Walter Cunliffe, 1st Baron Cunliffe
Walter Cunliffe, 1st Baron Cunliffe (3 December 1855 – 6 January 1920) was a British banker who built the Cunliffe Brothers merchant bank in London and later led the Bank of England during World War I.
Born in London, he was the second of four brothers. His father, Roger Cunliffe, helped finance the North Eastern Railway and became a merchant banker. Walter was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. He joined banking in 1880 and, with his brothers Arthur and Leonard, founded Cunliffe Brothers in 1890.
Cunliffe became a director of the Bank of England in 1895 and its governor in 1913. He played a key role at the start of World War I, helping to keep money markets stable. He was created Baron Cunliffe in 1914. In 1917 he joined the Balfour Mission to promote U.S. cooperation in the war and was made Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 1917. He clashed at times with the Treasury over policy and, facing pressure from his colleagues, retired as governor in 1918.
As governor, he also chaired the Cunliffe Committee, which in 1918 urged a swift return to the gold standard after the war. He supported maintaining monetary stability and advised caution in postwar policy.
Beyond the Bank of England, Cunliffe served as a director of the North Eastern Railway (from 1905) and of P&O (from 1919). He received foreign honors, including the French Légion d’Honneur, the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun, and the Russian Order of St. Anna.
In his personal life, Cunliffe married Mary Agnes Henderson in 1890 (she died in 1893) and then Edith Cunningham Boothby in 1896. They had six children; their son Rolf inherited the title. Walter Cunliffe died at Headley Court, Surrey, in 1920 at the age of 64.
The Cunliffe Brothers bank later merged with Fröhling & Göschen in 1920 to form Goschens & Cunliffe, which failed in 1939.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 07:50 (CET).