BARING, Henry (1777-1848), of Devonshire Street, Portland Place, Mdx.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1806 - 1807
14 July 1820 - 1826

Family and Education

b. 18 Jan. 1777, 3rd s. of Sir Francis Baring, 1st Bt.*, and bro. of Alexander Baring* and Thomas Baring*. m. (1) 19 Apr. 1802, Maria Matilda (div.1825), da. of William Bingham of Philadelphia, former senator, USA, div. w. of Comte de Tilly, 2s. 2da.; (2) 9 July 1825, Cecilia Anne, da. of V.-Adm. William Windham of Cromer Hall, Norf., 7s. 1da.

Offices Held

Biography

Baring was a partner in the family business for 20 years from 1803, but contributed little to its management or reputation. He was addicted to gambling and this, being thought harmful to the firm’s reputation, ‘was the cause of his being excluded’ from the firm in 1823.1 His wife, divorcee heiress to £200,000 and sister of his brother Alexander’s wife, was divorced from him, on account, it is said, of a liaison she had with a Captain Webster. Baring, who managed to keep most of her fortune, ‘had no sense of honour or delicacy, threw her into the most dissipated company, was glaringly unfaithful himself and, it is said, laid a plan for her divorce when he had fallen in love with a young lady who became his second wife’.2

He came in for Bossiney in a seat placed by Lord Mount Edgcumbe at the disposal of the government of the day. He was a supporter of the Grenville ministry and voted for Brand’s motion, 9 Apr. 1807, following their dismissal. Listed a ‘staunch friend’ of the abolition of the slave trade, he is not known to have spoken. He stood unsuccessfully for Grampound in 1807, Winchester in 1812 and Lewes and Ipswich in 1818. There had been some talk of his coming in for Worcester in 1818, Francis Horner reporting to Lord Lansdowne that Lord Deerhurst was to be returned for that city ‘upon a compromise ... with Henry Baring, who is made sure of the other seat at the general election’.3 It was not until 1820 that he obtained a seat. Baring died 13 Apr. 1848.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: P. A. Symonds

Notes

  • 1. R. W. Hidy, House of Baring in American Trade, 45; Gronow, Reminiscences (1900), 120-1.
  • 2. Jerningham Letters, i. 241; A. W. Morison, Life and Letters of Harrison Gray Otis, i. 137-8.
  • 3. Lansdowne mss, 3 Jan. 1817.