William Herbert Vacher (ca.1826 in London – 1899 in Hastings, England) was a prominent British merchant and banker who was a member of the Shanghai Municipal Council, a chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, founding manager of the London branch of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

Biography

Early years and family William Herbert Vacher was born in 1826 in London. On 17 November 1855 Vacher married Elizabeth (born about 1833) only daughter of Edward King of Shanghai and previously of Brixton, Surrey, at the Holy Trinity Church in Shanghai, China.Notice in Morning Chronicle, 6 February 1856, and according to Denise Cusick, "William Vacher and Elizabeth (maiden name not known) married at Holy Trinity in Shanghai China in about 1855." Subsequently, Vacher and his wife had seven children, two of whom were born in China.According to Denise Cusick, "At least two of their children (Emily Elizabeth & Ada K.) were born there before their return to England. Once back in England Walter Reginald, Gertrude, Ernest, Leonard, & Florence were born."

Career From 1844 Vacher was a resident in Canton, China.J.H. Haan, "The Shanghai Municipal Council, 1850-1865: Some Biographical Notes", Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 24 (1984):207ff; http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/hkjo/view/44/4401556.pdf By 1846 Vacher had become a member of the firm of Gilman, Bowman & Co. (Tae-ping),The Chinese Repository 15 (Printed for the proprietors., 1846):4. a British hong established by Richard James Gilman and Abram BowmanSometimes listed as Abraham. See The Solicitors' Journal & Reporter, Vol. 1 (Law Newspaper Co., 1857):96. as a tea trader in 1840,The Solicitors' Journal & Reporter, Vol. 1 (Law Newspaper Co., 1857):96; Solomon Bard, Traders of Hong Kong: Some Foreign Merchant Houses, 1841-1899 (Urban Council, 1993):60; Dan Waters, "Hong Kong Hongs with Long Histories and British Connections", Paper presented at the 12th Conference of the International Association of Historians of Asia, at Hong Kong University (June 1991): 230-231; Allister Macmillan, Seaports of the Far East, 3rd ed. (W.H. & L. Collingridge, 1926):319; Shinʼichi Yonekawa and Hideki Yoshihara, eds. Business History of General Trading Companies: The International Conference on Business History 13: Proceedings of the Fuji Conference (University of Tokyo Press, 1987):145-146; Stephanie Jones, Two Centuries of Overseas Trading: The Origins and Growth of the Inchcape Group (Studies in Business History) (Macmillan in association with Business History Unit, University of London, 1986):18,31. (later Gilman & Co. after the retirement of Bowman).Alexander William Gillman, Searches into the History of the Gillman or Gilman Family (E. Stock, 1895):207. In 1850 Vacher was listed as still resident in Canton.Elijah Coleman Bridgman, Samuel Wells Williams, The Chinese Repository, Vols. 1-20 (Maruzen Kabushiki Kaisha, 1850):11.

By 1851 Vacher had transferred to Shanghai, where from 9 August he was an authorised representative of Gilman, Bowman, & Co.Haan. Vacher was a member of the Shanghai Municipal Council from 1852 to at least 1856, where he was a member of the Committee to study the erection of a new building for the Shanghai Library in 1852, and also a member of Committee II: Assessments of Foreign-owned property.J.H. Haan, "The Shanghai Municipal Council, 1850-1865: Some Biographical Notes", Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 24 (1984):207ff; http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/hkjo/view/44/4401556.pdf. In August 1855 Vacher was still resident in Shanghai.Shanghae Almanac for the Bissextile or Leap Year of 1856 and Miscellany, Vol. 5 (Printed at the "North-China Herald" Office., 1856). In May 1856 Vacher and Charles Wills (died in Shanghai in 1857) were assigned the assets of bankrupt British merchant Peter Felix Richards (died in China in 1868), which included the lugger-rigged vessel the Margaret Mitchell, and the Richards Hotel and Restaurant.

Vacher was a leading freemason, who was President of the North China Lodge of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1852 and 1855,The Freemason's Monthly Magazine 25 (Tuttle & Bennett., 1866):24. presided over the first English Mark Masters Lodge of Shanghai on 15 December 1854.Frederick M. Gratton, Freemasonry in Shanghai and Northern China 2nd ed. (1900):146. By 1859 Vacher was the chairman of the influential Shanghai British Chamber of Commerce.Great Britain Foreign Office, Correspondence Relative to the Earl of Elgin's Special Missions to China and Japan 1857-1859 (London: Harrison & Son, 1859):457.

In 1859 Vacher was listed as a resident in Ningbo.The Hongkong Directory with List of Foreign Residents in China (The Armenian Press, 1859):70. Vacher's interest in Gilman & Co. ceased on 2 July 1860.Haan. Vacher retired as a partner in Gilman & Bowman in 1865.The Bankers' Magazine: Journal of the Money Market and Commercial Digest 26 (January to December 1866):550; and Carroll Prescott Lunt, Some Builders of Treatyport China (s.n., 1965):88.

In 1865 Vacher and his family returned to England, where he became the first manager of the London office of the newly established The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation later that year.The Bankers' Magazine: Journal of the Money Market and Commercial Digest 26 (January to December 1866):550; Far Eastern Economic Review 18 (1955):322, 343; Carroll Prescott Lunt, Some Builders of Treatyport China (s.n., 1965):88; Jenna Tong, citing both the 1871 and 1891 UK Censuses, indicates that Vacher returned to the England by 1871, where he was a bank manager In 1873 Vacher was forced to resign when it was discovered that he "had made disastrous speculations in South American railways, and had lost both on his own and the bank's account" £81,000.Robin Hutcheon, China-Yellow (The Chinese University Press, 1996):256; and also Colin N. Crisswell, The Taipans: Hong Kong's Merchant Princes (Oxford University Press, 1981):146-147.

By 1888 Vacher was a member of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), and living at 54 Addison Mansions, in Kensington.Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. 5 (Society for Psychical Research., 1889):596. Vacher was still a member of the SPR and resident at the same address three years later. See Society for Psychical Research (Great Britain), Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. 8 (Society for Psychical Research., 1892):621. Apparently he was still a member of SPR and resident at the same address by 1901. See Society for Psychical Research (Great Britain), Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. 15 (Society for Psychical Research, 1901):507.

Later years Vacher died at the age of 73 on 23 February 1899 at 44 Cambridge Gardens, Hastings, Sussex, England.National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966 and FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index: 1837-1915. District: Hastings (1837-1977), County: Sussex; Volume: 2b, Page: 19.

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