The family's earliest known ancestor is Peter Baring (or Petrus Baring), who was a burgher of the city of
Groningen, then a semi-independent city-state that was part of the
Holy Roman Empire and the
Hanseatic League, now part of the
Netherlands, around 1500. Peter Baring's son Franz Baring (Franciscus Baringius) became the first
Lutheran bishop of
Lauenburg in what is now
Schleswig-Holstein (then in the
Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg) in Germany from 1565. The current family in Germany and England is descended from Franz Baring. In the
Electorate of Hanover, the Baring family belonged to the upper bourgeoisie, the so-called
Hübsche Familien (from
hübsch, pretty, or good looking), which comprised the third division of the ruling class of the Holy Roman Empire, after the nobility and the clergy. The English branch of the family is descended from Franz Baring (1657–1697), a professor of theology in
Bremen. He was the father of
Johann Baring (1697–1748), who moved from his hometown of Bremen to
Exeter in England to take up an apprenticeship with a
wool-exporter in 1717. Over the years, Johann Baring, who was later also known as John, built a small fortune as a wool merchant. His sons
Francis and
John Baring moved to London, where in 1762 they founded the John and Francis Baring Company, commonly known as
Barings Bank. Barings Bank became one of the leading London
merchant banks in the nineteenth century, until it collapsed in 1995. Francis Baring was the father of
Sir Thomas Baring, 2nd Baronet, and grandfather to
Francis Baring, 1st Baron Northbrook. He was also father to
Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton, and through his third son
Henry Baring the grandfather of
Edward Baring, 1st Baron Revelstoke, and
Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer.
Arnulf Baring (19322019) was a member of the branch of the family remaining in Germany. