Sir Henry King, 1st Baronet

Sir Henry Seymour King, 1st Baronet KCIE (4 January 1852 – 14 November 1933) was an English banker, mountaineer and Conservative politician.

King was born at Brighton, the son of Henry Samuel King. He was educated at Charterhouse School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he won an oratory gold medal. He joined his father in the banking business of Henry S. King & Co. This had been established in 1868, when his father Henry Samuel King took over the banking and India agency work of Smith Elder & Co, booksellers, stationers, East India agents, shippers, and bankers. When his father died in 1878 King became senior partner. He expanded the business which was based on Bombay and Calcutta, to Port Said, Delhi and Simla. He was a well-known banker in London, Bombay and Calcutta. One distinction of the bank was the employment of women as typists, as early as 1887, something which most other banks did not do until the First World War. King also acquired two Indian newspapers - the 'Overland Mail' and the 'Homeward Mail,' which were founded by John William Kaye, the historian of the Indian Mutiny. King's brother in law Edward Jenkins, a former MP for Dundee, became editor of these in 1886.

King was an adventurous mountaineer. He was the first to reach the summits of Mont Maudit with William Edward Davidson and guides Johann Jaun d. J. and Johann von Bergen on 12 September 1878, and Aiguille Blanche de Peuterey (Pointe Güssfeldt) with guides Emile Rey, Ambros Supersaxo and Aloys Anthamatten on 31 July 1885.

He lived in the Manor House, Chigwell, Essex, England. In 1885 King was elected Member of Parliament for Kingston upon Hull Central. Having previously been a Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (C.I.E.), he was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (K.C.I.E.) on 15 August 1892. King was the first Mayor of Kensington in 1900 and provided a large interest free loan for the purchase of slum properties in North Kensington so that they could be rebuilt and refurbished. He retained his parliamentary seat until December 1910, when he was unseated on petition on 1 June 1911.

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