Philip Burlamachi (1575 – 1644) was a major

financial intermediary A financial intermediary is an institution or individual that serves as a " middleman" among diverse parties in order to facilitate financial transactions. Common types include commercial banks, investment banks, stockbrokers, insurance and pe ...

of King

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. Charles was born ...

, and is remembered as the inventor of the concept of a

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

. Burlamachi was born Sedan, France. His family was of

Italia Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

n origin, exiled descendants of the Lucchese Francesco Burlamacchi. He is known to have been in England for at least 30 years (since at least 1605) where he became naturalised by an Act of Parliament. He worked extensively with his brother in law Philip Calandrini who was his financial representative in Amsterdam; for example, in 1626 Philip offered to stand as guarantor for £58,400 for Charles I.Acts of The Privy Council 1621, p. 92 In 1621 Burlamachi acted on behalf of the City of London Merchants, collecting money from foreign merchants and transferring it to the Privy Council. ''"Whereas you have undertaken the collecting of such moneys as were thought reasonable and meet for the merchants strangers residing within the City of London and the outports, to contribute towards the expedition against pirates."'' He was entrusted the sum of £30,000 on behalf of the Privy Council with bills of exchange for the service of an army for the States of the United Provinces or 'direct the employment them as he shall think'. One thing that is certain and clear is the importance of Philip Burlamachi in regards to money and finance and his idea (the first of its kind) although he himself did concede "the proposal has been formerly made." Burlamachi's idea was a national clearing bank: the first known proposal for a

, where the word ''bank'' is first used for "a bank for the payment of all large sums of which shall be negotiated". The idea was originally discussed in the year 1636 and 58 years later, in 1694, the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...

was first formed. Burlamachi is also known for financing the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

. and as Postmaster of Foreign posts from 1637 to 1642. During the Anglo-French War (1627-1629), Burlamachi loaned Charles I the sum of £70,000, though the king's inability to repay him caused him to go bankrupt in 1633.Russell, C. "The Crisis of Parliaments: English History 1509-1660". Oxford University Press, 1971. p. 305

References

Bankers 1644 deaths Year of birth unknown French emigrants Immigrants to the Kingdom of England People from Sedan, Ardennes French people of Italian descent 1575 births {{UK-business-bio-1570s-stub