William Moffat (7 March 1737 – 12 January 1822) was an English banker, merchant and politician. He was involved in several banking partnerships in London, and was also a merchant. By 1790 he lived in

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

, and in 1799 he bought the

Painshill Painshill (also referred to as "Pains Hill" in some 19th-century texts), near Cobham, Surrey, Cobham, Surrey, England, is one of the finest remaining examples of an 18th-century English Landscape garden, landscape park. It was designed and created ...

estate in Surrey, but sold it a few years later and lived in

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

. In 1811, as a managing owner of

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

ships, his business address is given as 27, Nicholas Lane.Hardy, Charles
''A Register of Ships, Employed in the Service of the Honorable the United East India Company From the Year 1760 to 1810''
1811 In 1819, it is 21, Birchin Lane. He was elected at the 1802 general election 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 ...

(MP) for the

rotten borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorat ...

Winchelsea Winchelsea () is a small town in the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex, England, located between the High Weald and the Romney Marsh, approximately south west of Rye and north east of Hastings. Th ...

in Sussex, but was not re-elected in

1806 Events January–March * January 1 ** The French Republican Calendar is abolished. ** The Kingdom of Bavaria is established by Napoleon. * January 5 – The body of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, lies in state in the Painted Hall ...

. According to ''Hansard'' he made no contributions as an MP.

East India Company Ships

William Moffat is listed as the owner of ships sailing on behalf of the

from 1781 to 1833. Many sailed from

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, to destinations including India and China. The ''Supplement to a Register of Ships Employed in the Service of the ... East India Company from 1760 to the Conclusion of the Commercial Charter'', 1835Hardy, Charles,
Supplement to a Register of Ships Employed in the Service of the ... East India Company from 1760 to the Conclusion of the Commercial Charter
', 1835 lists ships owned by William Moffat after he died in 1822. The majority of his estate went to his son, William Moffat, Jnr. The ''Supplement'' lists a company associated with the ''Winchelsea'' and ''Charles Grant'': Messrs Moffat and Burnie. William Burnie was surgeon on some of William Moffat's ships and one of the executors of William Moffat's will.

Family

William Moffat's parents were John Moffat (1676–1742)Clan Moffat Genealogy:
William Moffat 1737 - 1822
/ref> and Margaret Moffat née Inglis. He married Elizabeth Bowland (c1737-1791), c1766. She died on 13 January 1791. On 31 December 1795, he married Elizabeth Harington (1771–1843). He had three children by his first wife, Elizabeth Bowland: Elizabeth Moffat (1771–1799), William Moffat, Jnr (1774–1851) and Margaret Thorold Moffat (1775–1794). He was buried in

Bath Abbey The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is a parish church of the Church of England and former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England. Founded in the 7th century, it was reorganised in the 10th ...

on 21 January 1822.

Family Tree

This only shows members of the family discussed below.

William Moffat, Jnr (1774–1851)

William Moffat, Jnr married twice: Ann Palmer (c1774-1805), daughter of Charles Palmer of Thurnscoe Hall in 1797 and, in 1807, Jane Wheatley (1783–1858)Clan Moffat Genealogy
William Moffat 1774 - 1851
/ref> In all, he had 19 (possibly 21) children. Many are mentioned in William Moffat, MP's will.William Moffat's will
in ''Reports of Cases Argued and Determined In The Courts Of Exchequer & Exchequer Chamber...'', 1830. He died on 25 August 1851 in Weymouth and was buried in Mortlake on 2 September 1851. All his children from 1814 to 1824 were born in Mortlake, Surrey. Surrey Land Tax records list William Moffat at Mortlake, from 1813 to 1831. The property details show him renting a "Large house and garden, coach house and stable" and "a meadow opposite the house". There are memorials to the Moffat family in St Mary the Virgin, Mortlake. In 1826,

J M W Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbule ...

exhibited a painting, "The Seat of William Moffatt Esq., at Mortlake. Early (Summer’s) Morning" William Moffat's eldest son, William Palmer Moffat (1797–1833) married Frances Pearson (c1797-1868), daughter of William Pearson (1767–1847), one of the founders of the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NGO ...

