William Debonaire Haggard

William Debonaire Haggard FSA, FRAS (2 Feb 1787 – 4 Apr 1866) was a banker of the city of London, a numismatist, and an expert on bullion. He was the Principal of the Bullion Office of the Bank of England in the 1840s.[1]

William Debonaire Haggard, portrait at the British Museum, London

Life

William Debonaire Haggard was the son of Mark Haggard, son of merchant Mark Haggard of Strafford-le-Bow.[2]

His great-grandfather was John Haggard of Old Fort House, and through him, was a second cousin twice removed of Chancellor John Haggard, member of the Haggard family of Bradenham Hall.[3][4] William, Chancellor Haggard's brother, was the grandfather of writer Sir H. Rider Haggard, and great-grandfather of Admiral Sir Vernon Haggard, and British Consul General of New York Sir Godfrey Haggard.[5]

Through his son Frederick Thomas Haggard, with his wife Jane Copner,[6] Debonaire was the grandfather of Eleanor, who married to John Edward Ivor Yale, son of lawyer William Corbet Yale of Plas-yn-Yale, member of the Yale family.[7]

Frederick was a member of the London Stock Exchange, and an active member in the Tory political circles at the time of liberal U.K. Prime Minister, Lord Rosebery of Mentmore Towers, and Neville Chamberlain.[8][9] He was also a descendant of the Huguenot Debonnaire family and married to Emily Caroline Anstey, a direct descendent of artist Christopher Anstey.[10]

Haggard was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 28 February 1833, described as "a gentleman peculiarly conversant in the numismatic antiquities of this country".[11] He was also a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, and the Royal Numismatic Society. He was President of the Royal Numismatic Society from 1847 to 1849.

As Chief of the Bullion Office of the Bank of England, he was brought in front of the Bank's Governor William Cotton, Commissary-General Sir Edward Pine Coffin, MP Richard Lalor Sheil, and William Nairn Forbes of the East India Company, to testify. The commission was appointed to inquire into the constitution, management, and expense of the Royal Mint under Queen Victoria, relating to the melting of gold coins into bars.[12]

He was also an art collector and his collection was sold at auction by Sotheby's, Wilkinson & Hodge on 22–23 August 1866.[13]

There is a portrait of Haggard, by Leonard Charles Wyon, 1844, in the British Museum.[14]

With another wife, Jane Le Crew, he had at least one son, Mark Haggard.[15]

Publications

References
  1. "Bullion in the Bank of England". Scientific American. 4 (52): 410. 15 September 1849. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican09151849-410q. ISSN 0036-8733.
  2. Bernard Burke (1868). "A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of ..., Volume 1". Harrison. Pall Mall. p. 622.
  3. Bernard Burke (1868). "A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of ..., Volume 1". Harrison. Pall Mall. p. 622.
  4. Jennie Haggard Ray (1938). "HISTORY of the HAGGARD FAMILY in England and America 1433 to 1899 to 1938" (PDF). Regional Press Inc. p. 3.
  5. Burke, B. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, 14th ed. (1925). Haggard of Bradenham, pp. 804-806.
  6. Kent & Sussex Courier 21 August 1914, page 3: DEATH OF MR. F. T. HAGGARD., TUNBRIDGE WELLS LOSES A NOTABLE RESIDENT, A NONAGENARIAN STATISTICIAN, A LIFE LONG CHAMPION OF FAIR TRADE
  7. The Queen 05 January 1895, page 40: YALE-HAGGARD.
  8. British Art Rediscovered, Catalogue of an Exhibition at Cromwell Place, London, Miles Wynn Caton, 2022
  9. Pamphlets on Economics: V.p., 1885-1907, Frederick T. Haggard
  10. British Art Rediscovered, Catalogue of an Exhibition at Cromwell Place, London, Miles Wynn Caton, 2022
  11. The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume 103, Part 1; Volume 153, p. 254. https://books.google.com/books?id=rPgRAAAAYAAJ&q=william+debonaire+haggard+fellow+society+of+antiquaries
  12. Report from the Select Committee on the Royal Mint,Together with ..., Volume 2, William Clowes and Sons, 1849
  13. Haggard, William Debonaire (1866). A sale catalogue of the collection of William Debonaire Haggard]: [sold by auction by Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge on Wednesday 22 August 1866 and following day. London. OCLC 78267620.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  14. "drawing / album". British Museum. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  15. The Linzee family of Great Britain and the United States of America, 1917, vol.2, p. 647.https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/The_Linzee_family_of_Great_Britain_and_the_United_States_of_America_and_the_allied_families_of_Penfold%2C_Hood%2C_Amory%2C_Tilden%2C_Hunt%2C_Browne%2C_Wooldridge_%28and%29_Evans_%28IA_linzeefamilyofgr02linz%29.pdf
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