Sir William Agnew, 1st Baronet (20 October 1825 – 31 October 1910) was an English politician and art dealer.

Thomas Agnew & Sons Thomas Agnew & Sons is a fine arts dealer in London that began life as part of in a print and publishing partnership with Vittore Zanetti in Manchester in 1817 which ended in 1835, when Agnew took full control of the company. The firm opened its Lo ...

, his London art business in

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

flourished as one of the leading art dealerships in London from 1860, until it closed in April 2013, still with the Agnew family involved, and still known as "Agnew's Gallery", or more informally "Agnew's".Press release on closure

Agnews gallery's website, 2011
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Career

In the middle of the 1860s, Agnew and his brother Thomas provided much needed financial backing to the publishing firm Bradbury and Evans, becoming partners in the business. Agnew became a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

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 ...

, first for South East Lancashire between 1880 and 1885 and later for

Stretford Stretford is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It is situated on flat ground between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal, south of Manchester city centre, south of Salford and north-east of Altrincham. Str ...

from 1885 to 1886. He was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

, of Great Stanhope Street, London, in 1895. He bought the Rougham estates in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, England, in 1904.

Family

He was the son of Thomas Agnew (1794–1871) and his wife Jane Garnet Lockett. On 25 March 1851, he married Mary Kenworthy (before 1836 – 2 September 1892), a daughter of George Pixton Kenworthy. Their children were: *Mary Caroline Agnew, died 2 February 1888 *Florence Agnew, died 2 September 1890 * Sir George William Agnew, 2nd Baronet (19 January 1852 – 19 December 1941) * Charles Morland Agnew (14 December 1855 – 23 May 1931) *Walter Agnew (29 April 1861 – 17 April 1915) *Philip Leslie Agnew (30 June 1863 – 5 March 1938) Agnew's present-day descendants include Sir John Keith Agnew, 6th Baronet, of Rougham, and John Stuart Agnew, a parliamentary candidate of the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...

Notes

References

* * Charles Mosley, ed., ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage'', 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, pages 42–44

External links

*
Sir William Agnew, 1st Baronet, at ThePeerage.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agnew, William 1825 births 1910 deaths

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs 1885–1886