De la Pole, William, -1366

Sir William de la Pole (died 21 June 1366) was a wealthy wool merchant from Kingston upon Hull in Yorkshire, England, who became a royal moneylender and briefly served as Chief Baron of the Exchequer. He founded the de la Pole family, Earls of Lincoln, Earls of Suffolk and Dukes of Suffolk, which by his mercantile and financial prowess he raised from relative obscurity to one of the primary families of the realm in a single generation. At the end of the 14th century he was described in the 'Chronicle of Melsa' as "second to no other merchant of England" (nulli Angligenae mercatori postea secundus fuit). He was the founder of the Charterhouse Monastery, Kingston upon Hull.