200th anniversary of the birth of Walter Bagehot
Tabled 24 February 2026 by Sarah Dyke
That this House celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Walter Bagehot, who was born on the 3rd February 1826 in Langport; notes that Bagehot began his career in Langport working for a trade enterprise before joining Stuckey’s bank, which went on to become of the country’s largest issuers of banknotes; recognises that upon moving to London in 1861 and becoming the editor of The Economist, he played a key role in increasing the publication’s readership through bringing in political and economic thinkers to contribute to its content, expanding its intellectual reach and whose presence continues to be felt today with a column dedicated to himself still being included in its weekly issue; acknowledges the lasting relevance of his work, with Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market, which was respectively used to guide central bankers through the Financial Crisis of 2008 and The English Constitution, which has been studied by the English Monarch for over a century; further notes that Bagehot died at his home in Hurds Hill, in Langport in 1877; welcomes the publication of the most extensive biography on Bagehot by Janet Seaton and Barry Winetrobe, in an attempt to increase the exposure of his influence on British political and economic history; and calls on Members to join in marking the bicentenary of his birth to ensure Walter Bagehot is rightly cemented in the annals of Great Britons whose influence is still taught and celebrated today.