George Colebrooke

Sir George Colebrooke, 2nd Baronet (14 June 1729 – 5 August 1809) was an English merchant, banker and politician who sat in the British House of Commons from 1754 to 1774, representing the constituency of Arundel.

Born in Chilham, Kent, he was also a stockjobber and nabob with close ties to Robert Clive and Alexander Fordyce who thrice served as the chairman of the East India Company in 1769, 1770 and 1772 respectively.

His financial activities, which included the ownership of slave plantations in the West Indies, resulted in Colebrooke coming into the possession of a large fortune; however, he went bankrupt through poor speculations during the British credit crisis of 1772–1773.

Arundel was not a classic pocket borough, where the power to return MPs was literally tied to property rights that could be freely bought and sold, but a thoroughly corrupt one where bribery was routine and where maintaining influence of the elections required constant expenditure.

[7] Though offered compensation or new contracts on the formation of the Rockingham government, he preferred instead to accept a well-paid post as chirographer to the Court of Common Pleas.

[9] By 1771, Colebrooke clearly desired a new interior decorative scheme for 23 Arlington Street, and he hired Robert Adam to produce designs for at least seven rooms, and a selection of furniture.

In 1771 he lost £190,000 dealing in hemp; from 1772 he was attempting to corner the world's supply of alum, buying up mines in Yorkshire and Lancashire, and saw much of the remainder of his fortune swallowed up when the market collapsed as part of the financial crisis of 1772.

Most of his property, including his share in the rotten borough at Gatton and art collection, was sold in 1774 to meet his liabilities, and a commission of bankruptcy was taken out against him in 1777.