Joshua Bates (October 10, 1788 – September 24, 1864) was an American international

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

who divided his life between the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

Early life

Bates was born in Commercial St.,

Weymouth, Massachusetts ("To Work Is to Conquer") , image_map = Norfolk County Massachusetts incorporated and unincorporated areas Weymouth highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in Norfolk County in Massa ...

on October 10, 1788. He was the son of Col. Joshua Bates (1755–1804), who fought in the

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 ...

, and Tirzah (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Pratt) Bates (1764–1841). After his father's death in 1804, his mother remarried to Ebenezer Hunt (1760–1832) in 1808. His sister, Nancy Bates, was married to Capt. Warren Weston, the mother of

abolitionist 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 ...

Maria Weston Chapman Maria Weston Chapman (July 25, 1806 – July 12, 1885) was an American abolitionist. She was elected to the executive committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1839 and from 1839 until 1842, she served as editor of the anti-slavery journ ...

(who Bates paid for her education in London). His paternal grandparents were Abraham Bates and Sarah (née Tower) Bates.

Career

Early in his career, he worked for William Gray, owner of Gray's Wharf in Charlestown. A merchant and a banker, in 1828 Bates became associated with the great house of Baring Brothers & Co. of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, of which he eventually became the senior partner. He was arbitrator of the commission convened in 1853 to settle the claims of American citizens arising from the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...

. In 1852, he founded the

Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonwea ...

by giving $50,000 for that purpose (), with the provision that the interest of the money should be expended for books of permanent value, and that the city should make adequate provision for at least 100 readers. He afterward gave 30,000 volumes to the institution, the main hall ("Bates Hall") of which is named after him. Bates was prominent among expatriate Americans in London in the years before and during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

, including diplomats Charles Francis Adams and

Henry Adams Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian and a member of the Adams political family, descended from two U.S. Presidents. As a young Harvard graduate, he served as secretary to his father, Charles Fran ...

, and was active in support of the Union cause. As a patron of the arts he commissioned canvases from

Thomas Cole Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist and the founder of the Hudson River School art movement. Cole is widely regarded as the first significant American landscape painter. He was known for his romantic landscape and history painti ...

, including a nostalgic view of Boston,Boston Beheld: Antique Town and Country Views By D. Brenton Simons for his house in Portland Place. The house he built for his daughter and son-in-law, New Lodge, was near Windsor. As the representative of her uncle Leopold I of Belgium, also an uncle of Albert of Saxe Coburg Gotha, Sylvain and his charming American wife were popular with Victoria and her court.

Personal life

Bates married Lucretia Augusta Sturgis (1787–1863); she was the first cousin of Captain

William Sturgis William Sturgis (February 25, 1782 – October 21, 1863) was a Boston merchant in the China trade, the California hide trade and the maritime fur trade. Early life Sturgis was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, to Hannah Mills and William ...

and of Nathaniel Russell Sturgis, both of Boston. Together, they were the parents of: * William Rufus Gray Bates (1815–1834), who died young. * Elizabeth Anne Sturgis Bates (1817–1878), who married Belgian Prime Minister

Sylvain Van de Weyer Jean-Sylvain Van de Weyer (19 January 1802 – 23 May 1874) was a Belgian politician who served as the Belgian Minister at the Court of St. James's, effectively the ambassador to the United Kingdom, and briefly, as the prime minister of Belgium ...

. Bates died on September 24, 1864. He was buried at

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederick ...

in the London Borough of Brent in England.

Descendants

Through his daughter Elizabeth, he was the grandfather of seven, including Eleanor Van de Weyer, who married

Reginald Baliol Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher Reginald Baliol Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher, (30 June 1852 – 22 January 1930) was an historian and Liberal politician in the United Kingdom, although his greatest influence over military and foreign affairs was as a courtier, member of public c ...

(their daughter,

Sylvia Brett Sylvia Leonora, Lady Brooke, Ranee of Sarawak (born ''The Hon. Sylvia Leonora Brett'', 25 February 1885 – 11 November 1971), was an English aristocrat who became the consort to Sir Charles Vyner de Windt Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak, the last of ...

, married Charles Vyner de Windt Brooke, and became the last Rani of

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

); Alice Emma Sturgis van de Weyer, married the Hon. Charles Brand (4th son of

Henry Brand, 1st Viscount Hampden Henry Bouverie William Brand, 1st Viscount Hampden (24 December 181414 March 1892), was a British Liberal politician. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1872 to 1884. Background and education Brand was the second son of General ...

Image gallery

File:Joshua Bates, Boston Public Library.jpg, Portrait bust of Bates, in Boston Public Library File:USA Boston Public Library 1 MA.jpg, Bates Hall, McKim building, Boston Public Library, named in Bates' honour File:Boston Public Library Bates Hall Reading Room & Clocks, From The Government Documents Office (Boston, MA).jpg, Bates Hall, McKim building, Boston Public Library File:MadameVanderWeyer.JPG, _{Bates's only daughter Elizabeth, wife to the Belgian minister Sylvain Van de Weyer

Jean-Sylvain Van de Weyer (19 January 1802 – 23 May 1874) was a Belgian politician who served as the Belgian Minister at the Court of St. James's, effectively the ambassador to the United Kingdom, and briefly, as the prime minister of Belgium ...
. Engraving after a portrait by Thomas Sully

Thomas Sully (June 19, 1783November 5, 1872) was a portrait painter in the United States. Born in Great Britain, he lived most of his life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He painted in the style of Thomas Lawrence. His subjects included nation ...}

Notes

References

* * *

Publications

Tribute of Boston merchants to the memory of Joshua Bates
October, 1864. *
Memorial of Joshua Bates
' (Boston, 1865)
Persuading John Bull: Union and Confederate Propaganda in Britain, 1860–65

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Joshua (financier) 1788 births 1864 deaths People from Weymouth, Massachusetts American bankers American autobiographers American expatriates in the United Kingdom Businesspeople from Boston 19th-century American people Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery People associated with the Boston Public Library 19th-century American philanthropists 19th-century American businesspeople