Peter Holford (c.1720–1804) was an English barrister. He was a master in chancery from 1750 and a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Background

He was the eldest son of Robert Holford (1686–1753) and his wife Sarah Vandeput, and grandson of Sir Richard Holford, master in chancery, and his second wife Elizabeth Stayner, daughter of Sir Richard Stayner RN. The Holfords were chancery lawyers and landowners. Sir Richard Holford (died 1719) left an estate valued at £47,000. He was married three times, and had sons by each marriage. He bought the manor of Avebury from the heirs of John Stawell, 2nd Baron Stawell, who died in 1692. It went to Samuel, son of his third wife Susanna Trotman. On his death in 1730 it went to Richard, son of Sir Richard's son by his first marriage, to Sarah Crew(e), who died in 1742. It passed on to his brother Staynor Holford, who died in 1767. It then was bequeathed out of the Holford family. Robert Holford took advantage of the situation in 1742 to acquire from Richard the younger a farm at Beckhampton in lieu of a debt repayment. Distrust remained in the family.

John Habakkuk Sir Hrothgar John Habakkuk (13 May 1915 – 3 November 2002) was a British economic historian. Biography Habakkuk was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, the son of Evan and Anne Habakkuk. He was named "Hrothgar" after Hroðgar in ''Beow ...

, citing the Holfords as an example, wrote:

Where the main line of a family in successive generations combined estate ownership with an active and remunerative career, a landed family could become very wealthy because of the opportunities of gain enjoyed ../blockquote> The Westonbirt estate in Gloucestershire, a significant legacy of the Holford family, was an acquisition at the time of Sir Richard's first marriage. Westonbirt village was the scene in 1716 of a
rough music Charivari (, , , alternatively spelled shivaree or chivaree and also called a skimmington) was a European and North American folk custom in which a mock parade was staged through a community accompanied by a discordant mock serenade. Since the cr ...
incident that was homophobic, but also anti-clerical and directed against Holford as lord of the manor. Robert Holford continued his father's enclosure of land there in the 18th century.

Life
Peter Holford was educated at Westminster School, and matriculated at
St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...
in 1736. He entered
Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...
in 1735, and was
called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
in 1740. He became a master in chancery in 1750, as replacement for his father. Holford was elected to the Royal Society in 1747 (N.S.), and belonged to a dining club within it that met in house on The Strand, with a membership in which physicians predominated, and including Henry Cavendish. In 1753 Holford took over the position of Governor of the New River Company, previously held by his father. Growth of London's population and industries in the later 18th century made the company very profitable. In 1770 Holford laid the foundation stone for its new offices in
Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...
, on what had been the site of the
Dorset Garden Theatre The Dorset Garden Theatre in London, built in 1671, was in its early years also known as the Duke of York's Theatre, or the Duke's Theatre. In 1685, King Charles II died and his brother, the Duke of York, was crowned as James II. When the D ...
. An obituary notice in 1804 stated that Peter Holford had remained Governor until recently; and had died "immensely rich''.

Family
Holford married Anne Nutt, daughter of William Nutt of Buxted. They had two sons and two daughters: * Robert Holford, died unmarried 1838. *
George Peter Holford George Peter Holford (1767–1839) was an English barrister, politician and author. With a short break 1806–7, he was a Tory Member of Parliament from 1803 to 1826, for a number of constituencies. Holford was an advocate of prison reform. Early ...
, father of Robert Stayner Holford. * Sarah, married as his second wife Sir Charles Grave Hudson, 1st Baronet. * Charlotte, married in 1796
Charles Bosanquet Charles Bosanquet (23 July 1769 – 20 June 1850) was an English colonial official and writer. Life He was born at Forest House, Essex, the second son of Samuel Bosanquet and Eleanor Hunter. He was educated at Newcome's School and then in Switz ...
.

Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holford, Charles 1804 deaths English barristers Fellows of the Royal Society Year of birth uncertain