MC1/83/14.

¹⁰¹ Ibid.

¹⁰² C.L.R.O., MC1/83/13. Compare with the will for discrepancies.