Ephraim Lópes Pereira d'Aguilar, 2nd Baron d'Aguilar

Who was Ephraim Lópes Pereira d'Aguilar, 2nd Baron d'Aguilar?

Ephraim Lópes Pereira d'Aguilar was the second Baron d'Aguilar, a Barony of the Holy Roman Empire.

In 1757, d'Aguilar was naturalized in England, where he had settled with his father, Baron Diego Pereira d'Aguilar. On 8 December 1756, he married Sarah Mendes da Costa, daughter of Moses Mendes da Costa, who is reported to have brought him a fortune of £150,000. She was the mother of his two legitimate daughters. He also had a son. He succeeded to his father's title and fortune in 1759, and for a time lived in luxurious style with twenty servants at the Broad Street Buildings. By the time of the American Revolutionary War, however, d'Aguilar had lost an American estate of 15,000 acres. Subsequently, he became known as a miserly and eccentric person, giving up his mansion in Broad Street as well as his country houses at Bethnal Green, Twickenham, and Sydenham. His establishment at Colebrook Row, Islington, was popularly styled "Starvation Farm", because of the scanty food provided for the cattle. Upon his death there in 1802, d'Aguilar left a fortune valued at £200,000 hidden throughout the dwelling to his two daughters who survived him.