Thomas Guy

Thomas Guy (1644–1724) was a British bookseller, speculator and de facto founder of Guy's Hospital, London.

Early life

Thomas Guy was born a son of a lighterman, wharf owner and coal-dealer at Southwark. In 1668, after eight years as an apprentice of a bookseller, he began his own bookstore in Lombard Street. At first he sold bibles that were poorly printed in England so he imported them from the Netherlands. Eventually he gained a privilege of printing them from the University of Oxford and became book publisher.

Guy had a reputation as a miser, mainly because a rival bookseller John Dunton accused him of paying low wages and refusing to help the charities. In fact, Guy was a stock speculator. He invested in government securities and bought shares to the value of £42,000 in the South Sea Company, a company involved in the Atlantic slave trade. In 1720 he successfully sold his stock of the company with the price ranging £300-600 per share and amassed a large fortune. During the British wars against the Louis XIV of France, Guy successfully speculated in seamen's pay tickets.

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Thomas_Guy

location on Google Map

Thomas Guy House

Thomas Guy House is a historic home located near Mebane, Alamance County, North Carolina. It was built about 1890, and is a one-story saddlebag plan log house. It consists of two individual one-room log pens that share a common central chimney.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.