Sir William Agnew, 1st Baronet


Sir William Agnew, 1st Baronet was an English politician and art dealer. Thomas Agnew & Sons, his London art business in Mayfair flourished as one of the leading art dealerships in London from 1860, until it closed in April 2013, still with the Agnew family involved, and still known as "Agnew's Gallery", or more informally "Agnew's".

Career

In the middle of the 1860s, Agnew and his brother Thomas provided much needed financial backing to the publishing firm Bradbury and Evans, becoming partners in the business. Agnew became a Liberal Member of Parliament, first for South East Lancashire between 1880 and 1885 and later for Stretford from 1885 to 1886. He was created a baronet, of Great Stanhope Street, London, in 1895.
He bought the Rougham estates in Suffolk, England, in 1904.

Family

He was the son of Thomas Agnew and his wife Jane Garnet Lockett.
On 25 March 1851, he married Mary Kenworthy, a daughter of George Pixton Kenworthy. Their children were:
Agnew's present-day descendants include Sir John Keith Agnew, 6th Baronet, of Rougham, and John Stuart Agnew, a parliamentary candidate of the UK Independence Party.