Rowland Stephenson

Rowland Stephenson (19 May 1782 – 2 July 1856) was a British banker and politician who precipitated the collapse of a bank and took refuge in America. The son of banker and great nephew of his namesake, MP for Carlisle (1787–1790), he had been born at sea when his family returned from Florida when their business failed after the American War of Independence. He joined Remington, Stephenson & Company on leaving Eton. He already had several properties in Essex, the manor of Cockermouth and How Hatch estate in Dagenham, before adding to his property in Romford by buying Marshalls in 1816. Family life In 1771, Stephenson's father, John (died 1822), married Mary Broadley, the niece of Royal Naval commander, Thomas Broadley. In 1776, John became a member of the King's Council in Pensacola, Florida—under British control since 1763—where he worked as a merchant and provisioning agent. During the American Revolutionary War, John's business collapsed and opted to return to London and become a banking partner in his uncle Rowland Stephenson's bank. It was during their return to London while still at sea that Mary gave birth to Rowland. Stephenson was baptised 2 August 1782 in Camden Town, Greater London. Stephenson married his cousin, Mary Eliza, on 23 April 1807. His eldest son, Rowland Macdonald Stephenson (1808–1895), became a civil engineer and managing director of the East India Railway Company, for which he was knighted in October 1856.