Mr C. Hammersley
(1817-1890)
13 March 1861

Volume 2, page 300, sitting number 2491.

[Identified as 'Mr C. Hammersley' in the Silvy daybooks, this is probably the army agent Charles Hammersley.]

Born at Dulwich Hill in Surrey and baptised on 3 November 1817 at St Giles Camberwell, he was the son of the banker and army agent Charles Hammersley. The firm Hammsersley & Co had become the bankers to the Prince of Wales, later King George IV, when he came of age and moved his account from Coutts and Co to escape the watchful eye of his father, at least as far as his finances were concerned.

Charles appears on the 1861 census living at 25 Park Crescent, his father's home in London at the north end of Portland Place. Both men gave 'Army Agent' as their profession. Also present on the night of the census were twelve servants, including a butler, an under-butler and a footman. 

Charles Hammersley père died at Park Crescent the following year, leaving an estate valued at £100,000. 

In 1871 the younger Charles Hammersley was living at 65 Lowndes Square in Knightsbridge. Since he had never married, his unmarried sister Caroline ran his household, with the help of seven servants. 

He was for many years a partner in the firm Cox and Co of Craig's Court, Whitehall. With a staff of some 150 men, the firm's business principally concerned the payment of the officers and men of the British Army, and also the provision of their clothing and the marketing of officer commissions

Charles Hammersley died, aged 72, at 65 Lowndes Square on 29 December 1890. His estate was valued at £134,093.