London. There is also evidence that textiles were supplied to Foulis and Jousie by the London merchant Baptist Hicks. Miner and refiner In March 1592 Foulis was involved in a project to refine old silver Scottish coins with Sir William Bowes in London. Foulis also operated a copper mine near Edinburgh for the king and was permitted to use wood from the forest of Torwood to make charcoal for refining. In January 1594 he had a tack or lease given in acknowledgement of money owed to him by the king and queen, to mine and export all minerals and metals in the Friarmoor in Lanarkshire, a former possession of Newbattle Abbey. In March 1594 one of his mining experts Bernard Fechtenburg was tempted away by Lord Menmuir, Master of Metals, to work for Sir David Lindsay of Edzell Castle. Fechtenburg said that Edzell's samples of ores were more promising than an assay made by Foulis' other experts., In April 1594 he received a grant to prospect and mine for gold, silver, lead, tin and other metals, in Lanarkshire. The grant mentioned mines previously worked by George Douglas of Parkhead. He became known as Thomas Foulis of Leadhills. In June 1597 after one of his convoys carrying lead towards Edinburgh was robbed by border outlaws, the Privy Council authorised Foulis's carriers to have a lead badge with the king's arms and wear Foulis's own insignia, and anyone who tried to rob them would be executed. The English gold prospector George Bowes complained in a letter to Lord Essendon that Foulis had disrupted his workings in 1604 by detaining his English timber man. He hoped that Lord Balmerino, Secretary for Scotland would help him. Bowes was staying at Codrus Cottage, above Wanlock Water. Silver at Hilderston Silver was discovered on lands at Hilderston near Bathgate in 1607. The prospector Bevis Bulmer and Thomas Foulis opened a silver mine called "God's Blessing". In 1608 Thomas Foulis and George Foulis, also a goldsmith, assayed ore from the mine. The site at Hilderston was developed by Bulmer, the "knight governor of the works of his majesty's mines under ground", with George Bruce of Carnock acting as treasurer. In 1613 Foulis obtained the contract for the mine with William Alexander of Menstrie and Paulo Pinto from Portugal. Royal finance Foulis was involved in accounting royal money for the Chancellor, John Maitland of Thirlestane and his wife