Samuel Bignold
Sir Samuel Bignold DL (13 October 1791[1] – 2 January 1875)[2] was a British businessman with insurances and Conservative politician.
Background
[edit | edit source]Born in Norwich, he was the third and youngest son of Thomas Bignold[3] and his wife Sarah, widow of Julius Long and daughter of Samuel Cocksedge.[4] He was educated at schools in Norwich and Bury St Edmunds.[4]
Career
[edit | edit source]From 1814, he worked as secretary for the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Company[5] and from 1818 had the same office for the Norwich Union Life Assurance Society,[6] both founded by his father.[4] Although an admirer of Benjamin Disraeli, he rejected the latter's rather dubious request of a loan by the Society; however, after a meeting lent the money from personal funds.[4] In 1866, he arranged the incorporation of the Amicable Society, Britain's oldest life insurance institution.[4]
Bignold was appointed Sheriff of Norwich in 1830[7] and was mayor of that city in the years 1833, 1848, 1853 and lastly 1872.[8] He presented a note of support of the Crimean War from the city of Norwich to the Parliament in 1854, for which he was created a Knight Bachelor.[6] Shortly thereafter, he entered the British House of Commons and sat for Norwich in the following three years.[2] Bignold served as Deputy Lieutenant of Norfolk.[9]
Family
[edit | edit source]In 1815, he married Elizabeth, the only child of William Atkins[9] and had by her six sons and seven daughters.[4][10] He died in 1875 at Bignold House, which he had bought in 1820 and then had become his head office, and was buried at St Margaret, Old Catton.[4] He left property worth about £120,000 (probate granted 15 February 1875).[11]
Bignold's fourth son, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Bignold (1831–1895) served as Mayor of Norwich between 1894 and 1895, Deputy Lieutenant of Norfolk, and leader of the Conservative Party in that city after 1875.[12]
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Norfolk, England, Church of England Baptism, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812
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- ^ a b c d e f g Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). [dead link]
- ^ Robert Blake: Esto Perpetua: the Norwich Union Life Insurance Society (1958)
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- ^ Robert Bignold: Five Generations of the Bignold Family, 1761-1947, and their connection with the Norwich Union (1948)
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- ^ Rosa, one of his daughters, married Edward Henry Bickersteth.
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ Obituary of Charles Edward Bignold, The Banker's Magazine, vol. 60, p. 105 (1895).