s soon expanded into
a much larger and more imposing body, possibly due to the receipt of the
news of the capture of Jamaica and the decision announced in Cromwell's
proclamation of August to hold the island. On November 11, 1655,[29]
a board, made up of officers of state, gentlemen, and merchants, was
commissioned a "Committee and Standing Council for the advancing and
regulating the Trade and Navigation of the Commonwealth," generally
shortened to "Trade and Navigation Committee," or simply "Trade
Committee." Its membership, instead of being seven, was over seventy,
and it was thus a dignified though unwieldy body. At its head was
Richard Cromwell and its members were as follows: Montague, Sydenham,
Wolseley, Pickering, and Jones of the Protector's Council; Lord Chief
Justice St. John and Justices Glynn, Steele, and Hale; Sir Henry Blount,
Sir John Hobart, Sir Gilbert Gerard, gentlemen of distinction; Sir
Bulstrode Whitelocke and Sir Thomas Widdrington, sergeants-at-law; Col.
John Fiennes and John Lisle, commissioners of the Great Seal; the four
Treasury Commissioners; Col. Richard Norton, governor of Portsmouth;
Capt. Hatsell, navy commissioner of Plymouth; Stone and Foxcroft, excise
commissioners; Martin Noell, London merchant and farmer of the customs;
Upton, customs commissioner; Bond, Wright, Thompson, Ashurst, Peirpont,
Crew, and Berry, London merchants; and Tichborne, Grove, Pack (Lord
Mayor), and Riccards, aldermen of London; Bonner, of Newcastle; Dunne,
of Yarmouth; Cullen, of Dover; Jackson, of Bristol; Toll, of Lyme;
Legay, of Southampton; Snow, of Exeter; and Drake, of Sussex. At various
times, and probably for various purposes, the following members were
added between December 12, 1655, and June 19,1656: Secretary Thurloe,
William Wheeler, Edmund Waller, Francis Dincke, of Hull; George Downing,
at that time major general and scoutmaster; Alderman Ireton, of London;
Col. William Purefoy; Godfrey Boseville; Edward Laurence; John St.
Barbe, of Hampshire, [Lord] John Claypoole, Master of the Horse, and
Cromwell's son-in-law; John Barnard; Sir John Reynolds; Col. Arthur
Hill; George Berkeley; Capt. Thomas Whitegreane; Thomas Ford, of Exeter;
Francis St. John; Henry Wright; Col. John Jones, Alderman Frederick,
sheriff of London; Richard Ford, the well-known merchant of London;
Mayor Nehemiah Bourne; Charles Howard; Robert Berwick; John Blaxton,
town clerk of Newcastle; Col. Richard Ingoldsby; Edmund Thomas;
Thom