Edward Backwell, London, 1653-82
From RBS History
This page is about a person connected to the history of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
Brief history
Edward Backwell (c.1618-83) was apprenticed to London goldsmith Thomas Vyner between 1635 and 1651. He traded as a goldsmith banker, in Cheapside from 1653, and at the sign of the Unicorn, Lombard Street from 1654. Elected Alderman of the City of London in 1660, he was by the 1650s an active and full-time banker serving an extensive clientele, including numerous merchants, government officers and the Protectorate. Along with Sir Thomas Vyner, he produced bullion for Cromwell's coinage. During the 1660s he provided financial services to the Crown. There was a run on his bank in 1665, possibly linked to the death by plague of his cashier, but he continued to thrive. He kept running cashes and substantial clearing accounts for fellow goldsmith bankers, carried on an extensive bullion and bills of exchange business with the continent, acted for Charles II as paymaster to overseas garrisons (including Dunkerque) and as agent for the Queen's dowry and was active in various syndicates of tax and customs farmers. His deposits were largely reinvested in the King and Government departments.
At the 'stop' of the Exchequer in 1672 Backwell was owed more by the crown than any other goldsmith except Robert Vyner, and it is probable that he ceased trading as a banker during that year. In 1674 the amount then owed to Backwell was calculated at £295,994 out of a total of £1,328,526 due to the London goldsmiths, and the government agreed to pay him an annuity so that he could begin to repay his creditors. Despite the failure of his bank, he continued to act as a financial agent of the crown. He was declared bankrupt in 1682, and a private Act of Parliament was passed in 1698 in order to settle his outstanding debts to his creditors.
Barneby and William Backwell, relations of Edward Backwell, were partners in Child & Co, bankers of London, between 1736 and 1756.
Published histories
- D K Clark, ‘Edward Backwell as a royal agent’, Economic History Review, 1938-39, vol.9, p.45-55
- F G Hilton Price, ‘Some account of the business of Alderman Edward Backwell, goldsmith and banker in the seventeenth century’, Transactions of the London & Middlesex Archaeological Society, 1890, vol.6, p.191-230
- Stephen Quinn, ‘Banking before the Bank: London’s unregulated goldsmith-bankers, 1660-1694’, unpublished manuscript, University of Illinois, 1994
- Stephen Quinn, ‘Balances and goldsmith-bankers: the co-ordination and control of inter-banker debt clearing in seventeenth-century London’, in David Mitchell (ed.) Goldsmiths, silversmiths and bankers: innovation and the transfer of skill, 1550 to 1750 (Stroud: Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd, 1995)
- Stephen Quinn, ‘Goldsmith-banking: mutual acceptance and inter-banker clearing in restoration London’, Explorations in Economic History, 1997, vol.34, p.411-432
- R D Richards, ‘A pre-Bank of England English banker – Edward Backwell’, The Economic Journal, 1928, p.335-355
- H G Roseveare, ‘The advancement of the king’s credit, 1660-1672’, Unpublished manuscript, Cambridge University, 1962.
Summary of our archive holdings
Our archival records created by Edward Backwell have the reference code EB.
- Customer account ledgers 1663-72
- 'Dunkirk' ledger 1656-77
- list of tallies 1668
- payment instruction 1671