Thomas Hammersley

THOMAS HAMMERSLEY (1747-1812) was the second but eldest surviving son of Hugh Hammersley. (Arms of Sir Hugh Hammersley (1565-1636), Lord Mayor of London (1627), being the arms anciently borne by the family in Staffordshire and granted to Sir Hugh in 1614.) His descendant, this Thomas Hammersley, was granted the arms of Sir Hugh, with due differences (gules, three rams heads couped erminois), in 1803 (Source: 'Records of the Hammersley family', p. 81; see also Burke's 'General Armory' under 'Hammersley of Pall Mall, London').

Thomas married Ann Greenwood, sister of the Army Agent and Banker, Charles Greenwood.

They lived at Maltby Rectory.

Portraits

Thomas and Ann had their portraits painted by Thomas Gainsborough, the English Painter of the Romanticism period (anticlassicism). Also: Thomas ~grav.: Richard Golding 1822; his wife, Mrs [Thomas] HAMMERSLEY ~grav.: J. R. Smith

They had the following children:

• Ann (Amy) Hammersley was born on 20 May 1773. She died in 1841 in Great Horkesley, Essex. She married (Bishop of Sodor & Man, Isle of Man) William Ward in 1805. He was born on 19 Sep 1762 in Saintfield, Ireland (near Belfast). He died on 26 Jan 1838 in Great Horkesley, Essex.
• Caroline Hammersley was born in 1774. She died on 17 Jun 1806. She married General Sir Henry Calvert, Bt. on 8 Jun 1799. He was born in 1763 in Claydon, Buckshire. He died on 3 Sep 1826. * eldest son, Sir Henry Calvert, Bt. (1801-1894), Grenadier Guards, who assumed the name of Verney on inheriting the Verney estates, married, secondly in 1858, Frances Nightingale, sister of FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE. See Burke's 'Peerage & Baronetage' under 'Verney of Claydon House'.
• Hugh Hammersley was born in 1774. He died about Sep 1840 in Westminster, London, England (St James,). He married Maria Georgiana de Montolieu on 8 Jan 1822, daughter of Lewis de Montolieu and Maria Henrietta Heywood. She died in June 1842 in Chelsea, London, England. She was the great-grand-daughter of David de Montolieu (1668-1761), Baron of St. Hippolite (or Saint-Hippolyte), General in the Army, who fought for William III at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690) They had one son, Hugh Montolieu Hammersley (1825-1896), who married (1851) Henrietta Bouverie (d. 1929) and had 3 daughters (See 'Burke's Peerage & Baronetage' under 'Radnor, Earl of') The male line of the Montolieu family became extinct in England on the death of Marie's father, Louis de Montolieu, Baron of St. Hippolite, whose eldest daughter she was. .............The Montolieu family were ancient French nobility having settled in Languedoc in the 12th century, where they owned land near Marseilles known as the Val de Montolieu, which was later known as the Val de Giraud; Being Protestant the family left France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, going to Holland and then to England.
• Mary Caroline Hammersley was born on 30 Oct 1777 in Marylebone, London, Middlesex, England. She died on 14 Dec 1843 (Montagu Str, London, Middlesex). She married Charles Raymond-Barker in 1827. He was born about 1779 in Fairford Park, Gloucestershire. He died on 18 Mar 1838 (Blandford St, Portman Square, London).
• Elizabeth Henrietta Hammersley was born on 4 Mar 1780 in Westminster, London, England.
• Catherine Eustasia Hammersley was born on 12 Mar 1781 in Westminster, London, England.
• Charles Hammersley was born on 7 Oct 1782 in London, Middlesex. Resided at 25 Park Crescent. Educated at Eton. Senior partner of Cox & Co, bankers and army agents of Craig's Court, Whitehall, London. He died in June 1862 in Marylebone, London, Middlesex, England. He married Emily Buncombe-Poulett-Thomson on 2 Mar 1809 in St Marys, Putney, London. She was born about 1785 in Somerset (Bath, Gloucestershire). '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.'
• Diana Hammersley was born on 17 Nov 1783 in St Jas, Westminster, London, England. She died on 12 Feb 1854 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England (of "The Parsonage", Church Square). She married Rear-Admiral George Hills on 10 Mar 1813, son of William Hills and Lydia Barker. He was born on 8 Nov 1777 in Kent, England (Gosport then Buckland,). He died on 4 Apr 1850 in Risbridge, Suffolk, England (Ashen Hall)
• George Hammersley was born in 1785. He died in 1835. Partner of Hammersley & Co.
• Frances Harriet Hammersley was born on 18 Dec 1787 in Westminster, London, England. She died in 1876.
• Charlotte Emily Hammersley was born on 13 Mar 1789 in Westminster, London, England. She died in 1858.

1812, August 28 - Last Will and Testament of Thomas Hammersley

Executors were (brother-in-law) Charles Greenwood of Auberries, William Danby Esquire, and (son) Hugh Hammersley. The Will was proved in the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Will stipulated that "on the marriage of George Hills and Diana Hammersley (his daughter) that 4831 British Pounds, 19 shillings and 3 pence - 3 per cent consolidated bank annuities - should be purchased in the names of James Halford and Hugh Hammersley and settled upon the trusts..which purchase hath accordingly been made... and the said Charles Greenwood in consideration of the natural love and affection which he bore towards the said Diana Hammersley his Niece did agree to advance on the said marriage in augmentation of the fortune of the said Diana Hammersley the sum of one thousand pounds and the further sum of one thousand pounds payable upon the death of her said mother ..."

