Open Collections

[between 1900 and 1929]

1 bookplate : steel engraving ; 6.5 x 9.2 cm

Langport (England)

Prints

image/jpeg

According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Vincent Stuckey (1771-1845) was a member of the Stuckey family of bankers and merchants who came to prominence with Stuckey's uncle Samuel George Stuckey (1740-1812). Born on 24 March 1771 at Langport, Somerset, he was the youngest of the eight children of George Stuckey (1731-1807), banker and merchant, and his wife, Edith (1742-1793), daughter of Thomas Beedal, of Langport, Somerset. He had four brothers and three sisters, though he was the only surviving son. His father, George, Samuel Stuckey's elder brother, was not only a prominent member of the bank and merchant house, but was also mayor of the town on no fewer than four occasions. After an early career in the Treasury, Stuckey resigned from the Treasury in 1801 and returned to the family business at Langport. On 16 April 1801, he married his first cousin Julia (1781-1861), the youngest daughter of his uncle Samuel. By 1807 he was made a partner in the bank, though with the death of his father, George, and his uncle Samuel in poor health, Vincent Stuckey became de facto head of the firm and became senior partner in 1812 upon the death of Samuel. Following the financial crisis of 1825-6, Stuckey was the first private banker to take advantage of the new legislation which removed the Bank of England's monopoly of joint-stock organization, by converting the Langport Bank to Stuckey's Banking Company in 1826. Stuckey was widely regarded as the leading country banker of his generation, and is often quoted for his phrase 'bankers are mortal, but banks should never die'. While he continued to be involved in the management of the bank, he also expanded his family's mercantile interests, and also served as mayor of Langport on three occasions, in 1810, 1823, and 1833, and served as a magistrate, churchwarden, and trustee of the local grammar school. Vincent Stuckey died at Langport on 8 May 1845 and was buried there shortly afterwards in All Saints' Church. Of ten children birthed by him and his wife who died 15 February 1861, only two daughters survived into adulthood. Their considerable fortune was passed to Vincent Stuckey Wood, second son of their daughter Julia Wood, who took the name and arms of Stuckey in 1861 and subsequently became the third chairman of Stuckey's Banking Company between 1876 and 1900.
References:
1) Iain S. Black, "Stuckey family," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2008. Accessed at: <http://www.oxforddnb.com/> (26 March 2008).

RBSC Bookplates

2008

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