OAKES, Nicholas ‹ LBT 07947 ›

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Floruit: 1603–1642

floruit (A) 1603 - 1642 ;  Male, married

Introduction

Nicholas Oakes was a printer and stationer active in London during the early seventeenth century, with locations at St Nicholas Cole Abbey, Foster Lane, and near Holborn Bridge. Apprenticed to William King in 1596, he was admitted a freeman of the Stationers' Company in 1603 and became a master printer in 1606, eventually taking his son John into partnership around 1627. Oakes succeeded to a printing business founded by Thomas Judson and later entered into partnership with John Norton, junior, expanding to two presses; he was notably involved in printing George Wither's Motto in 1621 and Sir Robert Cotton's works, which brought him before the Court of High Commission.

Family Relationships

LBTNumber	Name	Relationship	Occupation
3180	BESWICK, Elizabeth (mar. OAKES) ‹ LBT 03180 ›	spouse
6679	PURSETT, Mary (mar. OKES) ‹ LBT 06679 ›	spouse
33121	OAKES, John ‹ LBT 33121 ›	parent	Cit. & Horner
9150	OAKES, John ‹ LBT 09150 ›	child	Printer

Livery Companies

Company	Source
Drapers' Company
Stationers' Company

Occupations (2)

Occupation	Comment
Printer	McKerrow, R.B. &c. (1907)
Stationer	Chester, L.M. (1887), vol.1

Was Apprentice to Master(s): (1)

Name	Premium	Paid By	Comments
KYNGE, Wylliam ‹ LBT 08532 ›

Addresses (4)

Date	Address	Trade at Addr	Source	Comment
1603-12-08	St Nicholas Cole Abbey		Chester, L.M. (1887), vol.1	- Parish of
1606, (1606-1639)	Fost Lane		McKerrow, R.B. &c. (1907)
1613, (1613)	Holborn Bridge		McKerrow, R.B. &c. (1907)	- near
16230200, (Feb 1624)	London

Events (19)

Date	Event type	Description
25 Mar 1596	Bound	to William King (LBT/08532) originally bound 24 Dec 1595, but dated altered by Court on 26 Mar 1596.
5 Dec 1603	Freed - Servitude	- by Richard Field (LBT/06931) no record of any turn-over
8 Dec 1603	Marriage Licence	- to Elizabeth Beswick (LBT/03180)
26 Mar 1607	Appr - Binding	Jo Reynoldes (LBT/09151)
3 Oct 1609	Appr - Binding	Beniamin Grendon (LBT/09145)
4 Jun 1610	Appr - Binding	Abraham Fitzwaters (LBT/09144)
16 Jan 1617	Appr - Binding	William Lloyd (LBT/09148) - 'by agreemt of all pties & with the consent of a full Court is crost out of the booke' [n.d.]
30 Jun 1618	Appr - Binding	Samuel Watson (LBT/09153)
22 Jul 1622	Appr - Binding	John Skidmore (LBT/09152)
22 Jul 1622	Appr - Cancelled	Samuel Watson (LBT/09153) - 'crost out by order of a Court'
4 Mar 1623	Loan	- £12 from the William Norton bequest
4 Apr 1625	Appr - Binding	John Newton (LBT/09149) - entry deleted [n.d.]
7 Nov 1625	Appr - Freedom	Andrew Driver (LBT/10668) - with Christopher Pursett (LBT/07862) to whom he was originally bound
14 Jan 1627	Son - patrimony	John Okes (LBT/09150)
1 Jul 1629	Appr - Binding	William Kirbye (LBT/09147)
15 Mar 1631	Appr - Binding	John Howarden (LBT/09146)
31 Mar 1634	Appr - Binding	John Carpenter (LBT/09143)
1 Aug 1642	Appr - Freedom	John Carpenter (LBT/09143)
5 Sep 1642	Appr - Binding	Thomas Chapman (LBT/14154)

Further Notes

McKenzie, D.F. (1974) - under #409 - Thomas Corneforth [LBT/9188] bound to George Snowdon [LBT/] on 9 Sep 1605 and freed by him on 9 Nov 1612 - was apparently working of Okes between 13 Apr 1607 and 7 May 1610. ---

Sources and References

Original Sources	Comments
St.Co. Archive - Binding and Freedom records - extracted by Prof. J.A. Lavin

SOURCES & TRANSCRIPTIONS

Transcriptions

S.T.C., (1991), vol.3, pp.129-30

McKerrow, R.B. &c. (1910), p.206

OKES (NICHOLAS), printer in London, 1606-39; (1) Near Holborn Bridge, 1613; (2) In Foster Lane. Son of John Oakes, citizen and horner of London. Apprenticed to William King { KYNGE, Wylliam ‹ LBT 08532 › } for eight years from March 25th, 1596 [Arber, ii. 209]. Admitted a freeman of the Company on December 5th, 1603 [Arber, ii. 735], and became a master printer on April 19th, 1606 [Arber, iii. 700]. According to Sir John Lambe's statement, Nicholas Okes succeeded to the business founded by Thomas Judson { JUDSON, Thomas ‹ LBT 07893 › } in 1586. In 1615 he had one press, but some years later he took into partnership John Norton, junior { NORTON, John ‹ LBT 06839 › } [see Plomer, Dictionary], and they then had two presses. In 1621 Nicholas Okes printed George Wither's Motto, for which he got into trouble. Witnesses stated that he printed two impressions of 3,000 copies and that some of the most important booksellers in London were selling them [S. Papers Dom., James I, vol. cxxii, Nos. 12 et seq.]. About 1627 Nicholas Okes took his son John { OAKES, John ‹ LBT 09150 › } into partnership and they were both called before the Court of High Commission for printing Sir Robert Cotton's Short View of the long life and reign of Henry the third. In 1630 Nicholas Okes was assessed to pay a sum of £15 towards the repair of St. Paul's. Owing probably to his previous record, neither he nor his partners were included in the list of master printers under the Star Chamber decree of 1637. The last entry under his name in the Registers was made on May 16th, 1636 [Arber, iv. 632]. The date of his death is unknown. He used the device or an oak tree.