. William Palmer Moffat sailed on the

East Indiaman East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...

''Duke of York'', 31 December 1817 – 4 May 1819, (Bombay and China). He married Frances Pearson on 2 June 1819.Clan Moffat Genealogy
William Palmer Moffat 1797 - 1833
/ref> He died in

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

in January 1833.

Captain William Moffat (1774–1850)

Voyages of ships owned by William Moffat, with William Moffat as captain. Because Captain William Moffat sailed on

ships owned by William Moffat, MP, there has been some confusion, sometimes resulting in them being thought to be one person. In fact, they were uncle and nephew. As stated above, William Moffat, MP's father was John Moffat (1676–1742). The memorial in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

(below) shows that Captain William Moffat's father was James Moffat (1733–1788). Captain William Moffat was born on 5 April 1774,Clan Moffat Genealogy:
William Moffat 1774 - 1850
/ref> in Rochester, Kent. He was the son of William Moffat, MP's brother, James, who died in India in 1788. William Moffat erected a memorial to James Moffat, and James' brother John, in

South Park Street Cemetery South Park Street Cemetery is located on Mother Teresa Sarani, Central Kolkata, India. The road used to be called Park Street, and prior to that Burial Ground Road. History The Park Street Cemetery was one of the earliest non-church cemeter ...

in 1800 while Captain of the ''Phoenix''. The ship sailed from

Torbay Torbay is a borough and unitary authority in Devon, south west England. It is governed by Torbay Council and consists of of land, including the resort towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, located on east-facing Tor Bay, part of Lyme ...

on 27 May 1800 and returned to moorings on 11 June 1802.Hardy, Charles
''A Register of Ships, Employed in the Service of the Honorable the United East India Company, from the Year 1760 to 1819''
3rd Edition, 1820. At the time, the ''Phoenix'' was owned by William Moffat, MP. He married Sarah Money on 23 December 1811 in Walthamstow, Essex. ''The Naval Chronicle'': listed their marriage: "Captain William Moffat, of the Hon. Company's ship, Winchelsea, to Miss Sarah Money, daughter of the late William Money, Esq.". The Money Brothers

Sarah Money was the sister of

William Taylor Money Sir William Taylor Money (1769 – April 1834) was an English naval captain in the East India Company, superintendent of the Bombay Marine and MP in the British Parliament. Early life He was the eldest son of Captain William Money of Wood End H ...

(1769–1834). William Taylor Money sailed on William Moffat MP's ship twice: on her first voyage, from 21 February 1787 to 22 June 1788, as 4th Mate and her second voyage, from 6 March 1789 to 26 April 1790, as 2nd Mate. ''Rose'' is in the background of the painting ''The Money Brothers'' by

John Francis Rigaud John Francis Rigaud (18 May 1742 – 6 December 1810) was an eighteenth-century history, portrait, and decorative painter. Of French descent, he was born in Turin and spent most of his career in England. Early life Rigaud was born in Turin on ...

, now at the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the United ...

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

. William Moffat died on 14 September 1850, in Kensington, Middlesex.

Captain William Moffat - Memorials

Harington family

William Moffat's second wife, Elizabeth Harington (1771–1843) had two brothers: James Eyre Harington (1774–1836) and Thomas Talbot Harington (1780–1841). James Eyre Harington was Purser on William Moffat's ship the ''Ganges'' on a voyage to St Helena, Bencoolen and China from 5 June 1797 to 10 February 1799. He married Captain William Moffat's sister, Margaret Moffat on 12 December 1799. He was rector of Sapcote, Leicester and Chalbury, Dorset. He was one of the executors of William Moffat's will in 1822. Thomas Talbot Harington (1780–1841) was one of the captains on William Moffat's ships. After the

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

was lost in May 1807, Captain William Moffat wrote to William Moffat, MP requesting that Thomas Talbot Harington be paid for the voyage.''Proceedings Relative to Ships Tendered for the Service of the United East-India Company, from the Second July, 1806, to the Twenty- Seventh September, 1809: With an Appendix.
p3850
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moffat, William 1737 births 1822 deaths English bankers People from Bloomsbury People from Wimbledon, London Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1802–1806