Family and Education

b. c.1647, 4th s. of Robert Scawen, M.P., of Horton, Bucks. and bro. of Sir Thomas Scawen. m. (lic. 2 Dec. 1684) Mary, da. of Sir William Maynard, 1st Bt., s.p. suc. bro. to Horton 1691. Kntd. 29 Oct. 1692.

Offices Held

Director, Bank of England 1694-5, 1699-1722 (with statutory intervals), dep. gov. 1695-7, gov. 1697-9; director, E.I. Co. 1710-12.

Biography

Sir William Scawen was descended from a Cornish family, whose estate of Molinick, carrying an interest in the borough of Mitchell, he inherited. His father, a successful London attorney, bought the manor of Horton, Bucks. in 1658.1 A merchant, army clothing contractor,2 and financier, who made a fortune in the wars of William III, he bought the manor of Carshalton and other properties in Surrey, for which he sat as a Whig 1705-10, and again 1721-2. He died 18 Oct. 1722, leaving £7,000 to each of his three younger nephews, the sons of his brother Thomas, and all his real property in Buckinghamshire, Surrey, Yorkshire, Cornwall and Ireland to his eldest nephew, Thomas Scawen, with £10,000 from his personal estate to be spent on rebuilding the house at Carshalton according to plans already made, which were never carried out.3

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Romney R. Sedgwick

Notes

• 1. G.W.J. Gyll, Wraysbury, 216-20.
• 2. Cal. Treas. Bks. xxxii. 37.
• 3. PCC 233 Marlborough.