William Lowndes - a biography by Charles Nettlefold

William Lowndes was the longest serving, and perhaps the most important, Secretary to the Treasury in English history. From 1695 to 1725 he oversaw some of the most important developments and greatest financial challenges, the country had ever faced. His portrait still hangs in the office of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He became Secretary after the English Revolution had put William and Mary on the throne and faced the immediate challenge of financing the most expensive wars that England had ever fought. He resolved the threat that the crisis of the coinage would undermine the finances of the state and oversaw the creation of the Bank of England which proved the key to providing the confidence in the financial system which enabled the Treasury to raise the finance for the war, and for all the major wars that would follow until 1815. He helped resolve the financial crisis caused by the South Sea Bubble whereas the failure to solve a similar crisis in France led inexorably to the Revolution. This is the first full biography of Lowndes written by Charles Nettlefold who is a direct descendant of Lowndes and who worked as a banker in international finance from 1972 to 2012. He has written two other books-The Lords of Yester, a history of a famous Scottish family and the beautiful house they lived in and another, The Chamberlaine Legacy on the family history of Joe, Neville and Austen Chamberlain.