Sir Charles Asgill, 1st Baronet
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Sir Charles Asgill, 1st Baronet (17 March 1714 – 15 September 1788), merchant banker, was the third son of Henry Asgill, silkman, of
St Clement Danes St Clement Danes is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London. It is situated outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand. Although the first church on the site was reputedly founded in the 9th century by the Danes, the current ...
,
Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
and was educated at
Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...
.


Asgill's Bank

Apprenticed to the banking house of William Pepys & Co. he later became a partner in the firm of Vere and Asgill, bankers of Lombard Street in 1740. In the early 1700s private banks operated from private houses. The first purpose-built bank in the City was Asgills at 70 Lombard Street, designed by Robert Taylor in 1757 (demolished in 1915), which set a pattern from there on in. Asgill’s Bank traces its origins to the goldsmithing business of Glegg & Vere, formed in Lombard Street, London, in about 1730. When Glegg died, Joseph Vere took Charles Asgill into partnership and the firm was renamed Vere & Asgill in 1740. Vere left the partnership in 1753, when he became senior partner in the new bank of Vere, Glyn & Hallifax. The firm was known as Sir Charles Asgill, Nightingale & Wickenden in 1765; Asgill, Nightingale & Nightingale in 1775. It became John, William & George Nightingale in 1789, the year after Asgill’s death. In 1791 the name of John Nightingale disappeared from the firm, and the business was conducted by William and George Nightingale until 1796, when it became extinct, having probably suspended payment during the great panic. In 1797 the premises, at 70 Lombard Street, were acquired by
Pelican and British Empire Life Insurance Company Pelican and British Empire Life Insurance Company was a British life insurance company. It was established in 1797 by Phoenix Fire Office, Phoenix Assurance as the Pelican Life Office, later the Pelican Life Assurance Company, before merging with Br ...
.


Civic duties

Asgill was Alderman of Candlewick Ward (1749–1771) and was also Master of the
Skinners Company The Worshipful Company of Skinners (known as The Skinners' Company) is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. It was originally an association of those engaged in the trade of skins and furs. It was granted Royal Charter in 1327 ...
(1749), a Governor of Bridewell Royal Hospital (1743–1750), where his friend, the banker Sir Richard Glyn, was President. Sheriff of the City of London (1753) and
Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...
(1757–1758). Possibly with a view to Asgill’s noted disapproval of the war with America in mind, Patience Wright wrote, in a letter to
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
, sometime after 7 March 1777: "A letter to Sir Charl Asgall on the afairs of stocks, a Letter from The Emperor fGermany or Some truths Properly Stated to the alldmen in London And a Letter to Ld. Temple or G rge Germain would at this time have a blessed good effect". Wright (1725 – 1786) was a sculptor of
wax figures A wax sculpture is a depiction made using a waxy substance. Often these are effigies, usually of a notable individual, but there are also death masks and scenes with many figures, mostly in relief. The properties of beeswax make it an excell ...
, and the first recognized American-born sculptor. An avowed patriot, she is known to have corresponded with Benjamin Franklin during the war, sending letters reporting on the health of his illegitimate son,
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 ...
and advocating on behalf of American prisoners of war in England. Asgill 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 ...
on 17 April 1761


Commissions given to Robert Taylor

Sir Robert Taylor, the sculptor and architect who designed
Asgill House Richmond Place, now known as Asgill House, is a Grade I listed 18th-century Palladian villa on Old Palace Lane in Richmond, London (historically in Surrey), overlooking the River Thames. The house is on the former site of the river frontage and ...
(on part of the former site of Richmond Palace) designed this for him as a weekend and holiday villa, his London residence being in Portman Square. Taylor also designed the Lord Mayor’s State Coach, still in use today, and this was built for Asgill's inauguration in 1757. His bank in Lombard Street was also designed by Taylor. The ''Oxford Journal'' states that Asgill's Portman Square home: "sold...for 13,000l" in 1812 £948,388 in 2021 and it had been "built by Sir Robert Taylor for Sir Charles Asgill, and, except the Richmond Villa for the same Sir Charles, was one of the prettiest he ever built." Asgill also occupied 15 St James's Square from 1768–73, which had been altered by Taylor for
Peter du Cane Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...
. A 1930s building, which replaced this original home, was converted into office space and residential duplex apartments. The three duplexes created were named after the historic owners of this property: Timbrell, Asgill and Alban. When Taylor attended Asgill’s funeral on 21 September 1788 at
St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange St. Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange was a church and parish in the City of London located on Bartholomew Lane, off Threadneedle Street. Recorded since the 13th century, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, then rebuilt by ...
, London, (demolished in 1840), he caught a chill and died six days later, on 27 September 1788.


