David Barclay of Cheapside

David Barclay of Cheapside (1682–1769) was a Scottish merchant and banker.^[1]

He was the second son of Robert Barclay, the Scottish Quaker writer, and was active in the Society of Friends. An apprentice in London in 1698, he became a leading linen merchant. Involved in banking through a family connection with John Freame, father of his second wife, Barclay was not directly concerned with the firm that much later became Barclays Bank; but two of his sons were, John and David Barclay of Youngsbury, who famously manumitted his slaves.^[1]

In 1761 he played host to the newly married King George III and Queen Charlotte, who came and watched the Lord Mayor's procession from the balcony of his house, which had been hung with crimson silk damask for the occasion.^[2][3] He had previously similarly entertained both George I (1714) and George II (1727).^[1]

Success in business brought Barclay a fortune of £100,000 at his death.^[4] He lived opposite St Mary-le-Bow, and was noted for his hospitality to Quaker ministers.^[5]

Family

Barclay had 14 children: six (two sons and four daughters) by his first marriage to Anne Taylor (died 1720), and eight (two sons and four daughters) by his second wife Priscilla Freame, daughter of John Freame, whom he married in 1723.^[1][6] By his first marriage:

• His eldest son James married Susan Freame, sister to his stepmother Priscilla, and joined the Freame bank.^[4]

By his second marriage:

• His son David Barclay of Youngsbury (1729–1809) was one of the founders of the present-day Barclays Bank.^[7]
• His daughter Lucy (died 1757), married her cousin, the Member of Parliament Robert Barclay Allardice (1732-1797);.^[8] She died nine months after the marriage, leaving a daughter, also Lucy (1757–1817), who married Samuel Galton, Jr. of the Lunar Society.^[9] Robert Barclay (Allardice) was a grandson of Robert Barclay, elder brother of David Barclay of Cheapside.^[10]
• His daughter Christiana (c.1739–1796) married:
  • (i) Joseph Gurney (1729–1761), having with him two daughters, the elder being the Quaker minister Priscilla Hannah Gurney;
  • (ii) John Freame (died 1770), her first cousin;
  • and (iii) Sir William Watson, son of William Watson.^[11][12]

Notes

1. Dickson, P. G. M. "Barclay, David". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/37149. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. Walter Thornbury (1878), Old and New London, vol 1 s.v. Cheapside: Shows and pageants
3. John June (1761), A view of Cheapside as it appeared on Lord Mayor's Day last (print), British Museum collection
4. Margaret Ackrill; Leslie Hannah (2001). Barclays: The Business of Banking, 1690-1996. Cambridge University Press. pp. 15–6. ISBN 978-0-521-79035-2.
5. Rebecca Larson (1 September 2000). Daughters of Light: Quaker Women Preaching and Prophesying in the Colonies and Abroad, 1700-1775. UNC Press Books. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-8078-4897-5.
6. Hannah, Leslie. "Freame, John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47419. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
7. Humphrey Lloyd (5 November 2013). Quaker Lloyds in the Industrial Revolution. Routledge. p. 186. ISBN 978-1-136-60575-8. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
8. "Barclay Allardice, Robert (1732-97), of Urie, Kincardine". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
9. Karl Pearson (2 June 2011). The Life, Letters and Labours of Francis Galton. Cambridge University Press. p. xv. ISBN 978-1-108-07240-3.
10. Sir Bernard Burke (1862). "David Barclay". A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland. Harrison. p. 52.
11. Gil Skidmore (2003). Strength in Weakness: Writings of Eighteenth-century Quaker Women. Rowman Altamira. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-7591-0521-8.
12. Schaffer, Simon. "Watson, Sir William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28875. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)