{{Short description|English politician and business owner (c.1795-1876)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2014}} {{Use British English|date=March 2014}} {{Infobox person | name = George Head Head | image = George_Head_Head.jpg | image_size = | caption = Head in 1840.<ref name=npg/> | birth_name = | birth_date = c.1795 <!-- {{Birth date|1795|MM|DD}} --> | birth_place = | death_date = 12 December 1876 (aged 81)<!-- {{Death date and age|1876|12|12|1795|MM|DD|df=y}} --> | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | employer = | occupation = Banker | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = | children = | parents = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''George Head Head''' (c.1795 – 12 December 1876)<ref name=blb/> was a mayor, magistrate, banker and mine owner in Carlisle. The bank was started by his father, but was improved and rebuilt in his lifetime.<ref name=car>[http://www.carlislehistory.co.uk/carlislehistoryh.html Carlisle History], accessed 26 July 2008</ref> He attended an important convention in 1840 on Anti-Slavery, where a painting records his involvement.<ref name=npg/>
==Biography== George Head Head was born to a successful banker (J .M. Head) who had a private bank called ''J.M.Head and Co.''. His father had started the bank in his grocers shop and it was passed on to George, who continued to run it at its original location on Botchergate in Carlisle. Eventually Head had the first local building built that was intended to be a bank.<ref name=car/>
From 1835 until his death in 1876 Head was the principal shareholder of the Greenside Mine, a profitable lead mine near Glenridding in Westmorland.<ref>{{cite book | author = Samuel Murphy | date = 1996 | title = Grey Gold | publisher = Moiety | location = Tanworth-in-Arden, Warwickshire | pages = 33, 36 | isbn = 0952636077}}</ref>
In 1840, Head journeyed to London to attend the World's Anti-Slavery Convention on 12 June 1840. The picture above shows him in a painting made to commemorate the event which attracted delegates from America, France, Haiti, Australia, Ireland, Jamaica and Barbados.<ref name=npg>[http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp00224&rNo=0&role=sit The Anti-Slavery Society Convention] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303165117/http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait.php?LinkID=mp00224&rNo=0&role=sit |date=3 March 2016 }}, 1840, Benjamin Robert Haydon, accessed 19 July 2008</ref>
He was the High Sheriff of Cumberland in 1851<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=21181|page=363|date=11 February 1851}}</ref> and Deputy Lieutenant in 1852.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=xOA1AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA860 Bulletins and Other State Intelligence], accessed 28 July 2008</ref>
Head's first wife, Maria Woodrouffe Head, died in 1854.<ref name=blb/> He married Sarah Gurney on 1 May 1858 in West Ham. Sarah's late father was Samuel Gurney ("The Bankers' Banker") of Upton, Essex <ref name=gent>[https://books.google.com/books?id=c_cIAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22george+head+head%22&pg=PA666 The Gentleman's Magazine], accessed 26 July 2008</ref> left|thumb|The Octagonal Folly that was built by George Head Head near Rickerby Head's bank was demolished in 1865, when it was amalgamated with the Cumberland Union Bank.<ref name=car/>
He owned Rickerby Hall which today stands in the public area called Rickerby Park. He is particularly noted for commissioning a large octagonal tower. This folly is an important local landmark.<ref name=visit>[http://www.visitcumbria.com/car/rickerbypark.htm VisitCumbria] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720005055/http://www.visitcumbria.com/car/rickerbypark.htm |date=20 July 2008 }}, accessed 26 July 2008</ref>
Head was interested in book collecting<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=HIXSwp1pUS4C&q=%22George+Head+Head%22 A Roll of Honour: A Calendar of the Names of Over 17,000 Men and Women], William Carew Hazlitt, 1908 and 1971, {{ISBN|0-8337-1630-1}}</ref> and supported the anti-slavery movement.<ref name=npg/> He died in 1876 and his adopted heir Miles MacInnes, a justice of the Peace, succeeded to the {{convert|940|acre|km2}} of Rickerby. MacInnes acquired Rickerby Park at Carlisle.<ref>[http://www.carlisle.gov.uk/leisure_and_culture/parks_and_open_spaces/parks_and_open_spaces/rickerby_park/history_of_rickerby.aspx Carlisle City Council History of Rickerby] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006151603/http://www.carlisle.gov.uk/leisure_and_culture/parks_and_open_spaces/parks_and_open_spaces/rickerby_park/history_of_rickerby.aspx |date=6 October 2014 }}</ref> He had been adopted as heir to George Head Head and he was a distant relative of his wives who were both childless. MacInnes was left £160,000 and the estate on the understanding that he would use Head's coat of arms and the surname "Head". Macinness did not take on the surname but did enjoy the inheritance.<ref name=news>{{cite news|title=Legacy to the Railways|url=http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk/legacy-to-the-railways-1.705543|access-date=1 October 2014|publisher=Cumberland News|date=7 May 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141001173728/http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk/legacy-to-the-railways-1.705543|archive-date=1 October 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
Head's monument in Carlisle St Michael's church and the plaques to his two wives are all grade two listed constructions.<ref name=blb>{{cite web|title=Monument to George Head Head to South West of Church of St Michael, Carlisle|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-386684-monument-to-george-head-head-to-south-we|publisher=britishlistedbuildings.co.uk|access-date=10 March 2014}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Head, George Head}} Category:1790s births Category:1876 deaths Category:British abolitionists Category:Deputy lieutenants of Cumberland Category:English bankers Category:High sheriffs of Cumberland Category:People from Carlisle, Cumbria Category:19th-century English businesspeople