Richard Twining (1749–1824) was an English

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

, a director of the

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

, and the head of

Twinings Twinings () is a British marketeer of tea and other beverages, including coffee, hot chocolate, and malt drinks, based in Andover, Hampshire. The brand is owned by Associated British Foods. It holds the world's oldest continually used company ...

the

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

merchants in the

Strand, London The Strand (commonly referred to with a leading "The", but formally without) is a major street in the City of Westminster, Central London. The street, which is part of London's West End Theatre, West End theatreland, runs just over from Tra ...

Life

Richard Twining was one of three sons of Daniel Twining; his mother was

Mary Twining Mary Twining (1726–1804), née Little, led Twinings, the tea company, from 1763 to 1782, after the death of her husband, Daniel Twining. Her sons, Richard Twining and John Twining, eventually took over the company from her. Today, Twinings ...

, née Little, Daniel's second wife. Richard was born at

Devereux Court Devereux Court, a street in the City of Westminster located just south of the Strand and east of Essex Street, is completely pedestrianised. This narrow lane is lined with well-preserved seventeenth-century buildings. The court's distinctive ...

in 1749, and educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

. He entered the

tea business at the age of fourteen with his mother after the death of his father in 1762, and succeeded to sole management in 1782 (joined later by his brother John). He participated in the major development of the tea trade caused by the operation of Commutation Act in 1784–6, during the drafting of which

William Pitt the Younger William Pitt (28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806) was a British statesman who served as the last prime minister of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain from 1783 until the Acts of Union 1800, and then first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, p ...

repeatedly consulted him. Twinings London April 2006 088

In 1793 Twining was elected a director of the East India Company. He had published three papers of ''Remarks'' on the tea trade of the company, and one of his first acts was to carry a self-denying motion prohibiting directors from trading with India; he took a prominent part in the affairs of the court until his resignation in 1816 in consequence of poor health. Twining was a traveller, and his tours on the continent and in England formed the subject of journals and letters to his half-brother Thomas, extracts from which were published by his grandson Richard Twining in 1887, as ''Selections from Papers of the Twining Family''. He died on 23 April 1824.

Family

By his marriage, in 1771, to Mary Aldred of Norwich, Twining had six sons and four daughters. The eldest son, Richard Twining (1772–1857), born on 5 May 1772 at Devereux Court, Strand, was educated under

Samuel Parr Samuel Parr (26 January 1747 – 6 March 1825), was an English schoolmaster, writer, minister and Doctor of Law. He was known in his time for political writing, and (flatteringly) as "the Whig Johnson", though his reputation has lasted less wel ...

Norwich grammar school Norwich School (formally King Edward VI Grammar School, Norwich) is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private selective day school in the cathedral close, close of Norwich Cathedral, Norwich. Among the List of the oldest schools in the ...

, and in 1794 entered the tea business, where he worked until within five weeks of his death on 14 October 1857. He was appointed chairman of the committee of by-laws at

East India House East India House was the London headquarters of the East India Company, from which much of Company rule in India, British India was governed until the British government took control of the company's possessions in India in 1858. It was locate ...

, and, carrying on the scholarly habits of his father and uncle, was an old member of the

Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

and a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

. By his marriage to Elizabeth Mary, daughter of the Rev. John Smythies, on 5 May 1802, he had nine children, of whom the eldest son, Richard, succeeded to the business, and edited his grandfather's and granduncle's correspondence.

References

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Twining, Richard 1749 births 1824 deaths People educated at Eton College 18th-century English merchants Directors of the British East India Company

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

Businesspeople in tea