Sampson Gideon

Sampson Gideon
Born February 1699
London
Died 17 October 1762(1762-10-17) (aged 63)
Erith, Kent
Nationality British
Occupation Banker

Sampson Gideon (February 1699 – 17 October 1762) was a Jewish-British banker in the City of London.

He was born at London Wall, City of London, second son in five children of Rowland Gideon (né Abudiente), who traded with the West Indies, and his second wife Esther (also Jewish), daughter of Domingo (or Abraham) do Porto, a diamond buyer in Madras, India. Rowland's parents were Portuguese immigrants.[1]

He was a trusted "adviser of the Government," and a supporter of the Jew Bill of 1753.

Early in the 1740s he married Jane (died 1778), daughter of Charles Ermell. His son, Sampson Gideon educated at Eton College, was created a Baronet in 1759 and Baron Eardley of Spalding in 1789. The elder Sampson had lobbied for a baronetcy for himself from the then prime minister, the Duke of Newcastle, but was denied it on account of his own religion, as he remained a practising Jew. His son and two daughters, on the contrary, whose mother was Christian, were baptised and brought up in the Church of England.[2]

He was also the father of Elizabeth Gideon, the wife of William Gage, 2nd Viscount Gage.

Gideon died of dropsy at Belvedere House, near Erith, Kent, in October 1762, aged 63, having a gained a fortune recorded as £350,000 (equivalent to $48 million in 2016). He left £1000 to the Sephardi Jewish congregation in London on condition he was buried with honour as a married man in their cemetery in Mile End.[2]

Memorial

In 2005, the Bexley Civic Society restored a memorial to Sampson Gideon, located in the grounds of All Saints Church, Belvedere, and produced a plaque bearing a brief history of his life. The plaque reads, "This memorial commemorates the life of Sampson Gideon (1699-1762) sometime owner of Belvedere House, and father of Lord Eardley. A financier of nationwide renown, he is believed to have been a founder of the London Stock Exchange. Such was his reputation that the British Government resorted both to his wealth and advice to underwrite the national debt, and finance the army during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 and the Seven Years' War of 1756--63. Amongst his descendants can be numbered Hugh Childers, Gladstone's Chancellor in his 1880-1885 ministry and Erskin Childers, Irish patriot and author of 'The Riddle of the Sands'. Another descendant Sir Culling Eardley was responsible for the building of this church".[3]

References

  1. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,Volume 22. Oxford University Press. 2004. p. 105. ISBN 0-19-861372-5. Article by Edgar Samuel.
  2. 1 2 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,Volume 22. p. 106. Article on Sampson Gideon (1699–1762) by Edgar Samuel.
  3. ↑ "Erith and Belvedere Local History Society". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2017-10-28.
  •  Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1890). "Gideon, Sampson". Dictionary of National Biography. 21. London: Smith, Elder & Co.


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