Guy, THOMAS

Guy, THOMAS, founder of Guy's Hospital (q.v.), Southwark, London, the son of a lighterman and coal-dealer, was born in Fair Street, Horselydown, near the Thames, in 1644. He began business in 1668 in the angle formed by Cornhill and Lombard Street, as a bookseller with a stock of about £200, dealing extensively in the importation of English Bibles from Holland (those printed at home being executed very badly); and, on this being stopped, he contracted with the university of Oxford for the privilege of printing Bibles, which he continued to do for many years. By this means, and by selling out his original shares in South Sea Stock at a great advantage, he amassed a fortune of nearly half a million sterling. In 1707 he built and furnished three wards of St Thomas's Hospital. For the building and endowment of the hospital in Southwark which bears his name he set apart £238,295, 16s. He was also a liberal benefactor to the Stationers' Company, and built and endowed almshouses and a library at Tamworth, for which he became one of the members about 1694. Besides bestowing £400 a year on Christ's Hospital, and giving to various other charities, he left £80,000 to be divided among those who could prove any degree of relationship to him. He was of mean appearance, with a melancholy countenance, and was regarded as an intensely selfish and avaricious man. He died December 27, 1724.