Matthew Towgood III

Matthew Towgood III (1732–1791) was an English Presbyterian minister and banker. From a noted nonconformist background, he associated with campaigners against religious restriction, and was one of the founders of New College, Hackney. Life He was the son of Michaijah Towgood, a leading figure in Rational Dissent. Michaijah Towgood's grandfather Matthew Towgood I was an ejected minister, and his father was Matthew Towgood MD II (died 1715). Matthew Towgood III in early life settled at Bridgwater, in 1747. He was a Presbyterian minister. He left his ministry in 1755, becoming a merchant. Towgood then went to London, and took up finance. In 1764 he was an insurance broker. The barrister John Baker saw him in 1776 at "Old Lloyd's" (Lloyd's Coffee House, from which Lloyd's of London had moved a couple of years earlier). From 1773 Towgood was a banker. Around 1777 he was involved in setting up the bank Langston, Polhill, Towgood and Amory, at 29 Clement's Lane, near Lombard Street, London, with partners James Haughton Langston (father of John Langston) and Nathaniel Polhill. The bank continued to trade under related names until 1811, when it merged with the Rogers family bank. The Clement's Lane banker Samuel Amory (died 1799) was grandfather of Sir John Heathcoat-Amory, 1st Baronet.