Early life

Eldred was born in 1552 at New Buckenham

New Buckenham

New Buckenham is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.It covers an area of and had a population of 468 in 197 households as of the 2001 census. For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of Breckland....

 in Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, where his father had moved from Knattishail in Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

. It seems probable that he went to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 while still young, devoted himself to business and prospered. He was already a well-to-do merchant when 'upon Shrove Monday 1583' he 'departed out of London in the ship called the Tiger

HMS Tiger

Fifteen ships of the British Royal Navy have carried the name HMS Tiger after the feline tiger, with a number of others provisionally bearing the name at various stages in their construction:...

, in the company of Mr. John Newbery

John Newbery

John Newbery was an English publisher of books who first made children's literature a sustainable and profitable part of the literary market. He also supported and published the works of Christopher Smart, Oliver Goldsmith and Samuel Johnson...

, Mr. Ralph Fitch

Ralph Fitch

Ralph Fitch was a gentleman merchant of London and one of the earliest English travellers and traders to visit Mesopotamia, the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, India and Southeast Asia...

, and six or seven other honest merchants.'

Voyage

On 1 May they arrived at Tripoli

Tripoli

Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...

 in Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

, and after staying there for a fortnight went on to Aleppo

Aleppo

Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...

, and thence to Bir

BIR

Bir or BIR may refer to:Proper Names * Bir, Himachal Pradesh, town in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh* Bir Ma'in, a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Ramla* Bir Ghbalou District, a district of Bouïra Province, Algeria...

 on the Euphrates

Euphrates

The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...

. At Bir they took a boat down the river as far as Feludjah, where after a week's delay they hired a hundred asses to convey their merchandise to Bagdad

Bagdad

-Places:Australia* Bagdad, TasmaniaMexico* Bagdad, TamaulipasPoland* Bagdad, PolandUnited States* Bagdad, Arizona* Bagdad, California* Bagdad, Butte County, California* Bagdad, Florida* Bagdad, Kentucky* Bagdad, New York* Bagdad, Virginia...

. There they stayed for some days, and, reshipping their wares in boats on the Tigris

Tigris

The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...

, came at length to Bassorah. At Bassorah Eldred remained for six months engaged in the business of the journey, to such good purpose that when he and his companions departed on their return, it took seventy barks, or rather barges, to carry them and their merchandise, consisting mainly of spices; bales of cinnamon

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods...

 and nutmeg

Nutmeg

The nutmeg tree is any of several species of trees in genus Myristica. The most important commercial species is Myristica fragrans, an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia...

 being more especially mentioned. These barks were tracked up the stream by fourteen men to each, and so in forty-four days arrived at Bagdad, where the adventurers provisioned for the land journey, and departed in company with many other merchants, and an enormous caravan of four thousand camel

Camel

A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...

s, laden with spices and other rich merchandise. After forty days' journey they arrived at Aleppo on 11 June 1584. For the next three years Eldred made Aleppo his headquarters; 'in which time,' to quote his own words, 'I made two voyages more unto Babylon (Bagdad), and returned by the way aforesaid, over the deserts of Arabia. And afterwards, as one desirous to see other parts of the country, I went from Aleppo to Antioch, which is thence sixty English miles, and from thence went down to Tripoli, where, going aboard a small vessel, I arrived at Joppa

Joppa

Joppa appears in the Bible as the name of the now Israeli city of Yafo, otherwise known as Jaffa.Joppa can also refer to:-Locations:United Kingdom...

, and travelled to Rama

Rama

Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...

, Lycia

Lycia

Lycia Lycian: Trm̃mis; ) was a region in Anatolia in what are now the provinces of Antalya and Muğla on the southern coast of Turkey. It was a federation of ancient cities in the region and later a province of the Roman Empire...

, Gaza

Gaza

Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...

, Jerusalem, Bethlehem

Bethlehem

Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...

, to the river of Jordan, and the sea or lake of Sodom, and returned back to Joppa, and from thence by sea to Tripoli, of which places, because many others have published large discourses, I surcease to write.'

Return to England and subsequent career

On 22 December 1587 he embarked at Tripoli for England, and 'arrived in safety here in the river of Thames with divers English merchants, 26 March 1588, in the Hercules

HMS Hercules

Five ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Hercules, or HMS Hercule, after the Greek and Roman hero Hercules. Another was launched, but never served in the Navy: was a 74-gun third rate launched in 1759 and sold in 1784....

 of London, which was the richest ship of English merchants' goods that ever was known to come into this realm.' A large part of these riches appears to have belonged to Eldred.

He was now a wealthy man, and, having capital at his disposal, accumulated a large fortune. In 1597 he bought the manor of Great Saxham

Great Saxham

Great Saxham is a village in Suffolk, England. The village appears as Sexham in the Domesday Book, and Saxham Magna in 1254....

 in Suffolk, and built a large house which came to be popularly known as 'Nutmeg Hall.' He continued, however, to reside chiefly in London, engaged in business. When the East India Company

East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

 was started, he was a large subscriber, was a member of the first court of directors, and for many years took a prominent part in its affairs. He was also, during the reign of James I

James I of England

James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...

, a contractor and commissioner for the sale of lands, a farmer of customs, and the holder of a patent for the pre-emption of tin.

Issue

His eldest son was born in June 1590, so that he presumably married shortly after his return from the Levant

Levant

The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...

. His wife was Mary, daughter of Thomas Revett of Rishangles

Rishangles

Rishangles is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located around seven miles south of Diss, in 2005 its population was 80....

 in Suffolk, by whom he had a large family. The firstborn son died in infancy; but the second, Revett, grew up, was made a baronet

Baronet

A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...

 in 1641 (see Eldred Baronets

Eldred Baronets

The Eldred Baronetcy, of Saxham Magna in the County of Suffolk, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 29 January 1642 for Revett Eldred, the son of the traveller and merchant John Eldred. The title became extinct on Eldred's death in circa 1653....

), and died without issue in 1653, when the estate of Great Saxham passed to the family of John Eldred, Revett's next brother. This became extinct in 1745, when the property was sold. 'Nutmeg Hall' was burnt down in 1779; the present Great Saxham Hall was built by the new proprietors in the closing years of the same century.

In the church of Great Saxham

Great Saxham

Great Saxham is a village in Suffolk, England. The village appears as Sexham in the Domesday Book, and Saxham Magna in 1254....

there is a monument to the memory of John Eldred erected by his son Revett; also a bust with a mural tablet bearing the inscription : —

The Holy Land so called I have seene,
And in the Land of Babilon have beene,
But in that Land where glorious Saints doe live
My soul doth crave of Christ a roome to give.