Edward King Fordham
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Edward King Fordham (1750–1847) was an English banker and political reformer.


Career and the Royston Bank

The second son of Edward Fordham (1721–1778) of
Therfield Therfield is a village and civil parish in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. The village stands on a broad chalk ridge, about south-west of Royston. At its northern end, the parish includes the common land of Therf ...
in Hertfordshire and his wife Mary Carter (1722–1798) he moved to Royston, the nearby town, while still a young man. In early life he worked as a woolcomber and stapler. He became prominent in business there, and a founder of the Royston Bank. The Royston Bank was set up in 1808, and traded under the name of Fordham, Flower & Co. In 1825 control passed within the Fordham family to John Edward Fordham (1799–1881), a nephew of Edward King Fordham, with John George Fordham (1780–1877), another nephew; John Edward ran the bank, then known as John Fordham & Co. The Royston Bank, then Fordham & Co., lost its independence in 1896 with the merger of a dozen banks to form Barclay & Co.


The Fordhams as brewers

The family concern was brewing.
Peter Mathias Peter Mathias, (10 January 1928 – 1 March 2016) was a British economic historian and the former Chichele Professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford. His research focused on the history of industry, Business history, business, ...
considers the practical operation of duties on maltsters and brewers made a step into finance, from retaining duty on malt, a natural one; though the Fordham family was one of only a handful who made it. Fordham's father Edward was in that business at Ashwell. It was however another Edward King Fordham (1810–1889) who in 1839 constructed a larger brewery at Ashwell. He was in partnership with his brother Oswald. He then built it up, attaching many pubs as tied houses, and it became the largest brewery in the area. It was sold to the Luton brewer J.W Green in 1953.


The Fordhams and Hertfordshire politics

The younger George Fordham, a nephew of Edward King Fordham, was a follower of
William Cobbett William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835) was an English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey. He was one of an Agrarianism, agrarian faction seeking to reform Parliament, abolish "rotten boroughs", restr ...
. In early 1822 a meeting was held to consider rural distress, and participants included
Thomas Brand, 20th Baron Dacre Thomas Brand, 20th Baron Dacre (25 March 1774 – 21 March 1851) was a British peer and Whig politician. Background Dacre was the eldest son of Thomas Brand, of The Hoo, Hertfordshire, and Gertrude, 19th Baroness Dacre, daughter of the Hon. Cha ...
, a Hertfordshire Whig MP to 1819, and William Lamb, then sitting as MP. In bitter exchanges, George Fordham required Lamb to strengthen a reform petition proposed by Dacre, by an amendment; Lamb declined to be instructed; and George's brother Edward made an ''ad hominem'' attack on Lamb. Sir John Sebright, the other sitting MP, also refused to be treated as a delegate. Edward King Fordham intervened, explaining that he concurred with the amendment, but also with Dacre's view that it should be withdrawn. He took the same line that his nephews as extreme reformers were being divisive at a meeting in 1823.


Associations

From 1833 to shortly after Fordham's death, the minister at Royston's Unitarian chapel was Archibald Forbes Macdonald (1808–1886). Ruston believes that, almost certainly, Fordham was his major source of income. He was later known as an "advanced Radical".


Family

Fordham was married in 1785, to Sarah Chantry (1756-1823), but died without surviving issue. A marble tablet to them was placed in
Kelshall Kelshall is a small village and civil parish in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It lies south-west of Royston, its post town. The parish had a population of 166 at the 2021 census. Geography The village lies on to ...
church. With his brother George (1752-1840), Fordham bought the
Odsey Odsey is a hamlet in the civil parish of Steeple Morden, Cambridgeshire, England, close to the border with Hertfordshire. It lies just off the A505 road roughly equidistant between Royston and Baldock. It is the location of Ashwell and Morden ...
estate from
William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, (14 December 1748 – 29 July 1811), was a British nobleman, aristocrat, and politician. He was the eldest son of William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, by his wife, the heiress Charlotte Cavendi ...
, in 1793. There were two other brothers, Elias (1762-1838) who became a Unitarian minister, and John (1747-1830); Elias Pym Fordham was the son of Elias Fordham and his wife Ann Clapton. Fordham also bought property at
Sandon, Hertfordshire Sandon is a village and civil parish in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. The village lies north-west of Buntingford, its post town, and east of Baldock. The parish also includes the hamlets of Green End and Roe Green, ...
, some acquired via Elias. Fordham's sister Elizabeth (1765-1846) married Richard Flower the brewer, brother of
Benjamin Flower Benjamin Flower (1755 – 17 February 1829) was an English radical journalist and political writer, and a vocal opponent of his country's involvement in the early stages of the Napoleonic Wars. Early life He was born in London, the son of a pro ...
.
Edward Fordham Flower Edward Fordham Flower (1805–1883) was an English brewer and author who campaigned for a Shakespeare memorial theatre and against cruelty to animals. Origins Born at Marden Hill in Hertfordshire on 31 January 1805, he was the younger surviving ...
was therefore Edward King Fordham's nephew. The younger Edward King Fordham of the later 19th century was a great-nephew.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fordham, Edward King 1750 births 1847 deaths English businesspeople English bankers People from North Hertfordshire District