George Head Head

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

George Head Head (c.1795 – 12 December 1876) was a Carlisle banker, mine owner and local official who also served as mayor and magistrate. His father, J. M. Head, started a private bank in a grocer’s shop on Botchergate. George ran the bank and helped build Carlisle’s first building intended as a bank. From 1835 until his death he was the principal shareholder of the Greenside Mine near Glenridding, a profitable lead mine.

In 1840 Head traveled to London to take part in the World’s Anti-Slavery Convention; a painting records his involvement. He served as High Sheriff of Cumberland in 1851 and as Deputy Lieutenant in 1852. His first wife, Maria Woodrouffe Head, died in 1854. He married Sarah Gurney in 1858; Sarah’s father was Samuel Gurney, known as “The Bankers’ Banker.”

The Head bank was demolished in 1865 when it merged with the Cumberland Union Bank. He owned Rickerby Hall (Rickerby Park) and commissioned a large octagonal tower there, a notable local landmark. He was also a book collector and supported the anti-slavery movement.

Head died in 1876. His adopted heir, Miles MacInnes, a Justice of the Peace, inherited 940 acres of Rickerby. MacInnes was to adopt Head’s coat of arms and the surname Head, but he did not take the surname, though he received the estate and its funds.

Head’s monument in Carlisle’s St Michael’s Church and the plaques to his two wives are Grade II listed.