Thomas "Customer" Smythe (Kent, c. 1522 – 1591) was the collector of customs duties ("customer") in London during the Tudor period. His son and namesake Sir Thomas Smythe was an active supporter of the Virginia colony.
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Customer Smythe was a younger son of John Smythe (d. 1538), a substantial yeoman and clothier, who married a daughter of Thomas Brounker. To Thomas, his younger son, born in 1522, he left a farm in the Hundred of Amesbury, Wilts, of the value of £20 per annum. Thomas, who must have been about sixteen years of age at the time of his father's death, came up to London with the intention of seeking his fortune. [1]
Thomas took up his freedom in his father's guild, the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, and subsequently in the Worshipful Company of Skinners, which may account for his intimate connection with Sir Andrew Judde, Lord Mayor of London in 1550, whose daughter Alice he married circa 1554.[1][2]
In the reign of Mary I of England Smythe purchased the Office of the Customs from one Mr. Cocker, for the sum of £2500. He was confirmed in his appointment at the Customs on the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558, and continued in the office for a period of eleven years. In 1567 he appears to have incurred her Majesty's severe displeasure, having been accused of issuing privy warrants whereby a loss of revenue was sustained, to the extent of some £6000; and it was only through the kind intervention of his friend William Cecil, Lord Burghley that he escaped imprisonment. Cecil persuaded the Queen to be lenient, as if time were allowed he would doubtless pay up, but if he were imprisoned her Majesty would be the loser.[1]
The increasing wealth of the Customer only tends to shew that his gains were large; and Elizabeth, ever on the watch to replenish her exchequer, did not fail to require larger and larger fines for a renewal of the leases; with these demands he at length found himself unable to comply, and in consequence he again fell under her Majesty's severe displeasure. His October 1589 counteroffer of a more modest payment was rejected. His increasing infirmities and the weight of his Royal Mistress's displeasure combined to shorten his life. He died 7 June 1591, leaving his widow, then sixty years of age, and twelve children, six sons and six daughters.[1]
Thomas and Alice Smythe had a number of children, twelve of whom lived to adulthood. The 13 Children of Thomas (Customer) Smythe and Alice Judd were:
1. Andrew Smythe (died young)
2. Katherine Smythe = Sir Rowland Hayward, Lord Mayor of London = (2) Sir John Scott (s/o Sir Thomas Scott, Scotts Hall & Elizabeth Baker of Sissinghurst) = (3) Sir Richard Sandys
3. Mary Smythe = Robert Davis (Davy) of London, Receiver for Wales
4. Ursula Smythe = Simon Harding of London = (2) William Boteler (Butler) - of Bedford
5. Joan (aka Johanna) Smythe = Sir Thomas Fanshawe (d 1601) Esquire of Ware Park.
6. Elizabeth Smythe = Sir Henry Fanshaw (s/o Thomas Fanshaw who married wife's sister).
7. Symon Smythe (d. 1596), killed at Cadiz, Spain
8 . Robert Smythe of Highgate = Ann Lynford (d/o William Lynford)
9 . Henry Smythe of Corsham (Died before 1591) = Elizabeth Owen (d/o Thomas Owen, Justice of the Peace)
10. Sir John Smythe (eldest son) of Ostenhanger = Elizabeth Fineaux (m 1576) (d/o Sir John Fineaux, Chief Justice of the King's Bench)
11. Sir Richard Smythe of Leeds Castle = Elizabeth Scott (d/o Sir Thomas Scott) (w/o John Knatchbull) (m 1589) = (2) Jane White (d/o John White of London) (w/o Samuel Thornhill)
12. Sir Thomas Smythe of Bidborough, Governor of East India Company, Treasurer of Virginia Company (1558-1624/5) = Judith Culverwell (d/o Richard Culverwell) = (2) Jone Hobbs (d/o William Hobbs) = (3) Sarah Blount (d/o William Blount)
13. Alyce Smythe = Sir William Harris of Crixes, Woodham, Essex.
This article incorporates text from "Thomas Smythe - Commonly Called Customer Smythe" by J.F. Wadmore, A.R.I.B.A. Published in Archæologia Cantiana, being Transactions of the Kent Archæological Society, vol. XVII, 1887, pp 193–208, a document now in the public domain due to its age.