Charles Hammersley

'The prosperity which attended Charles Hammersley throughout his career as an army agent was mainly due to his personal intelligence and energy , to his unbroken devotion to his work, and to the confidence universally inspired by a character in which a rigid sense of honour and justice was ever tempered by the impulses of a benevolent and generous nature.'

Charles, married 2 Mar 1809 Emily Poulett-Thomson, Lic. Putney Surrey, Witnesses: Thos Hammersley (his father), Mary Caroline Hammersley (his sister), William Ward (his brother-in-law and Bishop of Sodor & Man, Isle of Man) & John Argentein. They had 11 children

His uncle "'Mr. (Charles) Greenwood was believed to have amassed a very large fortune, as indeed he had done, but his contributions to impecunious Royalty, the lavish hospitality which the necessities of his peculiar position entailed upon him, his generosity towards all who claimed his help, and above all the great sacrifices he made to avert the fall of his brother-in-law's bank, ultimately so reduced his means that his nephew Charles Hammersley - who had been led to expect a large inheritance, found himself a loser of £25,000 by having accepted the trust bequeathed to him under Mr. Greenwood's will as sole Executor and Residuary Legatee.'"

"In 1811 the Duke of York (1763-1827) assigned the lease granted to him by his father, George III, of St. James' Park and Green Park to Charles Greenwood, Richard Cox and Charles Hammersley." [quote from Happy Warriors]

It appears that in 1812 he was living at 19 Great Cumberland Place, London [Reference National Archives MS 11936/459/871061 Insurance documents 25 May 1812]

The Hammersley family are connected by marriage with two other great banking families, the Barings (bank founded 1762) and the Hambros (bank founded 1839)

The original offices of Cox & Co. were in Albermarle Street. The firm moved to Craig's Court in 1765 and remained there until 1888, although not in the same building. They then seem to have moved to Charing Cross and to have occupied various buildings in that area. In 1922 Cox & Co., who by then had been long-established as 'bankers to the British Army', merged with Henry S. King & Co. to become Cox's & King's and moved into newly-built head offices at 6 Pall Mall. In 1923 the banking side of the business was taken over by Lloyd's Bank, now Lloyds TSB (there is still a branch/office of Cox's & King's at 7 Pall Mall, London SW1), while the rest became Cox & Kings, the travel company, which still exists today. I

Charles Hammersley's (1782-1862) two elder sons, Charles Hammersley (1817-1890), who died without issue, and Hugh Hammersley (1819-1882) were partners of Cox & Co. There were two further sons, Henry Hammersley (1823-1883) and Frederick Hammersley (1824-1901)

Both of Hugh Hammersley's (1819-1882) two elder sons, Arthur Charles Hammersley (1856-1912) and Hugh Hammersley (1858-1930) were also partners in the firm. There was a third son, Guy Hammersley (b. 1871)

Charles, will SH 1862, Army agent died 29 Apr 1862 (peu £ 100,000)

• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Nov 29 2017, 15:32:12 UTC