What is Thomas White (merchant)?
[[Image:Statue sir thomas white 29j07.JPG|right|thumb|{{center|Statue of Sir Thomas White in [[Coventry]]}}]] '''Sir Thomas White''' (1492–12 February 1567) was an [[English people|English]] cloth [[merchant]], civic leader and [[:wikt:founder|founder]] of [[St John's College, Oxford]]. == Career == Thomas White was born in [[Reading, Berkshire]]. He was the son of William White, a [[:wikt:clothier|clothier]] of Reading, and his wife, Mary, daughter of Henry Kibblewhite. At age 12 he became an [[apprentice]] to a [[London]] merchant.<ref name=Clode456>Charles Mathew Clode, ''Memorials of the Guild of Merchant Taylors of the Fraternity of St. John the Baptist'' (London: Harrison and Sons, 1875), p. 456</ref> In time he became a prosperous clothier. In 1546 he served as [[:en:wikt:sheriff|sheriff]] of London. In 1553 he was [[Lord Mayor of London]].<ref name=Clode456/> Thomas White became Sir Thomas White when he was [[Mary II of England|knighted]] by Queen [[Mary II of England]] the same year.<ref name=Clode456/> Sir Thomas founded [[St John's College, Oxford]] in 1555.<ref>John Stow, ''A survey of London'' (London: Chatto & Windus, 1876), p. 195</ref> He died on 12 February 1567 at Oxford University. Sir Thomas was buried in the chapel of St. John's College, Oxford.<ref name=Ford>[http://www.berkshirehistory.com/bios/twhite.html David Nash Ford, 'Sir Thomas White (1492-1567)', ''Royal Berkshire History'' (2003)]</ref> The Sir Thomas White Loan Charity was started in 1542 and it still exists. It gives interest-free loans to new businesses in [[Leicestershire]] and [[Rutland]]. There are several [[memorial]]s to Sir Thomas White in [[England]] and he is memorialized on [[Leicester]]'s [[:en:wikt:clock tower|clock tower]]. == Family == Sir Thomas first married a woman named Avice. She died on 26 February 1558.<ref name=Ford/> He married secondly Joan, daughter of John Lake. She was the widow of Ralph Warren, Lord Mayor of London.<ref name=ThomasI423>Henry Thomas, ''The Wards of London'', Vol I (London: J. Giff