John Hubbard, 1st Baron Addington

John Gellibrand Hubbard, 1st Baron Addington
Born	John Gellibrand Hubbard Stratford Grove, Essex, England
Died	28 August 1889(1889-08-28) (aged 84) Addington Manor, Buckinghamshire, England
Occupation(s)	Financier, politician
Known for	Governor of the Bank of England (1853–1855), Conservative MP for Buckingham and City of London

John Gellibrand Hubbard, 1st Baron Addington PC (21 March 1805 – 28 August 1889) was a financier based in the City of London and a politician affiliated with the Conservative Party.

Background and early life

Hubbard was born at Stratford Grove in Essex to John Hubbard and Marianne Morgan. His father, John Hubbard (died 1847), managed J. Hubbard & Co., a family enterprise engaged in the British textile trade with Russia, which had established an office in St Petersburg by 1816. This firm was among the select few dominating this particular sector. His grandfather, William Hubbard, had been a merchant operating in Archangelsk before relocating to St Petersburg.

In 1821, John Gellibrand Hubbard became a partner in this family business.

Finance

While his brother William Egerton Hubbard maintained a long-standing merchant presence in St Petersburg, John Gellibrand Hubbard pursued a career as a financier in London. He held a directorship at the Guardian Fire and Life Assurance Co..

Hubbard joined the Bank of England board as a director in 1838. He progressed to serve as Deputy Governor between 1851 and 1853, subsequently becoming Governor from 1853 until 1855.

From 1853 onward, he chaired the Public Works Loan Commission. In 1855, he took part in an official investigation into the decimalisation of the British currency, working alongside Lord Monteagle and Lord Overstone. Two years later, in 1857, he provided testimony before a parliamentary select committee reviewing the Bank Acts, where James Wilson rigorously questioned him along with other financial authorities.

During the panic of 1866, Hubbard—together with Norman and Thomson Hankey—opposed intervention by the Bank of England as a lender of last resort. At that time, the Bank’s role within central banking was ambiguous, and its Board was divided on whether to act. He also extensively addressed issues related to the gold coinage in 1869. Later, during debates over bimetallism in the late 1880s, while Governor Mark Collet remained silent, Hubbard along with directors Henry Wollaston Blake and Alfred de Rothschild publicly expressed support for bimetallism on their own behalf.

Political life

Hubbard secured election as Member of Parliament for Buckingham during the 1859 general election and was re-elected in 1865. However, when Buckingham’s representation was reduced to a single MP in 1868, he lost his seat. He made his return to the House of Commons in 1874 as one of four MPs representing the City of London, holding this position until being ennobled as 1st Baron Addington, of Addington, Buckinghamshire on 22 July 1887.

In addition to his parliamentary career, Hubbard served as a JP and Deputy Lieutenant for both Buckinghamshire and the City of London. He was appointed to the Privy Counsellor in 1874.

In 1860, together with Lord Robert Cecil, Hubbard introduced legislation aimed at reforming church rates, proposing exemptions; however, this bill did not pass during that session. The matter was highly divisive: while the Liberation Society advocated for abolition, others sought compromise solutions. Hubbard’s bill was brought forward multiple times alongside alternative proposals such as Charles Newdigate Newdegate’s commutation plan. After eight years of effort, reform materialized through a substantially amended bill introduced by W. E. Gladstone, culminating in the passage of the Compulsory Church Rate Abolition Act in 1868.

In 1882, Hubbard appealed to Prime Minister Gladstone regarding Rev. Sidney Faithorn Green, who had been incarcerated under provisions of the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874.

Residences and death

In 1854, Hubbard acquired the Addington Manor estate in Addington, Buckinghamshire, close to the then-declining Addington House once owned by John Poulett. The manor was designed by Philip Charles Hardwick during 1856–7, with landscape plans contributed by William Andrews Nesfield beginning in 1855. The newly constructed manor embraced a French architectural style and included an extensive conservatory. In 1857, Hubbard partially demolished the older Addington House. Additionally, he maintained a London property at 24 Prince's Gate, South Kensington, situated opposite Hyde Park.

As the patron of the church in Addington, Hubbard appointed Rev. David Greig as incumbent in 1869. Greig, who had previously served at Holy Trinity, Brompton, succeeded Rev. Robert William Scurr following his death in 1866. Greig brought experience from his urban mission work in Dundee.

Hubbard was recognized as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He passed away at Addington Manor on 28 August 1889 at the age of 84, leaving behind an estate valued at £111,985 6s. 1d.

The manor was later reconstructed in a neo-classical fashion between 1928 and 1929 under the direction of Michael Waterhouse. Subsequently, Kenneth James William Mackay, 3rd Earl of Inchcape, a later proprietor, developed an equestrian centre on the estate grounds.

