Sir Mark Collet, 1st Baronet


Sir Mark Wilks Collet, 1st Baronet was an English merchant and banker. He served as Governor of the Bank of England between 1887 and 1889, and was made a baronet on 12 June 1888 in connection with his services in converting the National Debt. He was also a Lieutenant for the City of London.

Banking career

He opened the London branch of a Liverpool bank, Brown, Shipley & Co.,, in 1864, and died as senior partner of that bank. In 1866, he became a director of the Bank of England, then its Deputy Governor and finally its Governor, remaining a director until his death in 1905.
His grandson, Montagu Norman, would also serve as Bank of England Governor, between 1920 and 1944.

Family

Mark Wilks Collet was one of the three sons of James Collet and his wife Wendelina Elizabeth, daughter of Abraham Van Brienen, whom he married in 1812 at Archangel, Russia. James Collet was a son of Capt. John Corlett or Collet, a sea captain, born Douglas, Isle of Man, who settled in Philadelphia, PA, and his wife Ann Wilks
Collet married firstly Susannah Gertrude Eyre, youngest daughter of the Rev. James Eyre, by whom he had a daughter Lina Susan Penelope Collet. She married on 15 November 1870, Frederick Henry Norman, himself son of a prominent British banker. Her eldest son became the Right Hon. Montagu Collet Norman, later Lord Norman, Privy Councillor, Governor of the Bank of England from 1920 to 1944. Another son was Ronald Collet Norman.
By a second marriage to Antonia Edlmann, he had a son Sir Mark Edlmann Collet.
In 1878 he bought and renovated the country house of St Clere, in Kemsing, Kent.