The Tower of London - Hopton, Sir Owen (c.1519-1595) Payroll for the Lieutenant Porter and Yeomen of the Tower of London, signed to base by the Lieutenant, Sir Owen Hopton, and listing a total of 30 Yeomen with their payment, dated 1583, laid down on card, 465 x 417mm., slight dusting, creased where previously folded affecting a few words, but clearly legible and with the fine signature of Hopton to base. Footnote: Note: A document of considerable historical interest. Sir Owen Hopton was Lieutenant of the Tower of London from 1575 until 1592 and as such was in charge of the custody of some of the most famous prisoners kept there during the reign of Elizabeth I. His period of office extended from the Ridolfi conspiracy until after the Armada. It was a task requiring vigilance and repeated consultations with the Privy Council and others in authority; and it involved, particularly in the 1580s, the supervision of examinations under torture. In the same year as this document one of those prisoners was John Somerville, cousin to William Shakespeare, who was tortured on the rack and died in custody. Two years later Hopton was implicated in the mysterious death in his custody of the Duke of Northumberland who was found in his cell with gunshot wounds to his chest. Hopton protested his innocence, citing testimonies from various Yeomen Warders - whose names appear on this document. Later in his term as Lieutenant Hopton had custody of Sir Anthony Babbington, one of the many conspirators against the Queen. Hopton was also in charge of the custody of one of the most notable of all English Catholic Martyrs, Saint John Paine. Such was his esteem in the government of Elizabethan England that Hopton was the dedicatee of George Gascoigne's play The Glass of Government. [Purchased at Mullock's Auctions, 15/04/2010, lot 131]