Francis Baring was Chairman of The British East India Company in 1792 for one year. The President of the Board of Control at the time was Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville, Home Secretary.
Francis Baring was a Director of The British East India Company in 1784, 1789, 1794, 1799, 1804 and 1809 (he died 1810).
From "The Sixth Great Power : Barings, 1762 - 1929" by Philip Ziegler:
Thomas Willing of the Bank of the United States had been one of Francis Baring’s staunchest allies since the early 1790s. Cazenoves had previously been the closest associate of the Bank and were not at all pleased to see their cosy relationship disturbed. In July 1793 Baring wrote to thank Willing for trying to steer all the Bank’s business in his direction.
...In February 1803, however, Willing, with some help from Rufus King in London, secured Barings the prize they had long coveted – the agency of the government of the United States in London. When Barings took over the payment of dividends on US government stock, Alexander had argued that in this way they would ‘secure a species of monopoly in the direction of American Stocks in Europe and become more obvious for individual operations of commerce.’ The government agency was the logical next step. After the failure of the previous agents Bird, Savage and Bird, Rufus King told Barings, the American government had decided to employ ‘an English house of the first Reputation and Solidity’ to make the ‘large Remittances to the Continent’ which were periodically necessary and to keep in funds various US diplomatic missions. The work was often troublesome and the recompense in commission income insignificant, but the prestige was all important. From 1803 no one could doubt that Barings were the leading ‘American’ house in London.
Thomas Willing was the President of The Bank of North America, and later President of the Bank of The United States. Two of his granddaughters married into the Baring family.
I am currently researching Barings and slavery.
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