| Notes |
- He was instrumental in establishing and reviving England's Royal Fisheries.
From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:
Tobias, by his own account, was 'borne a Fisherman's sonne by the Sea-side, and spent [his] youthful time at Sea about Fisher affaires, whereby now [he was] more skilfull in Nets, Lines and Hookes than in Rethoricke, Logicke, or learned bookes' (T. Gentleman, England's way to win wealth, 1614, p. 3). In his youth he sailed to Iceland with his father in one of the four barques from which they fished by line for ling and cod. Probably because his older brother Thomas was taking over the Southwold business from Thomas senior, Tobias left that 'naughty Harbour' (ibid., 44) and moved to Yarmouth, which he later praised above all other east coast ports for 'brave buildings' (ibid., 26). Every year each of the two bailiffs there had the right to nominate a freeman, and in September 1588 the merchant John Yonges presented Tobias. Tobias never held office in the town, but occasionally came to prominence. In 1595 the bailiffs were required by the lord high admiral to produce Gentleman and five others at the shire house in Cambridge on a charge of sending a ship into Scotland 'against the Statute'. In 1600 Tobias received a bounty on a 200-ton ship. At the assembly in February 1611 John Wheeler, alderman and member of parliament for the town, 'delivered in the newe mapp of this Towne made by Tobye Jentleman' (Norfolk RO, Y/C 19/5, fol. 86), an indication of another of his skills.
Gentleman's experience in the fisheries attracted the attention of the early economist John Keymer, who consulted him about ways to stimulate the herring trade. Several writers urged Britain to follow the example of the Dutch, whose prosperity was apparently based on their exploitation of the herring fishery, which profited also the shipbuilding, cooperage, and salt trades. When by 1614 no more had been heard of Keymer's initiatives, Gentleman went ahead with a slim quarto pamphlet published for him by Nathaniel Butter of London. It was dedicated to Henry, Lord Howard, earl of Northampton and warden of the Cinque Ports, and titled England's way to win wealth, and to employ ships and marriners, or, A plain description what great profite, it will bring unto the Commonwealth of England, by the erecting, building, and adventuring of busses, to sea, a-fishing. With a true relation of the inestimable wealth that is yearely taken out of his majesties seas, by the Hollanders, by their numbers of busses, pinkes and line-boates...and also a discourse of the sea-coast townes of England. Gentleman calculated the costs of voyages to Iceland for cod and in the North Sea for herring, with running expenses and profit levels detailed. His concerns about Dutch incursions into English fisheries caused a considerable stir, right up to the privy council. As early as 1581 Robert Hitchcock of Caversfield, Oxfordshire, had sounded the same alarm, and his and Gentleman's efforts were both praised by Thomas Mun in chapter 19 of England's Treasure. Gerard Malynes quoted Gentleman at some length in chapter 47 of his Lex mercatoria.
Gentleman wrote in a lively, direct style, describing 'the very good Breed of Fisherman' brought up in the neighbouring towns of Southwold, Dunwich, and Walberswick, where he then counted 'of North Sea boats, some 20 saile, and of Iseland Barks some 50 saile' (Gentleman, 25). He asserted that the Dutch view was that 'his Majestie's seas is their chiefest, principall and onely rich treasury' (ibid., 5), fishing our waters intensively, selling the catch to Yarmouth traders, and taking the gold back to enrich their country. They even bought fish a second time after it had been smoked for export, and Gentleman claims that their taunts included 'yon English, we will make you glad for to weare our old shoes' (ibid., 44). In The Trades Increase, a similar pamphlet published in 1615, the author, I. R. (Robert Kayll), probably referring to the bulky build of their herring busses, complained that the Dutch 'swimme like elephants, we wading like sheepe' (I. R., 38). Gentleman argues that if Britain built a fishing fleet to compete, it would 'bring wealth to the nation, train up hardy mariners fit for any service, and give employment to numbers of the poor' (Gentleman, 3). It is not known when Gentleman died, and no record of a marriage or burial has been traced.
|
Nielsen Hayden genealogy