Background
Raikes was born at Gloucester in 1741, third son of the elder Robert Raikes and Mary Drew.
Raikes was born at Gloucester in 1741, third son of the elder Robert Raikes and Mary Drew.
Notably, he was Governor of the Bank of England during the 1797 currency crisis, when the Bank was prohibited by the British Government from paying out in gold. On 8 December 1774 at Street George"s, Bloomsbury, London, Raikes married Charlotte, daughter of Henry Finch, and granddaughter of Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham. Their eldest son Thomas became a noted London diarist.
Another son, Henry, became a churchman, eventually Chancellor of the Diocese of Chester.
Governor of the Bank of England 1797–1799
Thomas Raikes was Governor of the Bank of England from 1797 to 1799, during the crisis of 1797 when war had so diminished gold reserves that the Government prohibited the Bank from paying out in gold and ordered the use of banknotes instead. Raikes died at Stanwell House, Middlesex 29 December 1813.