Magens Dorrien Magens

Who is Magens Dorrien Magens?

Magens Dorrien Magens of Hammerwood Lodge, Sussex, was an English banker, Member of Parliament and author. In early life he was known as Magens Dorrien. He adopted the surname of Magens by special licence on 16 December 1788, after his marriage.

In 1788 Dorrien married Henrietta Cecilia Rice, a daughter of George Rice and Cecil de Cardonnel, 2nd Baroness Dynevor. Their children were Cecilia, George William, Maria, and Anne Frances.

His bank was called Magens, Dorrien, and Magens. By 1798 it was Dorrien, Magens, Mello, Martin, and Harrison, and later changed its name to Dorrien, Magens, Mello, and Company. In 1798 the firm sent some silver bullion to the Royal Mint to be coined into shillings, resulting in the rare "Dorrien and Magens shilling" of 1798.

A Tory, Magens stood for parliament in Carmarthen in May 1796 and was elected but was unseated in November following an election petition. He was a member of parliament for Ludgershall in Wiltshire from 1804 to 1812. Re-elected in 1812, in December of that year he became Steward of the Manor of East Hendred, a notional "office of profit under the Crown" which was used as a device for resigning from the House of Commons.