Octavius Wigram (18 December 1794 – 20 May 1878) 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 ...

businessman and ship owner in 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 fr ...

, a member of Lloyds and Governor of the

Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation The Royal Exchange Assurance, founded in 1720, was a British insurance company. It took its name from the location of its offices at the Royal Exchange, London. Origins The Royal Exchange Assurance emerged from a joint stock insurance enterpr ...

Life

Born at Walthamstow House,

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...

, on 18 December 1794, despite his name Wigram was the twelfth child and seventh son of

Lady Eleanor "Lady Eleanor" is a song written by Alan Hull, featured on the first Lindisfarne album, ''Nicely Out of Tune''. Initially released as a single in May 1971, it failed to chart. In 1972, following the success of the band's single "Meet me on the ...

and

Sir Robert Wigram, 1st Baronet Sir Robert Wigram, 1st Baronet (30 January 1744 – 6 November 1830) was a British merchant shipbuilder and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain and of the United Kingdom between 1802 and 1807. Background Wigram was ...

(1744–1830) His father was a merchant shipbuilder and

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 ...

politician who had a total of twenty-three children. He was educated privately at

Shacklewell Shacklewell is a small locality to the east of Roman Ermine Street (now the A10), in the London Borough of Hackney.'Hackney: Shacklewell', in A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 10, Hackney, ed. T F T Baker (London, 1995), pp. 35–38. ...

, and at the age of sixteen he entered his father's counting-house. In 1819 he became a director of the

Royal Exchange Assurance Company The Royal Exchange Assurance, founded in 1720, was a British insurance company. It took its name from the location of its offices at the Royal Exchange, London. Origins The Royal Exchange Assurance emerged from a joint stock insurance enterpr ...

, remaining with the company until his death.''Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage'' (online edition, retrieved 28 February 2011), p. B1002: "The 1st baronet, Sir Robert Wigram, successively MP for Fowey and co. Wexford, obtained eminence as a merchant; he died 1830, having had twenty-three children. The 2nd baronet, MP for Fowey, in 1832 changed, by royal licence, his surname to FitzWygram".Walthamstow Antiquarian Society, ''More Walthamstow Houses'', Official publication no. 20 (1928) Wigram joined the London and Westminster Light Horse (a Volunteer regiment) as a trooper. At the

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...

King George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

in 1820, Wigram was on duty, guarding one of the doors of the Abbey, when the new king's estranged wife Queen Caroline tried unsuccessfully to enter the Abbey by force. She was turned away. In 1822 he was commissioned as a

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...

in the same regiment. From 1823 to 1831 Wigram is listed as the owner of two ships in the service of the

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 ...

. In 1824 he was elected a member of Lloyds, and on 24 March 1824 was married at

St George's, Hanover Square St George's, Hanover Square, is an Anglican church, the parish church of Mayfair in the City of Westminster, central London, built in the early eighteenth century as part of a project to build fifty new churches around London (the Queen Anne C ...

, by William Knox,

Bishop of Derry The Bishop of Derry is an Episcopal polity, episcopal title which takes its name after the monastic settlement originally founded at Daire Calgach and later known as Daire Colm Cille, Anglicised as Derry. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a ...

, to the bishop's daughter, Isabella Charlotte, who was a niece of Thomas Knox, 2nd Viscount Northland, later created

Earl of Ranfurly Earl of Ranfurly, of Dungannon in the County of Tyrone, a title in the Peerage of Ireland, was created in 1831 for Thomas Knox, 2nd Viscount Northland. He had earlier represented County Tyrone in the House of Commons, and had already been cre ...

. They had three sons and three daughters. Until 1830 the Wigrams lived at 36,

Wimpole Street Wimpole Street is a street in Marylebone, central London. Located in the City of Westminster, it is associated with private medical practice and medical associations. No. 1 Wimpole Street is an example of Edwardian baroque architecture, compl ...

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

. They then moved to Thorpe Combe House and in 1841 to

Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half of ...

. Wigram was a partner in Huldart's Patent Cables Company and Reid's Brewery Company, was on the Committee of

Lloyd's Register of Shipping Lloyd's Register Group Limited (LR) is a technical and professional services organisation and a maritime classification society, wholly owned by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a UK charity dedicated to research and education in science and ...

, and was a member of a Royal Commission of inquiry into the law governing

pilots An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

. In 1870 he was still Governor of the Royal Exchange Assurance Company, and the next year the Company presented him with his portrait in oils by George Richmond. He died on 20 May 1878.

Family

Wigram's eldest brother,

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

(1773–1843), was a Director of the Bank of England and a Tory

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 ...

who in 1832 changed his name from Wigram to Fitzwygram. Their other brothers included

Joseph Cotton Wigram Joseph Cotton Wigram (26 December 1798 – 6 April 1867) was a British churchman, Archdeacon of Winchester and bishop of Rochester. Life Born at Walthamstow, Wigram was the child of Lady Eleanor and Sir Robert Wigram, 1st Baronet (1744–1830). H ...

(1798–1867),

Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury. The town of Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was foun ...

, Loftus Tottenham Wigram QC (1803–89), a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

and politician, and the theologian George Vicesimus Wigram (1805–79). Wigram's eldest son, William Knox Wigram, born on 13 September 1825, became a barrister and married Mary Anne Pomeroy, the daughter of the 5th Viscount Harberton (1790–1862). Their sons Sir Henry Francis Wigram (1857–1934) and William Arthur Wigram were notable business men in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

.Henry Francis Wigram
at The Peerage, retrieved 28 February 2011

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wigram, Octavius 1794 births 1878 deaths Insurance underwriters People from Walthamstow British businesspeople in shipping Westminster Dragoons officers Younger sons of baronets 19th-century British businesspeople