Loyd was the only son of Reverend Lewis Loyd and Sarah, daughter of John Jones, a Manchester banker. Loyd"s father had given up the ministry to take a partnership in his father-in-law"s bank and became the founder of the London branch of Jones, Loyd & Company Loyd joined his father"s bank, and took control of the bank after his father retired in 1844.
On his father"s death in 1858 Loyd inherited an estate worth £ 2 million.
He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.
In 1864 the bank became incorporated with the London and Westminster Bank. Loyd sat in parliament as Whig member for Hythe from 1819 to 1826, and unsuccessfully contested Manchester in 1832. As early as 1832 he was recognized as one of the foremost authorities on banking, and he enjoyed much influence with successive ministries and chancellors of the exchequer.
Loyd is considered as one of the great figures in British monetary history, particularly with respect to the Bank Charter Acting of 1844.
He was also opposed to limited liability and the introduction of a decimal currency. In 1850 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Overstone, of Overstone and of Fotheringhay, both in the County of Northampton.
In 1847 and 1848, he served on the committee of the British Relief Association, which raised almost half a million pounds on behalf of the famine victims in Ireland. (see, Christine Kinealy, Charity and the Great Hunger The Kindness of Strangers" Bloomsbury, 2013)
Lord Overstone married Harriet, daughter of Ichabod Wright, in 1829.
His seat was Wolvey Hall, Wolvey, Warwickshire, which he purchased in 1815.
Lady Overstone died in November 1864. Overstone remained a widower until his death in November 1883, aged 87. The barony died with him as he had no surviving male issue.
She was the wife of Robert Lindsay, who assumed the additional surname of Loyd and was created Baron Wantage in 1885.
6th United Kingdom Parliament. 7th United Kingdom Parliament]
Lord Overstone was a member of The Club (Literary Club) and the Political Economy Club and served as High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1838 and as President of the Royal Statistical Society from 1851 to 1853.
