Storer, Anthony Morris (1746 -1799)

Anthony Morris Storer was the elder son of Thomas Storer of Westmorland in Jamaica, and Helen, daughter of Colonel Guthrie. He was educated at Eton and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, but left without taking a degree. He then entered London society and excelled at dancing, skating, gymnastics, and was an excellent musician and conversationalist. He was Member of Parliament for Carlisle 1774-1780, and for Morpeth 1780-1784. A Whig, he was sent to Paris as Secretary to the Legation in September 1783, and was nominated Minister Plenipotentiary in December that year. He then left politics. In September 1781, according to Horace Walpole, Storer was suddenly taken with a passion for collecting books and prints. On his father’s death in 1793, he bought Purley Park, between Pangborne and Reading. He died at Bristol 28 June 1799, and left his fortune to his nephew Anthony Gilbert Storer, and his library, with the exception of any books they already possessed, to Eton College.