But the firm lost money in eight of its first fourteen years, as Francis Baring learned how to judge markets; having started out with £10,000 he reckoned that by 1777 his net worth stood at just £2,500.

Notwithstanding these private reverses, the City of London quickly recognized Baring's special qualities and in 1771 the Royal Exchange Assurance, a giant public business, appointed him to its court.

Early on Baring's business profits were derived mostly from international trade, especially between Britain, the western European coast, the Iberian peninsula, Italy, the West Indies, and, from the 1770s, North America.

Through them Baring was introduced to Senator William Bingham, one of America's wealthiest men, a connection which gave rise to several lucrative transactions.

Baring's work from 1782 as an adviser on commercial matters to cabinet ministers propelled him from relative obscurity to the inner circles of British political life, underlining how his influence had grown.

Baring's ideas on political economy and commerce were well ahead of his time; in 1799 he defended the Bank of England's decision (in 1797) to suspend specie payments as both correct and inevitable, in the face of hostile opposition from many of his peers.

Shelburne introduced Baring to Isaac Barré, his paymaster-general, and to such leading luminaries as William Pitt the Younger, Henry Dundas, Jeremy Bentham, Edmund Burke, Sir Samuel Romilly, and Lords Erskine, Camden and Sydney.

However, Baring's friendship with Lord Lansdowne (as Shelburne became in 1784), Dunning, and Barré ran particularly deep, and in 1787 he drew public attention to it by commissioning their triple portrait from Sir Joshua Reynolds.

Baring's personal influence in government waned but his expert advice, always fairly delivered, continued to be provided on such matters as trade with Turkey, the importance of Gibraltar, and the funding of the national debt.

Notwithstanding his admission that "my voice is so very unequal to the House of Commons",[12] his speeches were reckoned to be "neat, flowing and perspicuous, aiming more by solidity of argument to arrest and convince his hearers, than by beautiful figures and impassioned eloquence to mislead the minds of men".

[14] There can be little doubt that Baring's firm benefited directly as well as indirectly from his political connections, in particular from Barré's almost limitless patronage as paymaster-general during the American War of Independence.

[22] Throughout Baring's lifetime his good commercial intelligence, sound judgement, nimble-footedness, and instinct for speculative profit remained the hallmarks of his business style.

The two houses set about controlling the entire European cochineal market by secretly buying up all available stocks, one quarter for Barings and the rest for Hopes.

Correspondents from Saint Petersburg to Cadiz spent £450,000 but prices remained static and in 1788, with a huge loss anticipated, the partners of Barings agreed "to forgo any participation of the profits of the trade for the last year".

In late 1795 Baring dispatched his 22-year-old son, Alexander, to Boston to negotiate and execute the purchase of more than 1 million acres (4,000 km2) of land in Maine for £107,000.

The investment was introduced by the land's owner, Senator William Bingham, son-in-law of Barings' Philadelphia correspondent, Thomas Willing, and yet another friend of Lansdowne.

British government expenditure, which grew to unprecedented levels during the European wars, created great opportunities for London merchant bankers such as Sir Francis Baring.

After 1799 his firm headed the list of public debt contractors in twelve of the next fifteen years, supposedly giving rise to total profits of £190,000.

Believing fervently that "it may be desirable not to have the subject to discuss with our own Ministers, as you know very well how ignorant they are of foreign finance",[24] in 1801 he dispatched his son-in-law P. C. Labouchere of Hopes and his son George to negotiate a loan to the court of Lisbon.

This highly secret and sensitive work required expert knowledge of money transmission and a sound correspondent network; again it underlined the government's confidence in Baring.

However, his first significant transaction for its account was the sale in 1795 of $800,000 worth of stock and the remittance of the proceeds in support of American negotiations with the north African Barbary powers.

To secure the transaction Francis Baring admitted to acting with "zeal, perhaps imprudence, in going beyond the letters of my orders",[26] but the American ambassador in London commended his "liberal and skilful manner", and undertook to ensure that the government would "entertain a proper sense of your Service in this Business".

[29] At about this time, when a short interval of peace existed after the treaty of Amiens, Baring led his house, alongside Hopes, into its largest and most prestigious transaction yet, financing the Louisiana Purchase.

The business was of enormous size; "my nerves are equal to the operation", Francis Baring reassured Hopes, but he added that "we all tremble about the magnitude of the American account".

He stood down as partner in 1804, handing the reins to Charles Wall, the "principal manager" according to Farrington, and his three eldest sons, Thomas, Alexander, and Henry.

[33] He was a patron of Sir Thomas Lawrence, whom he summoned to Stratton in 1806 to paint a magisterial triple portrait of Baring with his two senior partners as a memorial to his business achievement.

In the 25 years from 1777, Baring had transformed his firm into one of London's most powerful merchant banking houses; by about 1786 he reckoned that it was "in a very flourishing situation, totally divested of moonshine".

[34] By 1800 a network of influential correspondents stretched across Europe; agencies were held for leading Boston and Philadelphia merchants; leadership in marketing British government debt was undisputed; Baring was a respected adviser to senior politicians; his leadership in the East India Company had provided influence in trade east of Africa; and, not least, important commissions had been won from foreign governments.

Harriet's sister Mary in 1766 married one of London's leading private bankers, Richard Stone of Martin & Co., with whom Francis Baring's firm had opened an account in 1764.

£175,000 was distributed among his children other than Thomas, who inherited the balance; his capital remaining in Baring Brothers & Co. amounted to almost £70,000; his Hampshire and Lee estates were valued at £400,000; and his pictures, jewels, and furniture were worth almost £30,000.