Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton

Politician and financier.

National Gallery Trustee (1835–1848).

Alexander Baring was the son of Sir Francis Baring (1740–1810), merchant and banker and founder of John and Francis Baring Company, influential in the East India Company, and Harriet (1750–1804), daughter of merchant William Herring of Croydon. In 1794 he worked for Hope and Co., merchants in Amsterdam with important West Indian connections. In late 1795 he was sent to America to purchase land from Senator William Bingham; he stayed there until 1801, and in 1798 married Bingham’s daughter Ann Louisa, a union which was to increase his own personal wealth. In 1800 the firm’s name changed to Francis Baring and Co., and in 1807 to Baring Brothers. From 1805–17 he became director of the Bank of England. In 1830 he retired from the firm. He was also an MP, from 1806–1826 for Taunton, and also for Callington, Thetford and North Essex. In 1835 he entered the House of Lords when he was created 1st Baron Ashburton.

In 1817 he acquired The Grange and its estate at Northington in Hampshire. He also acquired many other estates, and in 1821 bought Bath House, Piccadilly. Baring’s father, Francis Baring was a member of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, and made his first profit from the slave trade aged 16. Alexander was a member or president of the Board and Trade and Plantations.

The Baring firm (of which Alexander Baring was a partner until 1830) was entangled in heavy lending in the 1820s to a slave-owner in Berbice named Wolfert Katz. Baring Brothers were counter-claimants and beneficiaries to the Katz estate (Belair) in Guyana (former British Guiana) (claim of 24th October 1836), although Alexander himself was not a beneficiary. Barings was also a lender to the American merchant and owner of enslaved peoples Burrill Carnes and took security over slave-property. It was also a participant in the loans to Manning & Anderdon described under Jeremiah Harman (q.v.). In addition, the firm made other claims: an unsuccessful counterclaim (after Alexander’s retirement) of 24th October 1836 for the Spring Garden estate in Guyana (former British Guiana) (to the creditors of Burrill Carnes), including 64 enslaved people; a claim of 23 January 1836 for Spooners estate (on St Kitts) including 126 enslaved people, by Chas. Bosanquet and James William Freshfield the younger, trustees for Sir John Bosanquet, Alexander Baring, Jeremiah Harman, Sir Edward Hyde East and John Pearse; and a further claim of 23 February 1836 for Spooners (now 164 enslaved); for both of these he was listed as a beneficiary.

Baring made a number of speeches in parliament on the subject of slavery. On 14 and 20 April 1826 he presented petitions (from the council and assembly of Antigua and the London West India merchants) protesting against attacks on property from anti-slavery campaigners, and calling for change ‘by moderate and well digested measures’. In addition, ‘He cautioned the House not to interfere with government policy towards the slaves of Demerara and Berbice’, at that time gradually preparing the enslaved peoples for emancipation. On 5 March 1828 he spoke against the abolitionists‘ denial of a person’s right to own enslaved people, and maintained that the impression that the condition of such people as one of ’cruelty and abomination' was wrong. On 15 April 1831 he again opposed the immediate abolition of slavery, arguing that as no free person would work on the plantations, Britain would have to buy foreign sugar, thus encouraging slavery and the slave trade. Instead he advocated gradual change. Again, on 24 May 1832 he opposed the immediate abolition of slavery. (Terry Jenkins, ‘BARING, Alexander (1773-1848), of The Grange, nr. Alresford, Hants and 82 Piccadilly, Mdx’, in History of Parliament Trust (ed.), The History of Parliament: British Political, Social & Local History [online], London, 1964 -, 1820-1832 <https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/baring-alexander-1773-1848> accessed 7 December 2020.)

Baring was a Trustee of the National Gallery from 1835–48.

The Baring firm (of which Alexander Baring was a partner until 1830) was entangled in heavy lending in the 1820s to a slave-owner in Berbice named Wolfert Katz. Barings was also a lender to the American merchant and slave-owner Burrill Carnes and took security over slave-property. Baring was also a participant in the loans to Manning & Anderdon described under Jeremiah Harman (q.v.).

No known connections with abolition.

T. L. Ingram, 'Baring family (3) Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton', in J. Turner et al. (eds), Grove Art Online, Oxford 1998-, https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T006368
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T. Jenkins, 'BARING, Alexander (1773-1848), of The Grange, nr. Alresford, Hants and 82 Piccadilly, Mdx', in History of Parliament Trust (ed.), The History of Parliament: British Political, Social & Local History, London 1964-, 1820-1832, https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/baring-alexander-1773-1848
Checked and found — Item on publisher's website

J. Orbell, 'Baring, Alexander, first Baron Ashburton', in C. Matthew et al. (eds), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford 1992-, https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/1380
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UCL Department of History, 'Alexandar Baring', in UCL Department of History (ed.), Legacies of British Slave-ownership, London 2020, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/-1411131717
Checked and found — Item on publisher's website