Raikes Currie

Raikes Currie
Raikes Currie
Born	Template:Birth date
Died	October 16, 1881 (aged 80)
Occupation(s)	Banker, politician
Years active	1837–1857 (MP)
Known for	Member of Parliament for Northampton; partner in Curries & Co.; director of South Australian Company; restoration of Minley Manor

Raikes Currie (15 April 1801 – 16 October 1881) represented Northampton as a Member of Parliament from 1837 until 1857. He was a partner in the banking firm Curries & Co., which merged with Glyn, Mills & Co. in 1864. This enterprise, located in Cornhill within the City of London, was operated alongside his father, Isaac Currie. Additionally, Raikes held considerable investments in the newly established colony of South Australia. He undertook the restoration of Minley Manor and made significant enhancements to the estate, with further improvements carried on by his heirs.

The family’s banking business had connections to slavery in the British West Indies and contributed an estimated £9,000—possibly reaching £50,000—to the establishment of South Australia in 1836.

Family

Isaac Currie (1760–1843), Raikes’s father, served as a senior partner at Curries & Co. and was the son of William Currie, a distiller and banker based at Gatton Park in Surrey. The family benefited financially from compensation linked to slavery following emancipation during the 1830s.

The Currie lineage traces back to a longstanding Scottish family originating from Duns, Berwickshire. Raikes’s mother, Mary Anne Raikes, was the granddaughter of printer Robert Raikes and connected to prominent figures such as Thomas Raikes, former Governor of the Bank of England and associate of abolitionist William Wilberforce; as well as Robert Raikes, known for founding Sunday schools. Her brother, Job Mathew Raikes, married Charlotte Bayly, daughter of Nathaniel Bayly MP and owner of Jamaican plantations.

On 28 June 1825, Raikes Currie wed Hon. Laura Sophia Wodehouse, daughter of John Wodehouse, 2nd Baron Wodehouse and Sophia Berkeley. The couple had four sons: George Wodehouse Currie (born 1826), Bertram Raikes Wodehouse Currie (1827–1896), Reverend Maynard Wodehouse Currie (1829–1887), and Philip Henry Wodehouse Currie (1834–1908), who became the 1st Baron Currie of Hawley; they also had two daughters.

Raikes’s uncle was William Currie, who served as MP for Gatton, while his cousins included Vice-Admiral Mark John Currie and Sir Frederick Currie.

Minley Manor

Raikes Currie’s home was situated at Minley Manor, near Blackwater and Hawley in Hampshire, England. He acquired the property in 1846 and engaged architect Henry Clutton to design a new manor house, which was built between 1858 and 1860. Over the years that followed, he concentrated on developing the estate with features such as formal gardens, a kitchen garden, and pleasure grounds landscaped by F W Meyer in partnership with horticulturalists from Veitch & Sons. After Raikes’s passing, his son Bertram added a Winter Garden and expanded the pleasure gardens to include Hawley Lake. Laurence Currie, his grandson, further augmented the estate by constructing a water tower, walled gardens, and introducing additional ornamental plantings and woodland areas.

Political and other activities

Raikes Currie represented the constituency of Northampton as a Member of Parliament from the general election of 1837 until 1857. A dedicated member of the Whig party, he was actively engaged in parliamentary discussions concerning banking, monetary policy, and colonial issues, particularly those related to South Australia. He was known for openly challenging fellow Whig leaders who switched allegiance to the Tory faction. In 1847, Currie became a member of the committee for the British Relief Association.

In 1849, together with Richard Cobden and Lord Dudley Stuart, he provided parliamentary financial backing for Hungarian refugees escaping suppression following the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.

Currie held influential positions in Australian colonial ventures, serving as a founding director of the South Australian Company and as a director of the Van Diemen's Land Company. His involvement extended to membership in both the South Australian Association and the Literary and Scientific Association. In 1859, he was one of four contributors who donated the Silver Bowl used annually by Adelaide City Council for its ceremonial 'toast to Colonel Light.'

A man of strong religious conviction, Currie acted as Treasurer for the South Australian District Committee of the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. He also supported Charles Beaumont Howard, an early settler and colonial chaplain in Adelaide, through the South Australian Church Society.

Currie assembled an extensive collection comprising books, manuscripts, and artworks, which was subsequently enlarged by his son Bertram and grandson Laurence. The collection included a varied range of items such as Dresden porcelain, English portraiture, timepieces, Italian Renaissance paintings, and French decorative arts from the eighteenth century. Certain works from this collection—for instance, a portrait by Peter Paul Rubens depicting Marchesa Brigida Spinola Doria—are presently preserved at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

Later life and death

According to the 1881 British Census, Raikes Currie resided at Minley Manor alongside his son Philip, daughter Mary with her husband William Deacon, niece Laura Wodehouse, and a household staff numbering fourteen servants.

He passed away on 16 October 1881 at the age of 80.

Legacy

Currie Street, located in Adelaide, bears Raikes Currie's name in commemoration.

External links