Sir William Agnew, 1st Baronet (20 October 1825 – 31 October 1910) was an English politician and prominent art dealer who was said to have dominated the British market for 30 years.

Thomas Agnew & Sons Thomas Agnew & Sons is a art dealer, fine arts dealer in London that began as a print and publishing partnership between Thomas Agnew and Vittore Zanetti in Manchester in 1817. Agnew ended the partnership by taking full control of the company in 183 ...

, his London art business in

Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...

, flourished as one of the leading art dealerships in London from 1860, until it closed in April 2013, still with the family and known as "Agnew's Gallery", or more informally "Agnew's". On being created baronet in 1895, he was described as "the greatest art publisher and dealer in England".

Life

In the middle of the 1860s, Agnew and his brother Thomas provided much needed financial backing to the publishing firm

Bradbury and Evans Bradbury & Evans (est.1830) was a printing and publishing business founded in London by William Bradbury (1799–1869) and Frederick Mullett Evans (1804–1870). History For the first ten years Bradbury & Evans were printers, then adde ...

, becoming partners in the business. Agnew became a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

member of parliament, first for South East Lancashire between 1880 and 1885 and later for

Stretford Stretford is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, sited on flat ground between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal; the Bridgewater Canal bisects the town. The town is located south of Manchester, south of Salfo ...

from 1885 to 1886. He 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 ...

, of Great Stanhope Street, London, in 1895. He bought the Rougham estates in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, England, in 1904.

Art

Agnew was a prominent art dealer who amassed a large collection through his business. By 1887 it was said that, "no one could have secured so complete a collection of British Art". He had offices in London, Manchester and Liverpool and was aided by his sons and nephew. He sold works to and helped form the great private art collections of the age, including those of

Henry Tate Sir Henry Tate, 1st Baronet (11 March 18195 December 1899) was an English merchant and philanthropist, noted for establishing the Tate Britain, Tate Gallery and the company that became Tate & Lyle. Early life Henry Tate was born in White Copp ...

and

Lord Iveagh Earl of Iveagh (pronounced —especially in Dublin—or ) is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, created in 1919 for the businessman and philanthropist Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, Edward Guinness, 1st Viscount Iveagh. He was ...

. He also promoted many leading painters and dominated the art market for thirty years.

Family

He was the son of Thomas Agnew (1794–1871) and his wife Jane Garnet Lockett. On 25 March 1851, he married Mary Kenworthy (before 1836 – 2 September 1892), daughter of George Pixton Kenworthy. Their children were: *Mary Caroline Agnew, died 2 February 1888 *Florence Agnew, died 2 September 1890 * Sir George William Agnew, 2nd Baronet (19 January 1852 – 19 December 1941) * Charles Morland Agnew (14 December 1855 – 23 May 1931) *Walter Agnew (29 April 1861 – 17 April 1915) *Philip Leslie Agnew (30 June 1863 – 5 March 1938) Agnew's modern descendants include Sir John Keith Agnew, 6th Baronet (1950–2011), and John Stuart Agnew, a parliamentary candidate of the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of parliament (both through defect ...

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Agnew, William 1825 births 1910 deaths

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs 1885–1886