appointed for life—it is said on the nomination of the Earl of Warwick—master and surveyor of the ordnance in the northern parts of the realm (Border Papers, i. 19, 85, 86). By the terms of the patent his wages were computed from the Lady-day preceding. His experience as an artillery officer was put to the test at the siege of Edinburgh Castle in May 1573, when he commanded one of the batteries. He retained the mastership of the ordnance until 27 May 1594, when he surrendered it to the queen. But the siege of Edinburgh was his last military engagement.
During his residence in the north Sutton seems to have noted the abundance of coal in Durham, and he obtained, first from the bishop and afterwards from the crown, leases of lands rich in coal. These possessions proved a source of great wealth and the foundation of an immense fortune. It is as one of the richest Englishmen of the day that he won his reputation. In 1580, with a view doubtless to increasing his already vast resources, he settled in London.
On 17 Sept. 1582, being then described as ‘of Littlebury, Essex, esq.,’ he obtained a license to marry Elizabeth, the wealthy widow of John Dudley, esq., of Stoke Newington (Chester, London Marriage Licences, col. 1304). She was daughter of John Gardiner, esq., of Grove Place in the parish of Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire. Her daughter by her first husband, Ann Dudley, married Sir Francis Popham [q. v.] Stoke Newington, the site of his wife's property, was Sutton's ordinary residence for many years, though he occasionally resided in London, at Littlebury, and at Ashdon, Essex, and at Balsham, Cambridgeshire. At a somewhat later period he had a residence at Hackney and also lodgings at a draper's near the nether end of St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet Street. One Sutton of Newington, esq., appears in a return of 28 Nov. 1595 of the names of gentlemen of account, not being citizens of London, in the ward of Farringdon Within. Sutton has been inaccurately represented as a merchant in London. He was not even a freeman of that city. Possibly he increased his means by lending money, but there is no proof that he was, as has been stated, one of the chief victuallers of the navy and a commissioner of prizes. He has been claimed as a freeman of the Girdlers' Company, but the records of the company relating to his time are not accessible. The Durham coal mines and his wife's possessions were the chief sources of Sutton's great wealth.
On 18 Feb. 1587–8 Sutton contributed 100l. towards the defence of the realm, then threatened with invasion from Spain. One of the many vessels fitted out to resist the Spanish armada was called the Sutton. It has been suggested that it belonged to Sutton, and more than one author has stated that he commanded it in person. The Sutton was a barque of seventy tons and thirty men; it belonged to Weymouth, with which port Sutton is not known to have been connected, and it was commanded by Hugh Preston. No reliance can be placed on the assertion that this small ship captured for Sutton, under letters of marque, a Spanish vessel and her cargo estimated at the value of 20,000l., nor is there any mention of the Sutton taking any part in the defeat of the armada (see Laughton, Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1894).
In 1607 Sutton purchased the manor of Castle Camps, Cambridgeshire, for 10,800l. The transaction was instigated by Sir John Harington, who had lent Sir John Skinner, the former owner of Castle Camps, 3,000l. The claims of Skinner and others on the estate involved Sutton in much litigation. In the same year (1607) Harington in vain endeavoured to persuade Sutton to bequeath his estate to Charles, duke of York (afterwards Charles I), in exchange for a peerage (see correspondence on this proposal in Haig Town, The Charterhouse Past and Present, pp. 41–50).
With patriotic magnanimity Sutton resolved to devote a portion of his great property to public uses. On 20 June 1594 he by deed conveyed, but with power of revocation, to Sir John Popham, lord chief justice, Sir Thomas Egerton (afterwards Lord Ellesmere) [q. v.], master of the rolls, and others, all his manors and lands in Essex, in trust, to found a hospital at Hallingbury Bouchers in that county. In 1610 an act of parliament was passed to enable him to found a hospital and free school at Hallingbury Bouchers. On 9 May 1611, however, he purchased from Thomas, earl of Suffolk, for 13,000l., Charterhouse in Middlesex, then called Howard House. The original Charterhouse, founded by Sir Walter Manny [q. v.] in 1371, had been dissolved in 1535, the last prior, John Haughton [q. v.], being executed. The house passed successively into the hands of Thomas, lord Audley, Edward, lord North, the Duke of Northumberland, Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, and Thomas Howard, earl of Suffolk. On 22 June following letters patent were granted authorising Sutton to erect and endow his hospital and free school within the Charterhouse instead of at Hallingbury. He had intended, if his health permitted, to be
