Sir John Houblon (13 March 1632 – 10 January 1712) was the first

Governor of the Bank of England The governor of the Bank of England is the most senior position in the Bank of England. It is nominally a civil service post, but the appointment tends to be from within the bank, with the incumbent grooming their successor. The governor of the Ba ...

from 1694 to 1697.

Early life

John Houblon was the third son of James Houblon, a

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

merchant, and his wife, Mary Du Quesne, daughter of

Jean Du Quesne, the younger Jean du Quesne, the younger (1575–1612) was the son of Jean Du Quesne, the elder, a particularly well-documented Huguenot refugee from Flanders. Of noble extraction, Jean Du Quesne the elder escaped to England during the reign of Queen Elizabe ...

. He had nine brothers and three sisters. The Houblon family were

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster B ...

from

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the No ...

and he later became an elder in the

French Protestant Church of London The French Protestant Church of London (''Église protestante française de Londres'') is a Reformed / Presbyterian church that has catered to the French-speaking community of London since 1550. It is the last remaining Huguenot church of Lon ...

Threadneedle Street Threadneedle Street is a street in the City of London, England, between Bishopsgate at its northeast end and Bank junction in the southwest. It is one of nine streets that converge at Bank. It lies in the ward of Cornhill. History The stree ...

. His younger brother, Abraham Houblon, was also Bank of England Governor, from 1703 to 1705. A daughter of Abraham Houblon, Anne, was married to Henry Temple, later

Viscount Palmerston Viscount Palmerston was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 12 March 1723 for Henry Temple, who subsequently represented East Grinstead, Bossiney and Weobley in the British House of Commons. He was made Baron Temple, of Mount T ...

, in 1703. His older brother, James, an influential merchant and Member of Parliament for 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 ...

, was also a director of the Bank of England. Four other of his brothers were prosperous merchants.

Career

He became

Sheriff of the City of London Two sheriffs are elected annually for the City of London by the Liverymen of the City livery companies. Today's sheriffs have only nominal duties, but the historical officeholders had important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ju ...

in 1689, an

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 ...

from 1689 to 1712, and Master of the Grocer's Company from 1690 to 1691. He was Lord Mayor in 1695. He was a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty from 1694 to 1699. It was during this time, from 1694 until 1697, that he served as inaugural governor of the Bank of England. He was again a Bank of England director from 1700, and a director of the New East India Company from 1700 to 1701. He stood as a Parliamentary candidate for the

in 1701, but was defeated. Some sources state incorrectly that he was

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

Bodmin Bodmin () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated south-west of Bodmin Moor. The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character. It is bordered ...

Appearance on banknotes

Houblon has been commemorated by his appearance on the reverse of Series E £50 notes issued by the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...

. The notes were issued in 1994, the year of the Bank's 300th anniversary. The design includes an image of Houblon's house in

, the site of the present Bank of England building. A new £50 note was brought into circulation in 2011, featuring

James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was ...

and

Matthew Boulton Matthew Boulton (; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engin ...

in place of Sir John Houblon. The Houblon note ceased to be legal tender on 30 April 2014.

Personal life

He married Mary Jurin in 1660, who came from a Flemish Protestant family and they had five sons and six daughters, but only two sons survived their father.Archer Houblon, Alice (1907)
The Houblon Family - Its Story and Times
', London: Constable, Volumes 1 & 2. They lived in a magnificent house just off

on the site later occupied by the Bank of England and he also acquired a country house at

High Ongar High Ongar is a village and civil parish in the County of Essex, England. It is located a mile (1½ km) north-east of Chipping Ongar, 8 miles (13 km) west of Chelmsford and 6 miles (10 km) north-west of Brentwood. The village of ...

in Essex.

References

External links

Sir John Houblon 1632-1712
at the Bank of England website
''The Rulers of London 1660-1689''
J.R. Woodhead, o
British History Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houblon, John 1632 births 1712 deaths English bankers Lords of the Admiralty Sheriffs of the City of London 17th-century lord mayors of London Governors of the Bank of England 17th-century English businesspeople Knights Bachelor