Johann Baring
German businessperson
John Baring (born Johann Baring; 15 November 1697 – c. 1748) was a German-born British merchant. Born in the Duchies of Bremen and Verden, he subsequently emigrated to the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1717 as the apprentice of a wool merchant. His decision to settle permanently in England started the Baring family on the road to becoming one of the leading banking families in the world.
Early life
Johann Baring was born in Bremen, one of the old Hanseatic cities of northern Germany. He was the posthumous son of Franz Baring (1657–1697), a professor of theology in Bremen, who died aged forty only a few weeks before Johann was born, by his wife Rebecca Vogds, the daughter of one of Bremen's leading wool merchants. Following the early death of Johann's father, he was brought up by the Vogds family.
Move to England
At the age of twenty Johann was sent to England to learn the wool trade in Exeter, Devon. Originally having planned to return to Bremen after his apprenticeship, he decided to stay in England, where he obtained citizenship in 1723 and Anglicised his first name from Johann to John.
Marriage and progeny
John married Elizabeth Vowler (1702–1766), the daughter of a prosperous Exeter grocer, who brought with her a large dowry of £20,000 and business sense to match that of her new husband. By Elizabeth he had the following progeny, 4 sons and 1 daughter:
John Baring (1730–1816), who in partnership with his younger brother Francis, established the London merchant house of John and Francis Baring Company, which eventually became Barings Bank
Thomas Baring (1733–1758)
Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet (1740–1810), who in partnership with his elder brother John, established the London merchant house of John and Francis Baring Company, which eventually became Barings Bank
Charles Baring (1742–1829), 4th son, of Courtland, Exmouth, Devon, who married Margaret Gould (1743–1803), daughter and eventual heiress in her issue of William Drake Gould (1719–1767) of Lew Trenchard.
The public source identifies “Johann Baring” as german businessperson. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Johann, Baring and German.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6220677. VIAF identifies the subject as 301138408. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1697, 1748, 1717 and 1657.
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This entry incorporates text from “Johann Baring” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.