John Orbell

A Man of Perseverance

George White, trouble-shooter and clerk of Messrs Baring

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Few City of London clerks of the Victorian era have been written about; this biography may well be a first. George Henry White (1817–1889), a yeoman farmer’s son from Essex, climbed almost to the top of Baring Brothers, the leading London merchant bank, before being toppled – most probably because he was simply too able. He travelled the world for the bank, notably to Argentina and Mexico, sorting out its problems, crossing oceans in paddle steamers, negotiating settlements with unhelpful finance ministers and often facing real danger. Away from the office he learned to paint expertly and was a pioneer in compiling the New English Dictionary (the Oxford English Dictionary). Important features of the book are the reproductions of his watercolours, mostly of Mexico in the early 1860s, and extracts from the letters he sent to London from Mexico. Together they form a remarkable visual and written record of Mexico at this time.

Format

Paperback

Pages

108

Illustrations

43 colour

Includes

Index

Trim size

265 × 194 mm

ISBN

978-0956611154

Published

2025, Tailor’s End Press

Contents

• Introduction
• Family Tree
  • George White, 1817–1889
• Part One
  • George White’s Work and Life
    • Early life
    • Clerk at Barings
    • Trouble-shooting in Buenos Aires
    • Sojourn in Mexico
    • Last years at Barings and Indian summer
    • Retirement at Torquay
    • George White, the financial analyst
    • George White, the artist and his Mexican watercolours
  • Endnotes
  • Appendix One – George White’s remuneration, 1834–73
  • Appendix Two – Addresses of Barings’ clerks returned to the Inland Revenue, 1845, 1848, 1850
  • Appendix Three – Pictures owned by George White
  • Appendix Four – Books bequeathed to the Torquay Natural History Society
  • Appendix Five – George White’s expenses account
• Part Two
  • Letters from Mexico to London, 1862–1863
    • Introduction
    • Editorial
    • Statesmen, diplomats and soldiers referred to in the text
  • The Letters
  • Index to Part One