Sir Mark Collet, 1st Baronet

Mark Wilks Collet (Walter William Ouless)

Sir Mark Wilks Collet, 1st Baronet (September 1816 – 25 April 1905) was an English merchant and banker.^[1] He served as Governor of the Bank of England between 1887 and 1889, and was made a baronet on 12 June 1888 in connection with his services in converting the National Debt (retirement of Consols). He was also a Lieutenant for the City of London.

Banking career

He opened the London branch of a Liverpool bank, Brown, Shipley & Co., (later Brown Brothers & Harriman, one of the most powerful banks in modern American history), in 1864, and died as senior partner of that bank. In 1866, he became a director of the Bank of England, then its Deputy Governor^[2] and finally its Governor, remaining a director until his death in 1905.

His grandson, Montagu Norman, would also serve as Bank of England Governor, between 1920 and 1944.

Family

Mark Wilks Collet was the son of James Collet (27 July 1784 – ?) and his wife Wendelina Elizabeth, daughter of Abraham Van Brienen, whom he married in 1812 at Archangel, Russia. They had three children, of whom one was Sir Mark Wilks Collet, 1st Baronet.

Collet married firstly Susannah (or Susan) Gertrude Eyre (d. 22 July 1851 Liverpool, aged 29), youngest daughter of the Rev. James Eyre,^[3] by whom he had a daughter Lina Susan Penelope Collet. She married on 15 November 1870, Frederick Henry Norman (1839-1916), himself son of a prominent British banker. Her eldest son became the Right Hon. Montagu Collet Norman, later Lord Norman, Privy Councillor, Governor of the Bank of England from 1920 to 1944. Another son was Ronald Collet Norman.^[4]

By a second or later marriage, he had a son Sir Mark Edimann Collet (1864–1944).

James Collet was a son of Capt. John Corlett or Collet (1751 - 1814), a sea captain, born Douglas, Isle of Man, who settled in Philadelphia, PA, and his wife Ann Wilks (1758–1840)^[5]

Notes

1. Anonymous 1905.
2. "Deputy Governors of the Bank of England" (PDF). Bank of England. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
3. Anonymous 1851, p. 332. Her patrilineal ancestry is available online (Sparrowhawk 1996); she appears to be related to the Eyres of Eyrecourt Castle. Retrieved 3 October 2007.
4. JMM vol 2 p1139/140 - Manx Coinage, 1733
5. Corlett, 1598–1824, privately published by E. Collette, Idaho Falls, n.d.

References

• Anonymous (1851), "Obituary", The Gentleman's Magazine: 332, retrieved 3 October 2007
• Anonymous (27 April 1905), "Sir Mark Collet Dead", New York Times, retrieved 3 October 2007
• Leigh Rayment's list of baronets – Baronetcies beginning with "C" (part 3)
• Sparrowhawk (17 April 1996), Ayars, Jim, ed., Susannah Gertrude Eyre, The Ayars Family Historical Association External link in |publisher= (help)

Further reading

• Newbolt, Henry; Hanbury-Williams, Charles (1901), The Monthly Review 2, J. Murray, p. 64
• Manx ancestry of Sir Mark Wilks Collet, 1st Bt.