Sir John Lubbock, 1st Baronet

Sir John Lubbock, 1st Baronet
Born	1744 Lamas, Norfolk, England
Died	1816-02-24 23 St James Place, London, England
Occupation(s)	Banker, merchant, parliamentarian
Known for	Banking partner in Lemon, Buller, Finlay and Lubbock; Member of Parliament for Bossiney and Leominster; supporter of abolition; 1st Baronet Lubbock

Sir John Lubbock, 1st Baronet (baptised 20 August 1744 – 24 February 1816) was a prominent English banker, merchant, and parliamentarian. He was the eldest child of Reverend William Lubbock from Lamas, Norfolk. In 1771, he wed Elizabeth Christiana Commerell, daughter of his business associate Frederick Commerell. The couple did not have any offspring. Upon being granted a baronetcy in 1806, the honor was subsequently inherited by his nephew, John William Lubbock.

Business

Lubbock relocated to London to become involved in the Commerell enterprise located on Bishopsgate Street, eventually becoming a partner following his marriage. He took his nephew John William Lubbock under his wing, providing him with an education at Charterhouse and guiding him in commercial matters.

In 1772, he became a partner in the London banking firm Lemon, Buller, Finlay and Lubbock situated at 15 Abchurch Lane. Over time, the partnership underwent several changes: becoming Forster, Lubbock and Bosanquet in 1785; then Forster, Lubbock, Forster and Clarke by 1801; and finally Sir John Lubbock, Lubbock & Co in 1814, with his nephew as the second partner.

In parallel with banking activities, Lubbock engaged in merchant trading alongside Frederick Commerell starting in 1776. Although Commerell partially retired in 1787, he maintained a silent partnership until 1796. Afterwards, Lubbock co-established Lubbock, Colt and Co with his nephew John William Lubbock, Richard Tucker, and Oliver Colt. This company pursued various enterprises including importing wine and acquiring overseas properties. John Lubbock withdrew from this business in 1812, handing management responsibilities over to his nephew.

Political

Lubbock initially contemplated contesting the Devizes seat in 1784 but withdrew to prevent disputes. In 1795, he publicly endorsed Pitt’s administration through a declaration of merchants’ loyalty. He secured election as Member of Parliament for Bossiney in Cornwall in 1796 through Lord Mount Edgecumbe’s support and later won the Leominster seat in Herefordshire in 1802 with a tally of 498 votes.

A London Directory from 1794 lists him as a merchant partnered with F. Commerell at St Mildred's Court on Poultry. He was re-elected without opposition in 1806 and remained an MP until stepping down in favor of his nephew in 1812.

Baronetcy

In 1797, he publicly affirmed the bank’s ability to satisfy all withdrawal demands and advocated for increasing capital by £3,000,000 to bolster commercial discounting capabilities. Politically aligned with the Greville government, he received a baronetcy on 9 April 1806 under the stipulation that the title would be inherited by his nephew John William. The family motto chosen by John William was "Auctor pretiosa facit" (meaning "the giver makes the gift precious"). Around this period, Sir John was acknowledged as a firm supporter of abolition. His nephew remembered him as both an astute businessman and a generous companion. An enthusiast of equestrian pursuits and hunting, he was known for driving four grey horses into the City from his residence at St James’s Place—a property he acquired jointly with poet Samuel Rogers in 1802, owning two-thirds of it.

Residences

In addition to his St James’s Place home, Sir John purchased a substantial residence on the west side of Clapham Common in 1787. This property was later leased to MP W. G. Hamilton and known as Battersea Rise before its sale in 1792 to abolitionist Henry Thornton, who shared it with William Wilberforce—an association that influenced Lubbock’s anti-slavery views. From 1792 onward, he rented Marble Hill Cottage near Richmond before acquiring it outright in 1807 and living there until 1812. Other holdings included estates at Lamas and Honingham Hall in Norfolk; London addresses at Token House Yard and Stratford Place; as well as a house in Gorleston sold in 1802.

He also held partial ownership of several merchant properties: Broad Street in Walthamstow (1771–1774), St Mildred’s Court within the City (from 1783), a building on Oxford Street (from 1794), and premises at 8 Bishopsgate Street (occupied between 1778 and 1782).

Portraits

There are two known portraits of John: one depicts him as a young man in a full-length pose and was formerly displayed at High Elms in Kent, the family's residence throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The other shows him seated in later years and is currently held by Clapham Library. A portrait of his young wife, painted by John Downman in 1774, was lost when High Elms was destroyed by fire in 1967; this artwork had previously been offered for sale in Country Life magazine.

Death

John passed away on 24 February 1816 at 23 St James Place. His final resting place is St James's Church, Piccadilly, where memorial plaques commemorating him and his wife once stood but are thought to have been lost during the Blitz. His widow outlived him by several decades, eventually moving to St Leonards in Sussex, where she died in 1845 at the age of 94.

References

• The History of Parliament (the House of Commons) Vol IV 1790-1820
• A biographical index to the present House of Commons, 1808
• The Family of Lubbock by Robert Birkbeck, 1891
• Occasional papers of the Clapham Antiquarian Society, Minet Library, Lambeth
• Country Life December 1987
• Holdens Directory
• Annals of the Borough of Devizes 1791–1835, ii 263