Sir Thomas Salt, 1st Baronet (12 May 1830 – 8 April 1904), was a British banker and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

politician.

Career

His grandfather John Stevenson Salt, (

High Sheriff of Staffordshire This is a list of the sheriffs and high sheriffs of Staffordshire. The sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. The sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities ass ...

in 1838), married Sarah Stevenson, the granddaughter of John Stevenson, founder in 1737 of a banking company in Stafford. Salt became a partner in the firm of Stevenson Salt & Co which had opened in Cheapside, London in 1788 and which in 1867 merged with Bosanquet & Co and later with Lloyds Banking Company. Salt went on to be a director, and later chairman, of Lloyds from 1884 to 1896. He was also chairman, from 1883 to 1904, of the

North Staffordshire Railway The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire. The company was based i ...

. He was also chair of the

New Zealand Midland Railway Company The New Zealand Midland Railway Company partially constructed the Midland line between Christchurch and Greymouth and the Nelson railway in the South Island. It was one of the few private railway companies in New Zealand, and it did not match th ...

in 1889. He was returned to Parliament for

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...

in 1859, a seat he held until 1865, and again from 1869 to 1880, 1881 to 1885 and 1886 to 1892. From January 1876 to April 1880, he was

Parliamentary Secretary to the Local Government Board A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

, a junior post, in the second ministry of

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...

's government. In 1899 he was created a Baronet, of Standon, and of Weeping Cross in the County of Stafford. His estates included Baswich House, built by his father in 1850, and Standon Hall, which his son later rebuilt in 1901. He died in April 1904, aged 73.

Personal life

His youngest son was a major-general in the army, and his uncle was the banker

William Salt William Salt (29 October 1808 – 6 December 1863) was a British banker in London, England, and a genealogist and antiquary in whose memory the William Salt Library in Stafford was founded. Life Salt's father, John Stevenson Salt (High Sh ...

, after whom the

William Salt Library The William Salt Library is a library and archive, in Stafford, Staffordshire, England. Supported by Staffordshire County Council, it is a registered charity, administered by an independent trust in conjunction with the Staffordshire & Stoke-o ...

at Stafford is named. His granddaughter was the diplomat Dame

Barbara Salt Dame Barbara Salt, (30 September 1904 – 28 December 1975) was a British diplomat. Salt was born in Oroville, California to Reginald Salt, an English banker and his wife, Maud, who returned to England not long after her birth. She was the gra ...

, DBE .

Arms

Notes

References

* ''Handbook of London Bankers'' F. G. Hilton Price (1970) Google Books. History of Stevenson Salt & Co * Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Salt, Sir Thomas, 1st Baronet 1830 births 1904 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Stafford UK MPs 1859–1865 UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs 1886–1892 English bankers 19th-century English businesspeople Church Estates Commissioners