The election of December 1554

Sometime before December 1554, at least one Stationer realized that circumstances favoured another attempt to obtain a charter. In 1549 only seven of the twenty-one printing houses in England had been owned by Stationers: Berthelet, Copland, William Hill, Lant, the two Powells, and Wolfe. By 1551 death, retirement, and Day's translation had improved the Stationers’ position to seven out of eighteen, and by early 1553 another retirement and Richard Tottell's debut had brought them to eight out of seventeen – closer to parity than they had been since the 1520s. And then, suddenly, by the end of August 1553 they outnumbered the opposition (John Mychell and Robert Wyer) by seven to two.

By November Robert Caly and John Kingston had joined the non-Stationers, but Kingston was offset by his partner Henry Sutton, Stationer. In 1554 John Wayland's return was balanced by the arrival of John King – and although in 1555 the Stationers lost Berthelet, they gained Thomas Marshe, Owen Rogers, and John Walley. Thanks to Mary, the Company had become the dominant presence in the English printing trade.