PROBATE 19 November 1812 reference Will of Thomas Hammersley, Banker of Saint James Westminster , Middlesex - PROB Reference11/1538

Banking Career

Thomas founded what became Hammersley & Co, as described below "Thomas joined the London bank of Herries, Farquhar & Co. at its foundation in '1772, selling the Cadeby and Ouslethwaite estates at this time. (Source: extract from Pat McSwiney's “McSwiney Family History”)

Author R.G. Thorne says * Thomas Hammersley got his start “as Clerk at Herries’ bank, where he learnt the operation of their celebrated promissory notes system used by English travellers on the Continent and put his knowledge into effect when he embarked in business on his own account

'''(1786)''' in partnership with William Morland* and Ransom at 57 Pall Mall under '''“Ransom, Morland & Hammersley & Co.”''' 

Hammersley's Bank was at No. 69 Pall Mall.

In 1795 Thomas Hammersley acquired both houses.

[Source: 'Pall Mall, South Side, Past Buildings: No 69 Pall Mall: Hammersely's Bank', Survey of London: volumes 29 and 30: St James Westminster, Part 1 (1960), pp. 381. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40603'' ]

Their clients were the

• Duke of Cumberland and,
• in July 1786, the Prince of Wales.

In 1789 they became the joint receiver of the Duchy of Cornwall (which contributs to the income of the Prince of Wales). “These responsibilities caused endless worry for Thomas Hammersley, but he remained devoted to the Prince, even when the latter fell out with Lord Kinnaird, one of Hammersley’s partners, and transferred to Coutts.

The Prince of Wales (known as the 'first Gentleman of England", later George IV, who died in 1830) was loaned money by the company, which held a casket of royal jewels as security, as evidenced by a letter from the Prince Regent to W. Morland and T. Hammersley dated 10 May 1791 which states '... in order to secure the payment of the said sum of £25,000 … his said Royal Highness hath delivered to the said William Morland and Thomas Hammersley … a casket covered with red morocco leather containing a diamond epaulette, a diamond star, a diamond George, a diamond garter and sundry diamond trinkets and ornaments belonging to his Royal Highness …. [Note that £25,000 in 1791 is equivalent to about $5-10m today.]

1792

Philippe (Égalité) Duc d'Orléans sold all the Flemish, Dutch, and German paintings from his Orleans collection to a '''syndicate consisting of George, Lord Kinnaird, William Morland, and Mr. Hammersley,''' and imported by its agent, Thomas Moore Slade in 1792;  '''This collection included '''Sir Peter Paul Rubens' "Constantine Presenting the Labarum to his troops"''', which was:'''

*exhibited at Mr. Slade's house in Chatham the following year; and

• exhibited for sale by private contract at no. 125 Pall Mall, April - mid-June 1793 (unsold);
• exhibited at Thomas Hammersley, London, 1793 until at least 1811;
• Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 7 March 1801 (2nd day), lot 78, (bought in);
• Anonymous sale, London, Coxe, 11 June 1808, lot 7;
• Stamp Brooksbank, Esq., London, by 1830

1796

Hammersley entered into a new partnership at 76 Pall Mall with Greenwood (his brother-in-law), Montolieu, Brooksbank and Drewe - which became 'Hammersley, Greenwood, Drewe & Co. in 1806. The business was of considerable size, employing 16 clerks in 1801.

This bank, which subscribed, £40,000 to the loyalty loan for 1797, made the mistake of being too accommodating at its outset. In order to attract custom, and in the year of his death, 1812, Thomas Hammersley wrote to the Prince of Wales, begging him to patronize the bank, which was in difficulties. He said that the two fabrics he had raised, after 40 years in banking, were in pieces. His fortune was small, he had never gambled or had a stroke of good fortune and had had 16 children to bring up. (Source: Author R.G. Thorne)

[Source: http://www.peerage.org/genealogy/greenwood.htm]

• Mr. Greenwood (brother-in-law) 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 (Thomas Hammersley), ultimately so reduced his means that his nephew Charles Hammersley (son of Thomas 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.

Hammersley became a partner and placed his eldest son Hugh in Hammersley & Co. (as well as another son George).

Other Banking Connections

• The Hammersley family were connected by marriage with two other great banking families, the Barings (Barings Bank founded 1762) and the Hambros (Hambros Bank founded 1839).
• Hammersley & Co. were also bankers to the UK Secret Service for a time (Source: 'Coutts & Co. 1692-1992', Edna Healey, 1992).
• Cox & Co – Lloyds TSB. Thomas' brother-in-law - Charles Greenwood - had a great aunt, Mary, who had married Joshua Cox of Quarley Park and Grantley, near Andover, the father of Richard Cox of Aspenden Hall, Hertfordshire, founder of Cox & Co. - so the families of Hammersley, Greenwood and Cox were closely related. 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. By 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. (Source: Author: R. G. Thorne, Volumes: 1790-1820)

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See Hugh Hammersley's profile for the continuing story of Hammersley & Co. Bank, and the association with many of today's UK banks. Also:

• F G Hilton Price, A handbook of London bankers (London, Chatto & Windus, 1876)
• E Healey, Coutts & Co 1692-1992. The portrait of a private bank (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1992)