Charles Bingham 1735-1800. Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery

---

This street is named in honour of Sir Charles Bingham.  Born the 22nd September 1735, he spent most of his time in England where he was said to have been a noted, if not a very gifted, artist.  He was a progressive landlord and attempted to turn the estate from a number of small holdings into a larger unified farm to increase profits. This led to conflict between himself and his tenants as in order to achieve his goal he had to put many off the land. 

Charles was made ‘Baron Lucan’ in 1776.  He was disliked by his tenants because of his character but just as much because of his choice of agent, Thomas Ellison.   He was made first Earl of Lucan mistakenly as the title had already been given to Sir Patrick Sarsfield in 1691 but had lay dormant due to a lack of an heir.  Charles was an absentee landlord preferring to embark on Grand Tours of Europe.  He was also a Member of Parliament for Northamptonshire. He was away at the time of the rebellion of 1798 and died two years later aged 86. 

Click here for Rush Street.

---