- Edward Backwell
Edward Backwell (c.1618 – 1683) was an English
goldsmith , financier, and politician.The son of Barnaby Backwell, of
Leighton Buzzard , he became a resident ofLondon , and was apprenticed toThomas Vyner as a goldsmith in 1635. Like other goldsmiths of the era, he was also a banker and played a role in State finance duringThe Protectorate , when he profited considerably by the resale of former Royal lands. He continued to operate in finance during the reign of Charles II, and is frequently mentioned in the diary ofSamuel Pepys . He had his goldsmith's shop in Lombard Street. He was selected analderman forBishopsgate 1660–1661. The stoppage of theExchequer in 1672 badly damaged him financially. He and his son John were appointed comptroller of customs in the port of London in 1671, and with his old master Vyner, he was from 1671 to 1675 a commissioner of the customs and farmer of the customs revenue. He went bankrupt in 1682.He owned land in
Buckinghamshire andHuntingdonshire , and was twice returned for Wendover. By his first marriage, in 1657, to Sarah Brett, he had one son,John Backwell . In 1662, he married Mary Leigh (d. 1669), by whom he had three sons and two daughters. He died in 1683 inHolland , where he had gone after his bankruptcy, and was buried in London onJune 13 1683 .External links
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp51485 Portrait]
References
* [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=31878.#s2 Aldermen of London]
* [http://www.leighton-linslade.com/people/lb_backwell1.html Leighton-Linslade Past Times]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
