to Hill Street in the West End. The architect George Dance the Younger was commissioned to remodel the house at Stratton, which was then filled with the finest furniture and best Old Masters. Baring's picture purchases had begun in 1795, when about £1500 was spent, and his expenditure grew apace after 1800; by 1808 he valued his acquisitions at £15,000. Dutch 17th-century masters were his particular passion but by 1804 he had "done with all except the very superior"; now only works by Rembrandt, Rubens, or Van Dyck "tempt me", but "the first must not be too dark, nor the second indecent". He was a patron of Sir Thomas Lawrence, whom he summoned to Stratton in 1806 to paint a magisterial triple portrait of Baring with his two senior partners as a memorial to his business achievement. Otherwise, Baring's distractions from business were few. As chairman from 1803 to 1810 of the Patriotic Fund administered by Lloyd's of London, he worked for the welfare of Britons wounded or bereaved during the French wars. The mercantile community sought his help as referee in settling disputes, and as a trustee he gave distinguished service in settling the affairs of the leading London merchants, Boyd, Benfield & Co., which had crashed in 1799. He held the presidency of the London Institution from 1805 until his death. As a pamphleteer his output was modest, with works on the Commutation Act in 1786, on the Bank of England in 1797, and on the affairs of Walter Boyd in 1801. In the 25 years from 1777, Baring had transformed his firm into one of London's most powerful merchant banking houses; by about 1786 he reckoned that it was "in a very flourishing situation, totally divested of moonshine". By 1800 a network of influential correspondents stretched across Europe; agencies were held for leading Boston and Philadelphia merchants; leadership in marketing British government debt was undisputed; Baring was a respected adviser to senior politicians; his leadership in the East India Company had provided influence in trade east of Africa; and, not least, important commissions had been won from foreign governments. Francis Baring was Barings, and he dominated management, provided most of the capital, and received the lion's share of the profits. Family On 12 May 1767, at St John the Baptist, Croydon, Baring married Harriet Herring (1750–1804), and their children were: Harriet (1768–1838), was a religious controvertionalist who