Henry Hoare II known as Henry the Magnificent, was an English banker and garden owner-designer.

Career

Born the son of Henry Hoare I

Henry Hoare (banker)

Henry Hoare I , known as Henry the Good, was an English banker and landowner.-Career:Born the son of Sir Richard Hoare, founder of C. Hoare & Co bankers, Henry the Good became a Partner in the bank in August 1702. Together with his father, he became a commissioner for the building of 50 new...

 and educated at Westminster School

Westminster School

The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...

, Henry Hoare dominated the Hoare family through his wealth and personal charisma. Henry was a partner for nearly 60 years in C. Hoare & Co

C. Hoare & Co

C. Hoare & Co. is England's oldest privately owned banking house. Founded in 1672 by Sir Richard Hoare, C. Hoare & Co. remains family owned and is currently managed by the 11th generation of Hoare's direct descendants....

: his nickname, "Henry The Magnificent", derived in part from his influence as a great patron of the Arts, but more particularly because he laid out the gardens at Stourhead

Stourhead

Stourhead is a 2,650 acre estate at the source of the River Stour near Mere, Wiltshire, England. The estate includes a Palladian mansion, the village of Stourton, gardens, farmland, and woodland...

 in Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

, an estate bought by his father. The gardens were admired as a showplace and Capability Brown, the renowned landscape gardener, was well known to Henry. In 1734 he was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Salisbury

Salisbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Salisbury is a county constituency centred on the city of Salisbury in Wiltshire. It elects one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, by the first past the post voting system....

.

He died in 1785 leaving Stourhead to his grandson, Richard Colt Hoare.

Further reading

• Hoare, Henry Peregrine Rennie, Hoare's Bank: A Record 1672-1955, 1932, new edition 1955
• Hutchings, Victoria, Messrs Hoare, Bankers: A History of the Hoare Banking Dynasty, 2005