Sir Samuel Garrard, 4th Baronet

Portrait of Garrard by James Thornhill, Guildhall Art Gallery London

Sir Samuel Garrard, fourth Baronet (1650–1724) was an English politician and merchant. Lord Mayor of London and Member of Parliament for Amersham.

Life

Samuel Garrard was the second son of Sir John Garrard second baronet, and Jane, daughter of Sir Moulton Lambard of Westcombe, and maternal grandson of Dr. John Cosin, bishop of Durham, was descended from an old Kentish family originally named Attegare, whose representatives were connected with the city of London for more than two centuries. Two of his ancestors were Lord Mayors, Sir William Garrard in 1555, and the first baronet, Sir John Garrard, in 1601; and intermarriages took place between the Garrards and the city families of Roe, Gresham, and Barkham. Garrard, who was born in 1650, was a grandson of the first baronet, and carried on business as a merchant first in Watling Street and afterwards in Warwick Court, Newgate Street. By the death, on 13 January 1700, of his brother Sir John Garrard, the third baronet, he became possessed of the title and of the family estate of Lamer in Wheathamstead, Hertfordshire, but continued to reside and carry on business in London.

Career

He was elected alderman of the ward of Aldersgate on 3 March 1701, and removed to Bridge Ward Without in 1722, becoming senior alderman. In 1701, after a contested election, he was appointed Sheriff of London and Middlesex. Garrard was elected Member of Parliament for Amersham, Buckinghamshire, in 1702, 1707, and 1708. He served the office of Lord Mayor in 1709-10. There was no pageant at his inauguration, the practice having been finally dropped after the mayoralty of his predecessor, Sir Charles Duncombe, for whom a pageant was prepared, but not exhibited on account of the death of Prince George of Denmark. At the beginning of his mayoralty, on 5 November 1709, Dr. Henry Sacheverell preached before him at St. Paul's his celebrated sermon advocating the doctrines of non-resistance and passive obedience, for which, and for an earlier sermon preached at Derby in August, he was impeached before the House of Lords. Garrard, who was a tory, is said to have approved of the sermon and to have sanctioned its publication, but this he repudiated in the House of Commons when Sacheverell pleaded the encouragement of the lord mayor in mitigation of his offence. During the serious riots which followed this trial Garrard exerted himself with much energy to restore order, and issued a proclamation, dated 30 March, prohibiting assemblies in the streets, the lighting of bonfires, and the sale of seditious books and pamphlets.

In October 1710 he was chosen colonel of one of the regiments of the trained bands, and in the same year he became master of the Grocers' Company, of which he was a liveryman. He was also elected, in October 1720, president of Bridewell and Bethlem hospitals, and his portrait in full length, by an unknown artist, is preserved in the hall of Bridewell. Garrard was also deputy-lieutenant of Hertfordshire. He died on 10 March 1724, and was buried in Wheathamstead Church, where a monument remains to his memory. His will, dated 20 December 1723, was proved in the P. C. C. on 1 April 1725. His property Included estates in Exhall and Bedworth, Warwickshire; in Wheathamstead, Hertfordshire; and in the city of London; besides stock and annuities in the South Sea Company.

Family

Garrard was twice married: first, on 16 October 1675, to Elizabeth Poyner of Codicote Bury, Hertfordshire; and secondly, on 22 January 1688-9, to Jane, daughter of Thomas Bennett of Salthrop, Wiltshire. By the latter marriage he had five daughters and three surviving sons, Samuel (died 1761), who succeeded to the baronetcy; Thomas (died 1758), who became Common Serjeant of London; and Bennet (died 1767), who was Member of Parliament for Amersham and sixth and last baronet.

References

•  "Garrard, Samuel". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Garrard, Samuel". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.