Sampson Gideon

Who was Sampson Gideon?

Sampson Gideon was a Jewish-British banker in the City of London.

He was born at London Wall, City of London, second son in five children of Rowland Gideon, who traded with the West Indies, and his second wife Esther, daughter of Domingo do Porto, a diamond buyer in Madras, India. Rowland's parents were Portuguese immigrants.

He was a trusted "adviser of the Government," and a supporter of the Jew Bill of 1753.

Early in the 1740s he married Jane, daughter of Charles Ermell. His son, Sampson Gideon educated at Eton College, was created a Baronet in 1759 and Baron Eardley of Spalding in 1789. The elder Sampson had lobbied for a baronetcy for himself from the then prime minister, the Duke of Newcastle, but was denied it on account of his own religion, as he remained a practicing Jew. His son and two daughters, on the contrary, whose mother was English, were baptized and brought up in the Church of England.

He was also the father of Elizabeth Gideon, the wife of William Gage, 2nd Viscount Gage.

Gideon died of dropsy at Belvidere House, near Erith, Kent, in October 1762, aged 63, having a gained a fortune recorded as £350,000.