Family and Education

b. c.1637.  m. lic. 10 June 1661, Anne (d. 1709), da. and h. of Philip Jemmett (d. 1678), Brewer, of St. Botolph, Aldgate, London and Barton Court, alderman of London 1667, 2s. (1 d.v.p.) 3da.  Kntd. 20 Oct. 1679.1

Offices Held

Livery, Haberdashers’ Co., Brewers’ Co. by 1661, master 1679–80; sheriff, London 1679–80, alderman 1681–96.2

Pres. St. Bartholomew’s Hosp. 1687–8; trustee, Friendly Soc. (fire insurance) by 1692–aft. 1704.3

Biography

Raymond’s origins remain obscure. At his marriage he declared Stepney as his address. A brother John, also a brewer, who converted to Catholicism in the early 1680s, is the only other member of his family to have been identified. Apprenticed first to a Haberdasher, Raymond was later a ‘servant’ to his future father-in-law, whose business and ‘great estate’ eventually became his own. Knighted during his shrievalty and chosen an alderman in 1681, he was one of the Tories inserted into the London lieutenancy commission in May 1681 in place of the excluded Whigs. He held on to his alderman’s place throughout the turmoil in the City, reports in 1687 that he was to be turned out along with other Tories proving false. Put up by ‘some of the old Tories’ in the mayoral election of March 1689 and defeated in common hall, he stood again as a candidate of ‘the Church party’ in 1690 and this time headed the poll. When the aldermen passed him over there was much Tory outrage, manifested in petitions and threats of writs, which came to nothing. The following years saw further defeats, despite a scrutiny in 1691, and a ‘very sharp’ contest in 1692, with Tories protesting against the dispersal of ‘scandalous papers’ by their opponents. After his fifth successive failure in 1693 Raymond abandoned the effort to become lord mayor. His resignation as alderman in 1696, ostensibly because his affairs ‘required him to reside wholly in the country’, was imputed to pique at this repeated rejection. By contrast, he had been returned to Parliament at the first attempt in 1690 at Great Bedwyn. Classified as a Tory and probably as an adherent of the Court in one of Lord Carmarthen’s (Sir Thomas Osborne†) lists of the new House, he was named by Sir Peter Rich† in March 1690 as one of a number of Tory aldermen to be consulted about raising funds for the crown, but, although a minor contributor in 1689–90 to the 12d. aid and to the additional 12d. aid (to the tune of some £1,500), Raymond does not appear to have subscribed to any further government loan. In December 1690 he was listed by Carmarthen as a probable supporter in the event of a Commons attack on that minister, although in the following April he was classed as a Country party supporter by Robert Harley*. He was the subject of a party vote on 15 Mar. 1694 when a motion to grant him leave of absence to attend his mother-in-law’s funeral was narrowly defeated on a division. During the 1694–5 session he was listed as a ‘friend’ by Henry Guy* in connexion with the Commons’ investigation of Guy for corruption. Replaced at Bedwyn in 1695, Raymond did not stand for Parliament again. He remained politically active behind the scenes: in January 1700 Hon. James Brydges* recorded in his diary that Raymond was one of a delegation who requested his favour when the East India Company’s petition came before the House, and in August that year he was involved in pre-election manoeuvring over the London mayoralty. Raymond’s death was reported by Luttrell on 22 Mar. 1711. He was buried at Newbury, Berkshire. ‘A very weak, silly man’ was Peter Le Neve’s assessment.4

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: D. W. Hayton

Notes

• 1. Le Neve’s Knights (Harl. Soc. viii), 333; J. R. Woodhead, Rulers of London (London and Mdx. Arch. Soc.), 136; London Mar. Lic. ed. Foster, 1118; Berks. Arch. Jnl. xxxviii. 57.
• 2. Beaven, Aldermen, i. 42, 141, 232, 411; ii. 108, 192.
• 3. N. Moore, St. Bartholomew’s Hosp. ii. 345–6.
• 4. London Mar. Lic. 1118; Cal. Treas. Bks. viii. 527, 641; ix. 1980, 2006; CSP Dom. 1683–4, pp. 184–5; Le Neve’s Knights, 333; Luttrell, Brief Relation, i. 83, 437, 513; ii. 46–47, 49, 289, 569, 579–81, 587, 609, 616; iii. 194–6; iv. 117; Portledge Pprs. 73, 121, 149; HMC Downshire, i. 366; HMC Portland, v. 475, 504; Beaven, i. 42, 411; ii. 192; Dorset RO, Fox-Strangways mss, Rich to Sir Stephen Fox*, 17 Mar. 1690; Huntington Lib. Stowe mss 26(2), Brydges’ diary, 10 Jan., 21 Aug. 1700; Luttrell, v. 705; Le Neve, Mon. Angl. 1700–15, p. 231.