Person:George Barne (2)

Sir George Barne was a member of the Haberdasher's Guild and obviously a very successful one. He served as Sheriff of London in 1545-46, and as Lord Mayor of London in 1552. He was knighted at Whitehall on 11 April 1553.

Barne actively invested in foreign expeditions, and is said to have been the first merchant adventurer (which is to say investor) of expeditions to Barbary, Russia, and Genoa. He was an incorporator of the first organized English company for discovery in 1551 and was the "principal doer" in mounting Sir Hugh Willoughby's expedition to find the North East Passage in 1553. He was also one of the first four Consuls of the Merchant Adventurers on 6 February 1553.

The Reverend Nicholas Ridley, Protestant reformer and Bishop of London under King Edward VI, mentioned Sir George Barne very favorably in his farewell letter of 5 October 1555, written the day before he was martyred at the stake by Queen Mary.