Jabez Balfour as Liberal candidate in Croydon at the general election but lost to the Conservatives. He also stood unsuccessfully for the Liberals at Walworth in 1886. In 1880 he was appointed chairman of the Northampton Street Tramways. Together with City financiers Leopold Salomons and Sir John Pender, Balfour founded the investment underwriting firm the "Trustees, Executors and Securities Insurance Corporation, Limited" in December 1887. In 1892, he was at the centre of a scandal over the failure of a series of companies which he set up and controlled, starting with the London and General Bank and culminating in the Liberator Building
John Townsend (British politician) John Townsend (British politician) John Townsend (2 April 1819 – 22 December 1892) was a British actor and Liberal Party politician. Born in Deptford, in the south eastern suburbs of London, Townsend was the son of an auctioneer and estate agent in the neighbouring town of Greenwich. He began acting at the age of 12. In 1841 he married Sarah Mitchell, also an actor, and they had at least seven children all of whom were trained for the stage. In 1842 he took out a lease on the Theatre Royal in Richmond, specialising in Shakespearian productions. In 1852 his father