Alexander Peckover, 1st Baron Peckover

Bank House, Wisbech, the seat of Lord Peckover.

Alexander Peckover, 1st Baron Peckover FRGS, FSA, FLS (16 August 1830 – 21 October 1919), was a British Quaker banker, philanthropist and collector of ancient manuscripts.

Peckover was born at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, the son of Algernon Peckover, of Bank House, Wisbech, by Priscilla Alexander, daughter of Dykes Alexander, a banker, of Ipswich, Suffolk. He was educated at Grove House School, Tottenham, London.[1] The Peckovers were a Quaker banking family and owners of the Peckover Bank, which later merged into Gurney, Peckover and Company, of which he was a partner between 1847 and 1894.[1] His sister Priscilla Hannah Peckover was a pacifist and linguist.[2] In his retirement he devoted himself mainly to metereological studies and the collection of ancient manuscripts.[3] He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, the Society of Antiquaries and the Linnean Society of London[1] and a member of the Hakluyt Society and the British Numismatic Society. In 1893, he was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, a post he held until 1906.[1] The following year he was raised to the peerage as Baron Peckover, of Wisbech in the County of Cambridge.[4] He had only daughters and is said to have declined the offer a special remainder that would have allowed the title to descend through his daughter to his grandson, stating that "if my grandson want the title he should earn it".[3]

Lord Peckover married Eliza Sharples, daughter of Joseph Sharples, a banker, of Hitchin, Hertfordshire, in 1858. They had three daughters. Eliza died in August 1862, only a year after the birth of her youngest child. Lord Peckover remained a widower until his death in October 1919, aged 89. His title died with him.[1] His daughter Elizabeth married the artist J. Doyle Penrose.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 thepeerage.com Alexander Peckover, 1st and last Baron Peckover
  2. ↑ "Peckover, Priscilla Hannah". Det Danske Fredsakademi. Retrieved 2015-03-14.
  3. 1 2 The New York Times: "Lord Peckover died at 89."
  4. ↑ "No. 28043". The London Gazette. 23 July 1907. p. 5029.
Honorary titles
Preceded by
Charles Watson Townley		 Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire
1893–1907		 Succeeded by
The Viscount Clifden
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Peckover
1907–1919		 Extinct
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