Samuel Holden

Samuel Holden (1675–1740) was an English merchant, politician, and nonconformist activist.

Life

The son of Joseph Holden by his second wife Patricia Watts, he was employed when still young by the Russia Company at Riga. He became a successful merchant in London, a director of the Bank of England, its Deputy Governor^[1] and its Governor from 1729 to 1731.^[2]

A Dissenter, Holden chaired from 1732 a committee for the repeal of the Corporation Act and other Test Acts. He entered Parliament as Member for East Looe in 1735. Undertakings by Sir Robert Walpole not to obstruct actively moves for repeal turned out to be largely irrelevant when Holden tried to introduce legislation in the area. He resigned from the committee in 1736, forced out in favour of Benjamin Avery.^[2][3]

In 1744 his daughter and co-heir Mary married John Jolliffe, the MP for Petersfield.^[4]

Legacy

Holden Chapel in Harvard Yard, named for Samuel Holden

Holden left £60,000 on his death in 1740. Holden Chapel at Harvard College was constructed with some of this money.^[2]

Notes

1. "Deputy Governors of the Bank of England" (PDF). Bank of England. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
2. historyofparliamentonline.org, Holden, Samuel (c.1675-1740), of Roehampton, Surr.
3. Wykes, David L. "Avery, Benjamin". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/923. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
4. Watson, Paula (1970). R. Sedgwick, ed. "JOLLIFFE, John (?1697-1771), of Petersfield, Hants". The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 18 June 2014.