George Dorrien (1769 – 10 February 1835) wasGovernor of the Bank of England from 1818 to 1820.
George Dorrien was born in 1769, the fourth son of John and Ann Dorrien. John Dorrien (c. 1714-1784) was a merchant banker from London. His family were originallyGerman Lutherans, linked to the Lutheran Church of theHoly Trinity the Less in London. John Dorrien was a partner in the bank of Dorrien, Rucker and Carlton and the chairman of theEast India Company.[1]
George Dorrien married Grace Ashurst (1773—1826), daughter ofSir William Ashurst.[2]
Dorrien joined theBank of England's board of directors in 1794,[3] and served during thePanic of 1796–1797 when the Bank enacted a stoppage on specie payments at the start of theRestriction period.[4]
Dorrien served asDeputy Governor of the Bank of England from 1816 to 1818. He then replacedJeremiah Harman asGovernor of the Bank of England in 1818, and remained in the post until 1820, when he was succeeded byCharles Pole.[5][6]
Dorrien's tenure as Governor occurred during thePanic of 1819.
Grace died on 29 November 1826 and George Dorrien died on 10 February 1835. They were laid to rest in the family crypt in theChurch of St Peter, Great Berkhamsted, where their names are inscribed on a white marble wall monument in the north transept commemorating nine members of the older Dorrien family, designed by the sculptorJohn Bacon the Younger. George Dorrien'sheraldic achievement is also visible in the adjacentstained-glass window byJames Powell and Sons.[1][2]