Family and Education

b. 24 June 1747, 1st s. of Humphrey Mackworth Praed.  educ. Eton 1757; Magdalen, Oxf. 1767.  m. 19 June 1778, Elizabeth da. of Barnaby Backwell, banker, and (in 1777) h. to her bro. Tyringham Backwell, 7s. 3da.  suc. fa. 6 Mar. 1803.

Offices Held

Biography

The first time Praed was brought in for St. Ives by his father he was unseated on petition. By 1780 their hold on the borough was well-nigh complete, and Praed’s further elections were uncontested. He voted with North in each of the six divisions, December 1781-March 1782, for which lists are available; did not vote on Shelburne’s peace preliminaries, 18 Feb. 1783; voted against Fox’s East India bill, 27 Nov. 1783, and ranked henceforth as a follower of Pitt. He was, however, a member of the St. Alban’s Tavern group; and he voted against Richmond’s fortifications plan, 27 Feb. 1786. Only one intervention of his in debate is recorded in the period: on 3 Mar. 1785, in support of continuing the Westminster scrutiny.

Praed became a partner in his father’s Truro bank in 1779; founded c.1801 the London bank of Praed Co., 189 Fleet Street; and was instrumental in having the bill for the Grand Junction Canal passed by Parliament, ‘and in forming a company for carrying on that undertaking in 1790’.1

He died 9 Oct. 1833.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: Sir Lewis Namier

Notes

• 1. Boase Courtney, Biblio. Cornub. ii. 524; L. S. Pressnell, Country Banking in Industrial Rev. 295-6.