Robert Herries

Robert Herries was born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, in 1730. He started his commercial career in Rotterdam in 1747, where his uncle Robert apprenticed his to a merchant’s business. His uncle retired to Scotland in 1751, and Herries remained in Holland in partnership with another uncle until c. 1753, when with the assistance of Hope and Company of Amsterdam he established himself as a wine merchant in Barcelona.

Herries was the son of a prodigal father, whose brother Robert, a Rotterdam merchant, rescued the family from ruin, took young Robert into his business in 1747, and purchased the Halldykes estate in 1751.2 When his uncle retired to Scotland, Herries remained in Holland in partnership with another uncle until c. 1753, when with the assistance of Hope and Company of Amsterdam he established himself as a wine merchant in Barcelona. Subsequently he extended his interests to Valencia and Montpelier, and developed trade connections in America, France, and the Mediterranean. In 1762 he accepted the invitation of Thomas and James Coutts to become principal partner in their father’s banking and commercial firm, John Coutts and Company of Edinburgh and London, withdrew from all his enterprises except that at Barcelona, and established his headquarters in London.

In 1771 the Coutts brothers severed all connections with the firm, leaving Herries and his partners Sir William Forbes and James Hunter Blair in control, who then, in association with Herries’s relations and Sir William Pulteney, founded the London Exchange Banking Company for handling the ‘circular exchange notes’ (prototype of travellers’ cheques) which Herries had invented. Through the Hopes, the Company established a network of exchange facilities extending from Lisbon to Moscow. The firm became Herries, Farquhar & Co. in 1797.

The idea of supplying British travellers with money whilst abroad came to Herries during his own extensive travels through Europe. He understood first-hand that obtaining money when travelling could be time-consuming and expensive. In setting up his scheme, Herries employed the network of Continental connections the firm had developed through its mercantile business. Circular notes could soon be cashed in more than 100 cities, a number that increased as the idea became more popular.

Herries, Farquhar & Co. thrived in an age when the aristocracy viewed the Grand Tour as a rite of passage for their sons. So successful was the circular note that other banks were quickly obliged to offer the same service. Conversely, Herries was quick to see the potential for expanding into more conventional banking. Customers purchasing large amounts of circular notes welcomed the convenience of conducting all their financial business under one roof.

Robert Herries was knighted in 1774, and was a Member of Parliament from 1780 to 1784. In 1798 he retired from business to Cheltenham, where he died 25 Feb. 1815.