Merchants of War: Barings Bank and William Bingham, Revolutionary Bankers from the War of Independence to the Louisiana Purchase - Softcover

Tearle, David J

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0995773300 ISBN 13: 9780995773301

Publisher: The Incorporated History Press, 2017

Synopsis

John and Francis Baring established their merchant house in 1762 in Cheapside, London. By 1775 and the eve of the American War of Independence they were more likely to make a loss than a profit and yet by 1803, they had financed the Louisiana Purchase, had the agency of the United States and were described later by Richelieu as the “Sixth greatest power in Europe after Britain, France, Austria, Prussia and Russia”. So how did this happen? Entries in Barings’ ledgers of 1775 provide some of the clues….This book describes the events and relationships that established Barings as the world’s most powerful merchant bank and the role that family connections played in transforming the new United States into the world’s first superpower. The most significant of these connections was Senator William Bingham of Philadephia – Benjamin Franklin’s war-time undercover agent in Martinique, who first appears in the Barings’ story in 1783, and whose descendants are now part of British aristocracy .For students of British history , the book explores how the world’s first merchant bank changed the political landscape of the times, and the coincidences and serendipity that led to the bargain of all time, the Louisiana Purchase.The period covered by this book saw the biggest political and economic changes of any comparable period before or since. The key characters in this book may not all be well known, but they were there, just off-stage, making history, and a lot of money……..Appendices examine the genealogy of the Baring, Bingham and Willing families and their impact on English aristocracy. The life of Bingham’s wife, Anne Willing Bingham, “the most beautiful woman in all America” is examined in detail. The heritage locations described in the book also feature as an appendix. This story ends in 1804; The final chapters tie up the loose ends and set the scene for the next instalment in the Baring chronicles………”Same Old Game!”.

About this title

About the Author

I graduated from Nottingham University with an average degree in Mechanical Engineering, and in subsequent employment descended from the technical cutting edge of nuclear engineering through photographic products and finally to food manufacture, where I found my level of competence, an example of the Peter principle in reverse, perhaps! In the early eighties I started my own food production company, which proved ultimately successful, even if the start was a little shaky. The business was sold a few years later and with the words of my accountant still ringing in my ears, “no, you can’t retire” and “don’t spend all the money on a sports car business”, I moved on. The sports car businesses, Motorsport Classics and Ginetta Cars were not a great financial success, for me at any rate, but interesting nevertheless. A spell in other people’s sports car companies was instructive but also financially unrewarding, and to pay the bills I returned for a while to the food business. With at least some of those bills paid my wife and I reflected on the possibility of moving to Devon where I would mess about in boats and do what I always wanted – write. So we did. In my imagination, days would be spent in the sun on the boat tapping away at the lap-top, firing off occasional articles to boating, motoring and aviation magazines (learning to fly a helicopter was something else my accountant advised against), and banking the cheques. It didn’t work out that way, it rains a lot here, magazines pay peanuts, and elegant prose gets mangled by a sub-editor to fit the page - and anyway what I really wanted to do was write history. So I decided to write history by combining natural curiosity with the structure and analysis that I had acquired in a career of engineering and business. I now just needed some history to write – and I stumbled, almost literally, on the stories behind "Merchants of War“, and previously, "Barings Bank, William Bingham and the Rise of the American Nation”. Researching these books and a sequel, "Same Old Game!" has unearthed so many other stories that need to be pursued, that the quiet retirement is on-hold for the time being.

Edition details

• Publisher: The Incorporated History Press
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0995773300
• ISBN 13: 9780995773301
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 318