Baring, Thomas 1799-1873, financier, son of Sir Thomas Baring and brother of Sir Francis Thornhill Baring, the first Lord Northbrook [qv.], was born 7 Sept. 1799, and educated at Winchester School. From early age he was trained in the family business, and he bore the burden of its financial operations for many years. He sat in parliament as member for Great Yarmouth from 1835 to 1837, but was defeated on three subsequent occasions, 1837, 1838, and 1841. On a chance vacancy in the representation of the city of London, Oct. 1843, he contested the seat, but was unsuccessful by 165 votes in a poll of nearly 13,000. The borough of Huntingdon, however, elected him as one of its members April 1844, and he continued to represent it until his death. Unlike most of the members of his family, Thomas Baring was a conservative in politics; and on the formation of two of Lord Derby's administrations, in 1852 and 1858, he was offered the post of chancellor of the exchequer, which his elder brother had filled in the whig ministry of Lord Melbourne. He shared the first Lord Ashburton's taste for pictures. He was chairman of Lloyds, and, like Sir Francis Baring [qv.], president of the London Institution. He died at Fontmell Lodge, Bournemouth, 18 Nov. 1873. Had he been ambitious he might have played a more important part in history.

Sources:
     Times, 20 Nov. 1873.

Contributor: W. P. C. [William Prideaux Courtney]

Published: 1885