Sir John Rae Reid 2nd Bart.

Son of Sir Thomas Reid (died 29/02/1824) and partner in Reid Irving (q.v.), Governor of the Bank of England 1839-1841 and MP for Dover, bankrupt 1847.

1. Sir John Rae Reid's father, Sir Thomas Reid 1st bart. (1762-1824), 'East India merchant' and head of Reid Irvine [sic] & Co. of Broad Street Buildings is shown by Rubinstein [1824/27] as leaving £300,000. Sir Thomas Reid of Ewell Grove and Graystone Park, Dumfries was a director and sometime Chairman of the East India Co., son of James Reid of Dumfries merchant, who married Elizabeth Goodfellow daughter of John Looker Goodfellow in Feb 1791, and was made a baronet on 10 Nov. 1823. Another son, George, was born 1800.

2. John Rae Reid Baptised 20/01/1792 St Stephen Coleman Street, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Reid. There is a registration for the marriage of John Rae Reid Q3 1840 at St James Westminster.

3. 1861 census John Rae Reid baronet aged 63 living Cheam with wife Maria L. (50), children John R. (19); Louisa E. R. (17), and Henry R. (16) and Emma H Lempriere (25), presumably the daughter of Reid's former Liverpool partner. Death of John Rae Reid registered Q3 1867 aged 75 Epsom Surrey.

4. Will of Sir John Rae Reid late of Ewell Grove Ewell who died 30/07/1867 at Ewell Grove proved by widow Dame Maria Louisa Reid and Henry Valentine Rae Reid the son 06/11/1867, effects under £3000.

5. Sir John Rae Reid was a director of the Bank of England.

6. Director of putative West India Co. as one of 12 West India merchants out of 24 directors. [John Irving was one of 8 Presidents].

7. Director London & Bristol Railroad Co.

8. MP for Dover 1830, stood again (unsuccessfully) as anti-reform candidate 1831 'against the innovations attempted by persons styling themselves reformers'. Part of pro-Peel City faction 1835 to get Peel to remain in office.

9. Chaired meeting of Proprietors of East India Company Stock 1838.

10. Baronetcy of Sir JRR was created for Thomas Reid, London merchant and Chairman of East India Company in 1823, became extinct on death of JRR's second son, Sir Henry Valentine Rae-Reid, in 1903.

11. John Rae Reid inherited Ewell Grove in Epsom, Surrey, following the death of his mother (who had a life-interest in the property) in 1829. Although his three children were born in London, they were each baptised at Ewell and Reid himself died there in 1867.

12. Reid down-played his West Indian interests when standing for election in 1830: "When smeared as ‘a large slave holder’, he issued an immediate denial, explaining that he had nothing more than ‘a temporary interest as mortgagee of an estate in the West Indies’. He promised to give the abolition question his ‘attentive consideration’ when he judged that the time was ripe."

See also notes on John Irving (id: 30168) and his nephew John Irving (id: 47042)

1. William D. Rubinstein, Who were the rich? A biographical dictionary of British wealth-holders Volume One 1809-1839 (London, Social Affairs Unit, 2009), 1824/27. William Courthope (ed.), Debrett's Baronetage of England ([7th ed.], London, J. G. & F. Rivington, 1835) p. 422 Reid of Ewell Grove.

2. Ancestry.com, London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials 1538-1812 [database online]; FreeUKGen, England and Wales Free BMD Database, Marriages, 1837-1983 [database online].

3. 1861 census online.

4. National Probate Calendar 1867.

5. Various sources including Times 07/04/1820 p. 2.

6. Times 30/04/1824 p. 2.

7. Times 04/01/1825 p. 2.

8. Times 28/04/1831 p 3; Times 07/04/1835 p 5.

9. Times 24/12/1838 p. 4.

10. Times 05/09/1903 p 4.

11. http://www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/ReidFamily.html and http://www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/EwellGrove.html [accessed 01/07/2013].

12. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/reid-sir-john-1791-1867#footnote6_exxpfhp [accessed 01/07/2013].

We are grateful to Brian Bouchard for his assistance in compiling this entry.