Family life

Asgill married (1st) Hannah Vanderstegen on 16 June 1752, and, following her death in 1754, he married (2nd) Sarah Theresa Pratviel, on 12 December 1755.
Katherine Mayo Katherine Mayo (January 27, 1867 – October 9, 1940) was an American historian and nativist. Mayo entered the public sphere as a political writer advocating American nativism, opposition to non-white and Catholic immigration to the United Sta ...
states that "Asgill’s character showed the Westminster hallmark. A man of staunch intellectual honesty and breadth of mind, he was open of heart and hand wherever his sympathies were touched. In politics he was a militant Whig. His resentment of the attitude of King and Ministry towards the American Colonies amounted to a passion; and he refused a peerage offered him, it was said, in the hope of shifting his influence. In his marriage he was fortunate. nown as SarahTheresa Pratviel was the daughter of a wealthy French Huguenot émigré. Sparkling with energy and imagination and noted for her charm, she shared her husband's humanitarian and political ideas; and the two enjoyed as household friends some of the first Whig lights of the day— statesmen, publicists, men of letters".


Death and legacy

The dance tune, "Asgill's Rant", was composed at the end of the
British credit crisis of 1772-1773 British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
, when Asgill was 59 years old. Due to the fact that the British were forced to introduce controversial legislation for the colonies, in an attempt to remedy the crisis, this then became one of the causes of 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 ...
."Tea and Antipathy"
''American Heritage''
Asgill's obituary in the ''Gentleman's Magazine'' stated that "he was a strong instance of what may be effected even by moderate abilities, when united with strict integrity, industry and irreproachable character." Asgill, who died leaving a large fortune, was succeeded by his only son
Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet General Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet, (6 April 1762 – 23 July 1823) was a career soldier in the British Army. Asgill enjoyed a long military career, eventually rising to the rank of general. He is best remembered as the principal of the so ...
, a general in the Army. Asgill also had five daughters, only two, (Amelia Angelina Colvile and Caroline Augusta Legge) still living at the time of the death of his widow, Dame Sarah Asgill, on 6 June 1816. Dame Sarah was well known for her intervention with the French court of King
Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
, pleading for the release of their son from execution in 1782, as a consequence of the
Asgill Affair The Asgill Affair was an event that occurred towards the end of the American Revolution. As a result of ongoing murders taking place between the Patriot and Loyalist factions, retaliatory measures were then taken by General George Washington again ...
.


References


Sources

* Corporation of London Record Office: :* City Freedom papers for June 1737 for Charles Asgill; :* A. B. Beaven, ''The Aldermen of the City of London;'' *
Skinners' Company The Worshipful Company of Skinners (known as The Skinners' Company) is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. It was originally an association of those engaged in the trade of skins and furs. It was granted Royal Charter in 1327 ...
Freedom Admissions 1724–1764; * Burke, ''Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies''; * G. E. Cokayne, ''Complete Baronetage''; * ''Musgrave's Obituaries''; * ''Boyd's London Burials'' ''1538-1853.'' * Bridewell Royal Hospital: Minutes of Court of Governors.


Further reading


External links


Asgill's bank at 70 Lombard Street

''Charles Asgill - setting the record straight''
in Family Tree, on 7 March 2022. {{DEFAULTSORT:Asgill, Charles, 1st Baronet 1714 births 1788 deaths People educated at Westminster School, London Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain Sheriffs of the City of London 18th-century lord mayors of London