Edward Backwell (ca. 1618–1683) was an English goldsmith-banker, and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

at various times between 1673 and 1683. He has been called "the principal founder of the banking system in England", and "far and away the best documented banker of his time".

Life

Backwell was the son of Barnaby Backwell, of Leighton Buzzard. He migrated to the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

, where he was apprenticed to Thomas Vyner, a prominent London goldsmith-banker, in 1635. Like other goldsmith-bankers of the era, he was also played a role in State finance. He received his freedom of the Goldsmith's Company in 1651 and had his goldsmith's shop at the sign of the Unicorn in Lombard Street.Moshe Arye Milevsky, ''The Day the King Defaulted: Financial Lessons from the Stop of the Exchequer'', pp. 56–59 During the time of the

English Republic The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execut ...

(1649-1660), Edward was deeply involved in credit finance, and dealt in former Crown property that had been put on the market. During the Commonwealth, he bought the park at

Hampton Court Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

and then resold it to the government, at a profit.Jenny Uglow, ''A Gambling Man: Charles II and the Restoration'' (Faber and Faber, 2009), p. 204 Blackwell was a rich merchant of the

. Following the capture of Dunkirk in 1658 by Anglo-French forces, Blackwell was appointed Treasurer of Dunkirk, which was ceded to England by Spain. After the Restoration of the monarchy he kept the position. In 1662 he was involved in the negotiations that led to the

Sale of Dunkirk The Sale of Dunkirk took place on when Charles II of England sold his sovereign rights to Dunkirk and Fort-Mardyck to his cousin Louis XIV of France. Context Dunkirk was occupied by English forces of the Protectorate in 1658, when it was captured ...

to France. In the 1650s he was involved in bullion transactions and in 1657 helped Thomas Vyner to handle captured Spanish plate. He was also very actively involved as treasurer for the Dunkirk garrison, from the time of its capture and establishment as an English base in 1657 until its sale back to France in 1662. Together with Sir Thomas Vyner he was responsible for provision of money to the royal household and with handling bullion brought in for coinage at the Royal Mint. In 1660, just before the Restoration, Edward was elected alderman of the

, but the following year he paid the customary fine to be excused from continuing to serve. He is the most frequently referred to financier in Samuel Pepys's Diary, which is perhaps indicative of his importance. Trading from his premises in Lombard Street, he was

alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...

for the City ward of Bishopsgate and the greatest banker of the early years of the Restoration. Among many others, Samuel Pepys was one of his customers.James Smith McMaster, ''McMaster's Commercial Cases: Current Business Law from the Decisions of the Highest Courts of the Several States'', Volume 18 (1915), p. 476 He continued to operate in finance during the reign of Charles II. He was selected an

for Bishopsgate 1660–1661. Edward was a signatory to ''The Several Declarations of The Company of Royal Adventurers of England Trading into Africa'', a document published in 1667 which led to the expansion of the Royal Africa Company. One of the most prominent financiers of his time, Blackwell took deposits, lent money and provided foreign exchange services during the years leading up to the Stop of the Exchequer of 1672, which almost ruined him.J. P. Kenyon, ''Stuart England'' (Allen Lane, 1978), p. 223 However, in 1671 with his son John he had been appointed comptroller of customs in the port of London, and with his old master Vyner, he was from 1671 to 1675 a commissioner of the customs and farmer of the customs revenue. Backwell owned land in Buckinghamshire and

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...

. In 1671 he was elected as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Wendover Wendover is a market town and civil parish at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated at the point where the main road across the Chilterns between London and Aylesbury intersects with the once important road a ...

in a by-election to the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter-century reign of C ...

. He was re-elected a Member for Wendover in the second election of 1679 and again in 1681.History of Parliament Online - Backwell, Edward
/ref> He went bankrupt in 1682 and went to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, where he died, his body being brought back to London and buried on 13 June 1683. In 1657 Backwell married firstly Sarah Brett and had one son, John Backwell. In 1662, he married secondly Mary Leigh, who died in 1669, by whom he had three sons and two daughters.

References

Leighton-Linslade Past Times

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Backwell, Edward 1610s births 1683 deaths People from Leighton Buzzard English goldsmiths Cavaliers English MPs 1661–1679 Bankers from London English MPs 1679 English MPs 1680–1681 English MPs 1681 Edward