Magens Dorrien Magens (ca 1762 – 30 May 1849) of Hammerwood Lodge,

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

, was an English banker, Member of Parliament and author. In early life he was known as Magens Dorrien. He adopted the surname of his uncle

Nicholas Magens Esq. Nicholas Magens or Nicolaus Paul Magens (1697 or 1704–1764) was an attorney, a merchant specializing in Spain and her colonies in America, and an expert on ship insurance, general average and bottomry who gained a great reputation in co ...

by special licence on 16 December 1788, after his marriage.William Retlaw Williams, ''The Parliamentary History of the Principality of Wales, from the earliest times to the present day, 1541-1895'', p. 55 He was born the third son of John Dorrien (-1784), a merchant banker, originally from Hamburg, and

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 ...

director of London and Great Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire. In 1788 Dorrien (as he still was) married the Hon. Henrietta Cecilia Rice (1758–1829), a daughter of George Rice and

Cecil de Cardonnel, 2nd Baroness Dynevor Cecil de Cardonnel, 2nd Baroness Dynevor (July 1735 – 14 March 1793) was a Welsh peeress. Biography Born on July 1935, she was the daughter of William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot. Her mother was the daughter and heir of Adam de Cardonnel ...

. Their children were Cecilia, George William, Maria, and Anne Frances. The bank in which he was a partner, having inherited a lump sum and an estate at

Brightlingsea Brightlingsea (, traditionally , , ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the Tendring District, Tendring district of Essex, England. It is situated between Colchester and Clacton-on-Sea, at the mouth of the River Colne, Essex, River Colne, on ...

from his aunt (1712-1779) and uncle Nicholas Magens, was called Magens, Dorrien, and Magens. By 1798 it was Dorrien, Magens, Mello, Martin, and Harrison, and later changed its name to Dorrien, Magens, Mello, and Company. In 1798 the firm sent some silver bullion to the

Royal Mint The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's official maker of British coins. It is currently located in Llantrisant, Wales, where it moved in 1968. Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly ow ...

to be coined into

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

s, resulting in the rare "Dorrien and Magens shilling" of 1798. He was also Deputy Chairman, and later Chairman, of the Rock Life Assurance Company. His brother George was director of the Bank of England. A

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

, Magens was elected to Parliament for

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, ; , 'Merlin's fort' or possibly 'Sea-town fort') is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community (Wales), community in Wales, lying on the River Towy north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. At the 2021 United Kingdom cen ...

in May 1796 but was unseated the following November following an

election petition An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

. He was a Member of Parliament for Ludgershall in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

from 1804 to 1812. Re-elected for Ludgershall in 1812, in December of that year he became Steward of the Manor of East Hendred, a notional "

office of profit An office of profit means a position that brings to the person holding it some financial gain, or advantage, or benefit. It may be an office or place of profit if it carries some remuneration, financial advantage, benefit etc. It is a term used i ...

under

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

" which was used as a device for resigning from the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. Magens died at

Hammerwood Park Hammerwood Park is a country house in Hammerwood, near East Grinstead, in East Sussex, England. It is a listed building, Grade I listed building. One of the first houses in England to be built in the Greek Revival architectural style, it was bu ...

in 1849, aged 87."MAGENS, Magens Dorien", in Register of Deaths for East Grinstead Registration District, vol. 7 (1849), p. 272

Publications

*Magens Dorrien Magens, Esq., ''An Inquiry into the Real Difference between Actual Money and Paper Money; Also an Examination into the Constitution of Banks'' (London, 1804) *''Thoughts Upon a New Coinage of Silver, More Especially as It Relates to an Alteration in the Division of the Pound Troy; by a Banker'' (new edition by Gale Ecco, 2010)

Notes

External links

Magens Dorrien Magens
at theyworkforyou.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Magens, Magens Dorrien Year of birth uncertain 1849 deaths British bankers Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Welsh constituencies British MPs 1796–1800 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 Smith-Dorrien family