Interests

Hubbard was a supporter of Nathaniel Woodard's educational initiatives, which ultimately led to the establishment of the Woodard Schools. In 1856, he endorsed the deed founding St Nicholas College in Shoreham-by-Sea, an early phase in the creation of Shoreham College. Other notable supporters included Alexander Beresford Hope, Lord Robert Cecil, Sir John Patteson, and Henry Tritton. Several of Hubbard's sons were students at St Peter's College, Radley, which experienced financial instability under headmasters Robert Corbet Singleton and William Sewell. Around 1860, Hubbard played a pivotal role in restoring the school's financial health, leading to Sewell’s departure.

In 1863, Hubbard financed and constructed St Alban's Church, Holborn on land gifted by William Henry Leigh, 2nd Baron Leigh. The church was designed by architect William Butterfield. Acting on counsel from William John Butler, Hubbard appointed Alexander Mackonochie as priest. Mackonochie had prior experience with mission work alongside Charles Lowder at St George in the East, though his ritualistic practices later sparked controversy. Hubbard opposed these ceremonial customs and engaged in correspondence with the Bishop of London in 1868 regarding the matter. Mackonochie departed St Alban's in 1882; his curate, Arthur Stanton, continued serving on a nominal salary until his death in 1913. Stanton was a university associate of Henry Thornhill Morgan, son of David Thomas Morgan.

Economic works

During the early nineteenth century, Hubbard advocated for the British Corn Laws, promoting in 1842 a moderate and fixed duty on imported corn. He authored several publications throughout the 1840s:

• Vindication of a Fixed Duty on Corn: To which are Added Remarks Suggested by the Speech of R.A. Christopher, Esq. M.P. at Lincoln (1842), addressing contemporary trade policy discussions.
• The Currency and the Country (1843), which was subsequently cited in Das Kapital, Volume III.
• A Letter to the Right Honourable Sir Charles Wood, Bart., M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer, on the Monetary Pressure and Commercial Distress of 1847 (1848), analyzing economic turmoil during the panic of that year.

Hubbard argued for differentiated tax treatment between capital gains and earned income, advocating that income tax should apply solely to earned income—a debate ongoing from 1852 involving economists such as William Farr and J. R. McCulloch. His related works include:

• How Should an Income Tax be Levied?: Considered in a Letter to the Right Honourable Benjamin Disraeli, M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer (1852)
• Reform or Reject the Income-tax: Objections to a Reform of the Income-tax Considered in Two Letters to the Editor of the Times : with Additional Notes (1853)
• Gladstone on the Income Tax: Discussion on the Income Tax, in the House of Commons on 25th April, 1884 : with Preface and Historical Sketch, Including a Proposed Bill (1885)

Religious views

Hubbard identified as a High Church Tory and was characterized by Urban T. Holmes III as a "Prayer Book Catholic" with a pronounced commitment to social issues. He produced multiple pamphlets focused on religious topics and presided over a gathering during the Gorham Case on 23 July 1850, where he expressed opposition to the Privy Council's ruling.

Notable works include:

• The Church and Church Rates. A Letter to the Electors of the Borough of Buckingham (1861)
• The Attendance of Non-Communicants at the Administration of the Holy Communion (1864)
• The Conscience Clause of the Education Department. Illustrated from the Evidence Taken by the Select Committee on Education, Etc. (1865)
• The Conscience Clause in 1866 (1866), co-authored with George Trevor
• The National Church and the National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church: A Speech Delivered at Birmingham on October 31, 1876 (1877)
• Speech of the Right Hon. J.G. Hubbard, M.P.: On Mr. Osborne Morgan's Resolution Respecting the Burials Question (1878)
• A Census of Religions; Denominational Worship; The National Church: Three Essays (1882)

Family

On 19 May 1837, Hubbard wed Maria Margaret Napier, daughter of Captain William John Napier, 9th Lord Napier of Merchistoun and Eliza Cochrane-Johnstone. Together they had nine children: five sons and four daughters:

• Alice Eliza Hubbard (1841–1931)
• Egerton Hubbard, 2nd Baron Addington (1842–1915)
• Francis Egerton Hubbard RN (1844–1871)
• Lucy Marian Hubbard (1845–1893)
• Cecil John Hubbard (1846–1926)
• Arthur Gellibrand Hubbard (1848–1896), served as a colonial administrator in southern Africa; married Amy d'Esterre Huntley in 1881
• Rose Ellen Hubbard (1851–1933)
• Evelyn Hubbard (1852–1934)
• Clemency Hubbard (1856–1940)

Business heritage

Daunton remarked that "The Hubbards provide an object lesson on how to mishandle inheritance and succession in a family firm." In 1897, the London-based partnership J. Hubbard & Co. combined with the St Petersburg enterprise W. E. Hubbard & Co., creating Anglo-Russian Cotton Factories Ltd. Despite this merger, financial challenges emerged, necessitating a bailout orchestrated by Stuart Rendel.