John Freame (1669âÂÂ1745) was an English Quaker goldsmith and banker. In 1690 he co-founded Freame & Gould, which later became Barclays Bank.
John, son of Robert Freame, was born in 1669 in Cirencester, England, and baptised on 11 November of the same year. In 1683, he was apprenticed to Job Bolton, a Quaker goldsmith based in Lombard Street.
Upon completion of his apprenticeship, Freame gained his Freedom of the City on 7 April 1690, giving him the right to open a business within the City of London as a goldsmith, and went into partnership with Thomas Gould, a fellow Quaker.
In 1728, the business moved to 54 Lombard Street, identified as the âÂÂSign of the Black Spread EagleâÂÂ.
In 1713, Freame published Scripture Instruction: Digested into Several Sections by Way of Questions & Answers in Order to Promote Piety & Virtue, and Discourage Vice & Immorality, with a Preface Relating to Education.
On 19 August 1697, at the Friends' Meeting at Devonshire House, London, Freame married Priscilla Gould, a sister of his business partner Thomas Gould, who himself married Freame's sister Hannah.
He died in 1745.