William Manning

A plaster bust of William Manning, former Governor to the Bank of England. He is shown with his head angled to the left and is wearing a draped robe.

Manning was born in 1763, the son of West India merchant William Coventry Manning. He inherited the firm upon his father’s death in 1791. He was Governor of the Bank of England from 1812-1814.

Manning inherited his family plantations in St Croix, an island in the Caribbean Sea. As a merchant in the City of London, Manning also provided finance for slave owners and spoke out publicly in support of the slave trade.