Baring family


The Baring family is a German and British family of merchants and bankers. In Germany, the family belongs to the Bildungsbürgertum, and in England, it belongs to the aristocracy.
Barings Bank was founded in 1762 as the John and Francis Baring Company by Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, with his older brother John Baring as a mostly silent partner. It became one of the leading merchant banks of Britain.
In 1802, Barings and Hope & Co. were called on to facilitate the largest land purchase in history: the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of the United States. It is regarded as "one of the most historically significant trades of all time". Barings helped to finance the United States government during the War of 1812. By 1818, Barings was called "the sixth great European power", after England, France, Prussia, Austria and Russia. A fall-off in business and some poor leadership in 1820s caused Barings to cede its dominance in the City of London to the rival firm of N M Rothschild & Sons.

History

The family's earliest known ancestor is Peter Baring, who was a burgher of the city of Groningen, then a semi-independent city-state that was part of the Holy Roman Empire and the Hanseatic League, now part of the Netherlands, around 1500. Peter Baring's son Franz Baring became the first Lutheran bishop of Lauenburg in what is now Schleswig-Holstein in Germany from 1565. The current family in Germany and England is descended from Franz Baring. In the Electorate of Hanover, the Baring family belonged to the upper bourgeoisie, the so-called Hübsche Familien, which comprised the third division of the ruling class of the Holy Roman Empire, after the nobility and the clergy.
The English branch of the family is descended from Franz Baring, a professor of theology in Bremen. He was the father of Johann Baring, who moved from his hometown of Bremen to Exeter in England to take up an apprenticeship with a wool-exporter in 1717. Over the years, Johann Baring, who was later also known as John, built a small fortune as a wool merchant. His sons Francis and John Baring moved to London, where in 1762 they founded the John and Francis Baring Company, commonly known as Barings Bank. Barings Bank became one of the leading London merchant banks in the nineteenth century, until it collapsed in 1995. Francis Baring was the father of Sir Thomas Baring, 2nd Baronet, and grandfather to Francis Baring, 1st Baron Northbrook. He was also father to Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton, and through his third son Henry Baring the grandfather of Edward Baring, 1st Baron Revelstoke, and Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer.
Arnulf Baring was a member of the branch of the family remaining in Germany.
Since the early 19th century, the Baring family maintained close relations with the Berenberg family of bankers.

Hereditary titles

The Baring family is one of the most titled in the United Kingdom, since several family members were created peers or baronets. The family has held the following British peerage titles:
In addition, two baronetcies have been created for members of the family :