Alfred Latham

Son of the London wine-merchant Thomas Latham (1744-1818). Co-founder of Arbuthnot Latham and Governor of Bank of England 1861-63. He has an entry in the ODNB as 'banker' which acknowledges his slave-ownership.

1. Alfred Latham formed part of the intertwining of the Latham and Pulsford families. Alfred's father Thomas was in business with the Pulsford family as wine merchants in the 1790s and the will of Thomas Latham (1744-1818), dated 11/06/1818, mentions Robert Pulsford and [his son] William Pulsford. In 1833 Alfred Latham married Frances Pulsford of Wimpole Street and Linslade Manor Bucks, the daughter of William Pulsford the elder and sister of William Pulsford the younger and Robert Pulsford the younger (each of whom q.v). Alfred Latham was executor of the wills of both Robert Pulsford the elder and his son (Alfred's father-in-law) William Pulsford the elder.

2. Retired from Arbuthnot Latham 31/12/1865; died 01/07/1885 at 23 Norfolk Street, left £191,451 19s 10d; resworn January 1886 at £191,020 13s 1d.

3. Shown as owning Hamilton estate in Nevis 1831 Slave registration. The estate had been owned by his father who left it in trust in his will, with instructions that it should be sold. He named as trustees his sons George (q.v.) and Charles, his wife Ann (q.v.) and friends Robert Pulsford and William Coningham of Gower Street. Upon George's death in 1825 he named Alfred as his executor, which meant he replaced him as trustee to their father's estate.

4. Arbuthnot Latham was primarily oriented towards India and Asia trade, but David Lascelles history of Arbuthnot Latham, published in 2013, is candid that 'Latham and Pulsford...made their fortunes not from their wine business but from managing sugar plantations in the West Indies where they also owned slaves.' The claims for slave compensation arising from the Latham family business appear under Ann Latham (Thomas' widow and Alfred's mother) and Charles Latham (Alfred's brother), (both of whom q.v.).

Lascelles, David. 2016 "Latham, Alfred (1801–1885), banker." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 30 Sep. 2018. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-41292.

1. http://genforum.genealogy.com/pulsford/messages/4.html [accessed 03/03/2010].

2. London Gazette, Issue 23056, 02/01/1866, p. 50: National Probate Calendar 1885.

3. Ancestry.com, Slave Registers of former British Colonial Dependencies, 1812-1834 [database on-line], Nevis, 1831; Will of Thomas Latham, 8/9/1818, TNA/PROB 11/1608/97; Will of George Latham, 3/6/1825, TNA/PROB 11/1700/65.

4. David Lascelles, Arbuthnot Latham: from merchant bank to private bank 1833-2013 (London: James & James, 2013) pp. 30-31. The text identifies Thomas Latham's partner as William Pulsford and describes Alfred Latham's wife Frances as William's grand-daughter: in fact, she was the grand-daughter of Robert Pulsford the elder (d. 1835) and daughter of William Pulsford the elder (d. 1833).