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David Pollock (1739-1815) is regarded as the founder of the modern family. Born in Berwick-upon-Tweed on 30 October 1739 and baptised on 5 November, he moved to London and, against the wishes of her family, who seem subsequently to have broken off with her, married Sarah Homera Parsons, daughter of Richard Parsons, Deputy Comptroller of Excise and Beadle of Westminster Abbey. The marriage took place at the ancient church of St. Bartholomew-the-Great, Smithfield, on 12 December 1779.
They lived and he had his business in Down Street, Piccadilly, but later, after he was appointed Saddler to King George III, they moved to a house in the Royal Mews which stood just forward of the site now occupied by the National Gallery. The business at Down Street was retained as a branch, and the British Museum has a draft trade card for him trading also from 58 Haymarket. “One of their younger sons recalled that the ‘connection with the royal family was unfortunate’, for when the prince of Wales’s debts were liquidated by the nation in 1795, Pollock, by the terms of the settlement, had ten per cent struck off the £3,000 owed to him, and no interest paid on it.” – see the History of Parliament website.
This map (from two adjacent sheets of John Roque’s map of 1747, almost the same time as the engraving of the Royal Mews (above).
Below it is a map of the area at the end of the century.
They had three highly successful sons. We are descended from his first son, also called David.
Another of his sons was an eminent lawyer, the Rt Hon Sir Jonathan Frederick Pollock, Bart., Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer.
Another was Field Marshal Sir George Pollock Bart., GCB, GCSI, Constable of the Tower of London, who is buried in the nave of Westminster Abbey.
There were two other sons who married but had no children (one, William, took on the family business but died age 34; another, John Henry, became registrar of Bristol court), plus four sons who died in infancy and a still-born daughter. David Pollock the saddler died on 1 September 1815, his wife on 17 February 1817. Both were buried in St. Martin-in-the-Fields.
Sir David Pollock, the first son of David and Sarah, was born on 2 September 1780 and educated at St Paul’s School and in Edinburgh. He became a burgess of Berwick on 17 November 1806, and was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple on 28 January 1803. He married Elizabeth Gore Atkinson on 10 December 1807. He became a KC in 1833 and Chief Justice of Bombay in 1846. He died on 22 May 1847 of an abscess on the liver and is buried in the cathedral there. He had twelve children, four of whom died in infancy and only five of whom had descendants.
George Kennet Pollock, Sir David’s second son, was born on 29 August 1810 and was christened at St. Clement Danes church in the Strand. He was a solicitor – other nineteenth century Pollocks include two High Court judges. George married Julia Wood on 17 December 1836 and died on 11 June 1858. She survived until 8 November 1891.
Julius Frederick Moore Pollock, the second son of George Kennet and Julia, was born in Red Lion Square, London, on 31 July 1839 (but the family home was at Hyde Park Corner). He became an engineer, moved to Leeds and in 1881 had 64 employees – plus two domestic staff. He had married Sarah Elizabeth Close, the daughter of a Huddersfield surgeon, on 15 September 1864. She died on 30 April 1890. The following year his business collapsed in bankruptcy. He got married again, to Mary Sophia Hayman in Stockport on 9 December 1897, moved to Croydon and died on 21 February 1901.
Frederick Leslie Close Pollock was the ninth child (and third son) of his first marriage. (The second was without issue.)