| Code | DS/UK/713 |
| Surname | Sandes |
| Forenames | Thomas |
| Dates | ? - c.1703 |
| Epithet | Merchant |
| OtherFormsOfName | Sands; Sandys |
| Activity | Amongst the top forty or fifty wealthiest London merchants in the late 17th century. Exported English woollen goods; imported potash, linen, seal oil and naval stores; and re-exported Russian red leather hides to Livorno. Since at least 1683 he had been heavily involved in the Atlantic trade with the American colonies, Greenland and the Caribbean Islands, exporting woollen goods, meat and butter; and importing sugar, molasses, tobacco, cotton, whale fins and blubber, seal oil and beaver skins. He participated in two triangular trades: first, to Madiera to purchase wine for sale in the Caribbean, returning with sugar; and second, to Dublin to purchase meat and dairy for sale in the Caribbean, returning with sugar. He twice shipped indentured servants to Virginia in 1696 and 1699. Sandes lost a case to the East India Company before the Kings Bench in January 1685. The East India Company vs Sandys became known as the Great Case of Monopoliesas Sandes challenged the assertion by the East India Company that its royal charters gave it a monopoly of trade with the East Indies. |
| Source | Thomas Sandes: merchant and investor, 1680-1703, Master's dissertation by David Rule, copy available from the Bank Information Centre. |
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