Master of the Mint is a title within the Royal Mint given to the most senior person responsible for its operation. It was an office in the governments of Scotland and England, and later Great Britain and then the United Kingdom, between the 16th and 19th centuries. Until 1699, the appointment was usually for life. Its holder occasionally sat in the cabinet.
During the interregnum (1643–1660), the last Master of the Mint to Charles I, Sir Robert Harley, transferred his allegiance to Parliament and remained in office. After his death in 1656, Aaron Guerdon was appointed.
In 1870 the role was amalgamated into the office of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, making the Chancellor, by virtue of his position, the Master of the Mint. The duty of running the mint was given to the Deputy Master of the Mint; who is now the mint's Chief Executive.
Contents
Masters of the Mint in England
1331 - ? Richard de Snowshill and Richard of Grimsby
1351 - ? Henry de Bruselee and John Chichester
1361 - 1361 Walter dei Bardi
1365 - 1367 John Chichester
1375 - 1391 Walter dei Bardi
1391 - 1391 John Wildeman
1411 - 1414 Richard Garner
1413 - 1414 Sir Lewis John
1418 - 1420 Sir Lewis John
1421 - 1432 Bartholomew Goldbeter
1435 - 1446 John Paddesley
1446 - 1459 Robert Manfield
1459 - 1461 Sir Richard Tonstall
1461 - 1483 William Hastings (executed 1483)
1483 - 1485 Sir Robert Brackenbury (killed at Bosworth, 1485)
1485 - 1490 Sir Giles Daubeney
1492 - 1493 Sir Bartholomew Reade and Sir John Shaa
1493 - 1494 Sir Bartholomew Reade and Robert Fenrother
1495 - 1498 Sir Bartholomew Reade and Sir John Shaa
1509 - 1534 William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy
1543 - 1544 Ralph Rowlet and Sir Martin Bowes
1544 - ? Sir Martin Bowes
1547 - 1553 Sir John York
1553 - 1555 Thomas Egerton
1560 - 1571 Sir Thomas Stanley
1571 - 1582 John Lonyson
1582 - 1599 Sir Richard Martin
1599 - 1609 Sir Richard Martin (died 1616) and Richard Martin
1617 - 1623 Sir Edward Villiers
1623 - 1626 Sir Randal Cranfield
1626 - 1635 Sir Robert Harley
1635 - 1643 In Commission:
Sir Ralph Freeman
Sir Thomas Aylesbury
1643 - 1649 Sir Robert Harley
1649 - 1653 Aaron Guerdon
1660 - 1662 Sir Ralph Freeman
1662 - 1667 In Commission
Sir Ralph Freeman
Henry Slingsby
1667 - 1680 Henry Slingsby (suspended 1680)
1680 - 1684 In Commission:
Sir John Buckworth
Charles Duncombe
James Hoare
1684 - 1686 In Commission:
Thomas Neale
Charles Duncombe
James Hoare
1686 - 1699 Thomas Neale
1699 - 1727 Sir Isaac Newton
1727 - 1737 John Conduitt
1737 - 1745 Richard Arundell
1745 - 1769 William Chetwynd
1769 - 1784 Charles Cadogan
1784 - 1789 Thomas Howard, 3rd Earl of Effingham
1789 - 1790 Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield
1790 - 1794 George Townshend, Earl of Leicester
1794 - 1799 Sir George Yonge, 5th Baronet
1799 - 1801 Robert Jenkinson, Baron Hawkesbury
1801 - 1802 Charles Perceval, 2nd Baron Arden
1802 - 1804 John Smyth
1804 - 1806 Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst
1806 - 1806 Lord Charles Spencer
1806 - 1807 Charles Bathurst
1807 - 1812 Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst
1812 - 1814 Richard Trench, 2nd Earl of Clancarty
1814 - 1823 William Wellesley-Pole
1823 - 1827 Thomas Wallace
1827 - 1828 George Tierney
1828 - 1830 John Charles Herries
1830 - 1834 George Eden, 2nd Baron Auckland
1834 - 1835 James Abercrombie
1835 - 1835 Alexander Baring
1835 - 1841 Henry Labouchere
1841 - 1845 William Ewart Gladstone
1845 - 1846 Sir George Clerk, 6th Baronet
1846 - 1850 Richard Lalor Sheil
1850 - 1855 Sir John Herschel
1855 - 1869 Thomas Graham
1870 - Office amalgamated into the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer
Deputy Master of the Mint
Now a private company; the job of Deputy Master is held by the Royal Mint's Chief Executive.
1868 - 1894 Charles William Fremantle
1894 - 1902 Sir Horace Seymour
1903 - 1913 William Ellison-Macartney
1913 - 1917 Sir Thomas Elliott, 1st Baronet
1917 - 1922 Sir John Westerman Cawston
1922 - 1938 Sir Robert A. Johnson
1938 - 1949 Sir John Craig
1950 - 1957 Sir Lionel Thompson
1957 - 1970 Sir John ("Jack") Hastings James
1970 - 1974 Harold Glover
1974 - 1977 John R. Christie
1978 - 1987 Dr Jeremy Gerhard
1989 - 1992 Anthony D Garrett
1993 - 2001 Roger Holmes
2001 - 2006 Gerald Sheehan
2007 - 2010 Andrew Stafford
2010 - 2018 Adam Lawrence
2018 - present Anne Jessopp