Manning, Robert

British citizens Robert Manning and William Marshall were sent to Mexico as agents of Barclay and Company in 1824. The Manning and Marshall partnership was formed in that year. Ewen C. MacKintosh joined Manning and Marshall as an agent in 1834, becoming their partner in 1835. Around 1843 Manning and Marshall became Manning and MacKintosh.

MacKintosh was financial manager of the Hospicio de Pobres in Mexico City; he served as British Consul from 1839-1853. Manning and MacKintosh acted as representatives in Mexico of bondholder committees in Britain. They negotiated loans to the Mexican government and provided a variety of financial, commercial and management services to private companies such as Baring Brothers, Lionel Brough, Randell, and Anglo-Mexican Mint. While Consul, MacKintosh profited from involvement in collecting a percentage of customs revenues to pay British holders of Mexican bonds, in renegotiation of the Mexican government's British debt (1846), in negotiation of a peace settlement between the U.S. and Mexico (1847), and in a host of other business enterprises such as currency exchange, management of import-export trade for British firms, investments in mines and tobacco minting, and moneylending.

In alliance with other moneylenders and with the elite in Mexico, Manning and MacKintosh exerted considerable influence on the Mexican economy and prospered greatly from it. In 1850, however, Manning and MacKintosh declared bankruptcy due to failing business conditions. Although MacKintosh continued to live and conduct business in Mexico, his influence was reduced. He died in 1861.