Magens Dorrien Magens (ca 1762 – 30 May 1849) of Hammerwood Lodge,

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

, was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

banker,

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 of ...

and author. In early life he was known as Magens Dorrien. He adopted the surname of his uncle Nicholas Magens by special licence on 16 December 1788, after his marriage.William Retlaw Williams, ''The Parliamentary History of the Principality of Wales, from the earliest times to the present day, 1541-1895'', p. 55 He was born the third son of John Dorrien (-1784), a merchant banker, originally from Hamburg, and

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

director of London and Great Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire. In 1788 Dorrien (as he still was) married the Hon. Henrietta Cecilia Rice (1758–1829), a daughter of George Rice and

Cecil de Cardonnel, 2nd Baroness Dynevor Cecil de Cardonnel, 2nd Baroness Dynevor (July 1735 – 14 March 1793) was a Welsh peeress. She was the daughter of William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot. Her mother was the daughter and heir of Adam de Cardonnel, British Secretary of War. Under ...

. Their children were Cecilia, George William, Maria, and Anne Frances. The bank in which he was a partner, having inherited a lump sum and an estate at Brightlingsea from his aunt (1712-1779) and uncle Nicholas Magens, was called Magens, Dorrien, and Magens. By 1798 it was Dorrien, Magens, Mello, Martin, and Harrison, and later changed its name to Dorrien, Magens, Mello, and Company. In 1798 the firm sent some silver bullion to the

Royal Mint The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's oldest company and the official maker of British coins. Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly owned by His Majesty's Treasury and is under an exclus ...

to be coined into

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...

s, resulting in the rare "Dorrien and Magens shilling" of 1798. He was also Deputy Chairman, and later Chairman, of the Rock Life Assurance Company. His brother George was director of the Bank of England. A

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

, Magens was elected to Parliament for Carmarthen in May 1796 but was unseated the following November following an election petition. He was a Member of Parliament for Ludgershall in

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from 1804 to 1812. Re-elected for Ludgershall in 1812, in December of that year he became

Steward of the Manor of East Hendred This is a list of the Members of Parliament appointed as Steward of the Manor of East Hendred, a notional 'office of profit under the crown' which was used to resign from the House of Commons. Appointment of an MP to the office was first made in ...

, a notional " office of profit under

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

" which was used as a device for resigning from the House of Commons. Magens died at Hammerwood Park in 1849, aged 87."MAGENS, Magens Dorien", in Register of Deaths for East Grinstead Registration District, vol. 7 (1849), p. 272

Publications

*Magens Dorrien Magens, Esq., ''An Inquiry into the Real Difference between Actual Money and Paper Money; Also an Examination into the Constitution of Banks'' (London, 1804) *''Thoughts Upon a New Coinage of Silver, More Especially as It Relates to an Alteration in the Division of the Pound Troy; by a Banker'' (new edition by Gale Ecco, 2010)

Notes

External links

Magens Dorrien Magens
at theyworkforyou.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Magens, Magens Dorrien Year of birth uncertain 1849 deaths British bankers Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Welsh constituencies British MPs 1796–1800 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 Dorrien and Smith-Dorrien family