Sir James Esdaile

Sir James Esdaile ( – ) was an English banker who served as the

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

in 1777. His grandfather was a French nobleman and

Huguenot 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 Be ...

from the

De l'Estoile family The family de l'Estoile (also spelled as l'Etoile, l'Estoille and Lestoille) was a French family, whose members were noted for their activities in the Safavid Empire (1501-1736). The first known member of the family that moved to Iran was Isaac B ...

who fled from the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. ...

in an attempt to avoid persecution by

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

. Esdaile also served as sheriff of London in 1767. His daughter, Louisa married the politician

Benjamin Hammet Sir Benjamin Hammet (''c.'' 173622 July 1800) was an English businessman, banker and politician, who served as Member of Parliament from Taunton (1782–1800), and as High Sheriff of London. Contemporary accounts state that he was a footman, s ...

, who subsequently became a protege of Esdaile's. In 1781, he took Hammet into his banking firm, which became known as 'Esdaile and Hammet'. Esdaile died in 1793. 1714 births 1793 deaths Sheriffs of the City of London 18th-century lord mayors of London {{Lord-Mayor-of-London-stub