Baring

Baring, British family whose banking and commercial house played a principal role in British overseas lending for two centuries.

John Baring emigrated from Bremen to England and started a small wool business near Exeter in 1717. His son, the future Sir Francis Baring, lst Baronet (1740–1810), founded the family banking firm, originally named John & Francis Baring & Company, in London in 1763. He built it into a large and successful business, and from 1792 the house of Baring was instrumental in helping to finance the British war effort against Revolutionary and then Napoleonic France. In 1803 the house of Baring helped finance the Louisiana Purchase by the United States. In 1806 the firm was renamed Baring Brothers and Company. Francis Baring became a director of the East India Company and was a staunch supporter and financial advisor of Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, who made him a baronet in 1793.

By the time of Sir Francis’ death in 1810, his company had become the leading banking house in Europe. Leadership of the firm passed to his second son, Alexander Baring, afterward 1st Baron Ashburton (1774–1848), who married Anne Bingham, a member of one of the wealthiest families in Pennsylvania, and who secured for Baring Brothers the leadership (until the American Civil War, 1861–65) in financing U.S. foreign trade and selling U.S. bonds. As ambassador to the United States, Lord Ashburton negotiated with U.S. Secretary of State Daniel Webster the Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842) concerning the boundary between Maine and New Brunswick.

After Lord Ashburton’s death in 1848 the affairs of the house were managed by Thomas Baring (1799–1873), a grandson of Sir Francis. Thomas Baring was a managing partner of the firm from 1828 and was also a member of Parliament from 1844 until his death. His elder brother, Sir Francis Thornhill Baring (1796–1866), was a member of Parliament from 1826 to 1865 and also served as chancellor of the Exchequer (1839–41) and first lord of the Admiralty (1849–52). In 1866 he was created Baron Northbrook, the barony being converted in 1876 into an earldom in favour of his eldest son, Thomas George Baring (1826–1904). The latter was occupied almost entirely with public affairs and is best remembered as viceroy of India, an office he held from 1872 to 1876.

With the death of Thomas Baring in 1873, Edward Charles Baring (1828–97), son of Henry Baring and grandson of Sir Francis Baring, became head of Baring Brothers, and in 1885 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Revelstoke. The house of Baring then stood at the height of its prosperity. During the following years the Baring bank oversaw the loan of large amounts of English capital to the government of Argentina. The continued default of the Argentine government involved Baring in such serious difficulties that it precipitated a general financial crisis in England in 1890. In a celebrated episode of financial history, Baring was rescued by the Bank of England, which, in conjunction with the leading joint-stock banks of the United Kingdom, took over Baring’s liabilities amounting to £21,000,000. The firm of Baring Brothers was subsequently reorganized as a limited company, and, given this respite, the company and individual members of the family paid the entire debt.

Barings became an adviser to the British royal family on its investments, and during World War II the firm’s managing director was entrusted with liquidating Great Britain’s fixed assets in the United States. In the second half of the 20th century, Barings was overtaken in size and influence by other British merchant banking houses. In 1985 ownership of the bank was transferred to a charitable organization called the Baring Foundation, though control of the bank remained in the hands of Baring family members. Barings PLC, as the bank was called, declared bankruptcy in 1995 after an employee lost almost $1,500,000,000 on unauthorized futures and options transactions. Barings was purchased by a Dutch banking and insurance company, Internationale Nederlanden Groep NV (or ING), thereby ending the independent existence of the oldest merchant banking house in the City of London.

Members of the Baring family remained prominent in banking, private industry, and government throughout the 20th century. Other members of the family have included Evelyn Baring, 1st earl of Cromer (1841–1917), who was the de facto ruler of Egypt as British agent and consul general (1883–1907); and Maurice Baring (1874–1945), man of letters.

Studies include Ralph W. Hidy, The House of Baring in American Trade and Fi nance (1949, reissued 1970), covering 1763–1861; and Philip Ziegler, The Sixth Great Power (1988), covering 1762–1929.