William Joseph Denison

1. Marked as Trustee on Vere claim no. 37.

2. Banker and politician (Whig): see Political legacies

Became (1806) senior partner in his father's banking business, Denison, Heywood, and Kennard of Lombard Street. At his death, 'Denison was probably among the eight or ten wealthiest British businessmen at the time of his death', leaving an estimated £2.3m (Rubinstein)

"One of the very richest men in England, although little known, and certainly one of the four or five richest bankers of the nineteenth century. He was known for his 'strict parsimony' in his private life. His sister, Elizabeth, Marchioness of Conyngham, was a mistress of George IV." (Rubinstein, wealthholders files, 1849, IV, 1849/31.)

Unmarried, Denison left the whole of his wealth to his nephew, Lord Albert Conyngham (1805–1860) (first Baron Londesborough). In 1883, his son, the second Baron Londesborough, 'owned nearly 53,000 acres in Yorkshire, worth £68,000 per annum in rental income, one of the very greatest examples of the use of business wealth to purchase land on a grand scale in modern British history'. (Rubinstein).

1. See Draper, Price of Emancipation, Appendix 1.

2. See W. D. Rubinstein's entry in the Oxford DNB for further details. See also William D. Rubinstein, Who were the rich? A biographical dictionary of British wealth-holders Volume Two 1840-1859 (London, Social Affairs Unit, 2012) reference 1849/31.