Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Baring, Thomas

733212Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 03 — Baring, Thomas1885William Prideaux Courtney

BARING, THOMAS (1799–1873), financier, son of Sir Thomas Baring and brother of Sir Francis Thornhill Baring, the first Lord Northbrook [q. v.], 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 parliarment as member for Great Yarmouth from 1835 to 1837, but was defeated on two subsequent occasions, 1838 and 1841. On a chance vacancy in the representation of the city of London, Oct. 1843, he contested the seat, but was unsuccessfulby 156 votes in a poll of nearly 18,000. 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. The taste for pictures which was possessed by the first lord Ashburton also characterised Thomas Baring. His death took place at Fontmell Lodge, Bournemouth, 18 Nov. 1878. Had he been ambitious he might have played a more important part in history.

[Men of the Time; Times, 20 Nov. 1873]

W. P. C.

Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.15
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line

Page Col. Line  
193 i 7 f.e. Baring, Thomas: for two. . . . 1838 vead three subsequent occasions, 1837, 1838
3 f.e. for 156 read 165
ii 12 after Baring insert He was chairman of the committee of Lloyds and, like Sir Francis Baring [q. v.], president of the London Institution