William Manning (1 December 1763 – 17 April 1835) was a British merchant, politician, and

Governor of the Bank of England The governor of the Bank of England is the most senior position in the Bank of England. It is nominally a civil service post, but the appointment tends to be from within the bank, with the incumbent grooming their successor. The governor of the Ba ...

Biography

Manning was the son of West India merchant William Coventry Manning and Elizabeth Ryan. Manning's sister Martha married

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

patriot

John Laurens John Laurens (October 28, 1754 – August 27, 1782) was an American soldier and statesman from Province of South Carolina, South Carolina during the American Revolutionary War, best known for his criticism of slavery and his efforts to help recr ...

. Manning joined his father's firm, taking control after his father's death in 1791. He was elected a Director of the Bank of England from 1792 to 1831 and its

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

between 1812 and 1814, having served as its Deputy Governor from 1810 to 1812. He worked as a merchant in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, acting as agent for St Vincent (1792-1806) and for Grenada (1825-1831). He also invested in the

Australian Agricultural Company The Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) () is a public-listed Australian company that, as at 2018, owned and operated feedlots and farms covering around of land in Queensland and the Northern Territory, roughly one percent of Australia's la ...

, becoming its Deputy Governor in 1826, and was president of the London Life Assurance from 1817 to 1830. The

Manning River Manning River (Birpai language, Biripi: ''Boolumbahtee''), an open and Breakwater (structure), trained mature wind wave, wave dominated estuary#Lagoon-type or bar-built, barrier estuary, is located in the Northern Tablelands and Mid North Coast ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

was named in his honour. Around the same time, he and several other merchants lobbied Secretary for Colonies

William Huskisson William Huskisson (11 March 177015 September 1830) was a British statesman, financier, and Member of Parliament for several constituencies, including Liverpool. He is commonly known as the world's first widely reported railway passenger casu ...

for exclusive trading rights with New Zealand. A "William Mannings" is listed as a director of the

New Zealand Company The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model focused on the systematic colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principl ...

in 1825, a venture chaired by the wealthy John George Lambton, Whig MP (and later 1st

Earl of Durham Earl of Durham is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1833 for the Whig politician and colonial official John Lambton, 1st Baron Durham. Known as "Radical Jack", he played a leading role in the passing of the Gre ...

), that made the first attempt to colonise New Zealand. Between 1794 and 1830 he served almost continuously as a

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 ...

in turn for

Evesham Evesham () is a market town and parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. It lies within the Vale of Evesha ...

Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...

and Penryn. He was a prominent slave owner and member of the

West India Committee The West India Committee is a British-based organisation promoting ties and trade with the British Caribbean. It operates as a charity and NGO (non-governmental organisation). It evolved out of a lobbying group formed in 1780 to represent the inter ...

. He was active politically trying to prevent the

abolition of slavery Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

Personal life

He married twice; firstly Elizabeth, daughter of banker Abel Smith of Nottingham, with whom he had 2 daughters and secondly Mary, daughter of barrister Henry Lannoy Hunter of Beech Hill, Reading, Berkshire with whom he had 4 sons and 4 daughters. He inherited

Copped Hall, Totteridge The Manor of Copped Hall (or Coppeed Hall) was located to the south of St Andrews church in Totteridge, Hertfordshire, in an area that is now part of the London Borough of Barnet. Early history The early history of the manor is uncertain but ...

, Hertfordshire, where his second wife Mary Hunter re-designed the grounds, probably with the advice of

Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of ...

, damming the

Folly Brook Folly Brook is a long brook in the London Borough of Barnet. It is a tributary of Dollis Brook, which is a tributary of the River Brent, which is a tributary of the River Thames. Folly Brook is lined for most of its length by narrow strips of wo ...

to create the ornamental Darland's Lake. Combe Bank School, Sundridge - geograph

After the death of

Lord Frederick Campbell Lord Frederick Campbell (20 June 1729 – 8 June 1816) was a Scottish nobleman and politician. He was lord clerk register of Scotland, 1768–1816; Member of parliament, Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Burghs (UK Parliament constituency), G ...

in 1816, he bought Combe Bank near Sevenoaks, Kent from Campbell's daughter. However, he got into financial difficulties in the 1820s and had to declare himself bankrupt in 1831. He was forced to resign from the Bank of England, sell his estates and move to a smaller property in Gower Street, London. William Manning died at Gower Street in 1835 and was buried at Sundridge, Kent. One son, Henry Manning,Henry Edward Manning, Catholic Encyclopedia
/ref> was ordained as an Anglican clergyman and became a leader of the

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...

, later converting to Catholicism and becoming the

Archbishop of Westminster The Archbishop of Westminster heads the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster, in England. The incumbent is the metropolitan of the Province of Westminster, chief metropolitan of England and Wales and, as a matter of custom, is elected presid ...

in 1865.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Manning, William 1763 births 1835 deaths Deputy Governors of the Bank of England Governors of the Bank of England West Indies merchants Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Plympton Erle British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Penryn UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 UK MPs 1812–1818 UK MPs 1818–1820 UK MPs 1820–1826 UK MPs 1826–1830 People associated with King's College London Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Lymington British slave owners Tory MPs (pre-1834)