John Slany merchant, ship builder, born Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, was secretary of the Newfoundland Company and a member of the Merchant Taylor's Company

Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors

The Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors is one of the 108 Livery Companies of the City of London.The Company, originally known as the Guild and Fraternity of St...

. He had also invested in the East India Company

British 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...

.

In 1610 both Slany and John Guy submitted a petition to the Privy Council

Privy council

A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...

 of 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...

 on behalf of the London and Bristol Company

London and Bristol Company

The London and Bristol Company came about in the early 17th century when English merchants had begun to express an interest in the Newfoundland fishery. Financed by a syndicate of investors John Guy, himself a Bristol merchant, visited Newfoundland in 1608 to locate a favourable site for a colony...

 for a grant of incorporation of the Newfoundland Company. Its main goal was to establish a settlement in Newfoundland at Cuper's Cove and colonize it. Slany's interest in Newfoundland was heightened by favorable reports from John Guy and William Colston

William Colston

William Colston was an Englishman and one of the first settlers in the colony at Cuper's Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada....

 of the vast riches to be had in Newfoundland. He had also convinced Percival Willoughby

Percival Willoughby

Sir Percival Willoughby was a prominent land owner, businessman involved during his lifetime variously in mining, iron smelting, glass making and as an investor in the Newfoundland Company. He married Bridget Willoughby, evidently his third cousin, the daughter of Sir Francis Willoughby builder...

to invest and establish ownership of a tract of land near the colony.

By 1616 Slany had predicted the failure of the colony because of disagreement with John Guy when he accused him of deceiving the Newfoundland Company over the Island’s mineral resources.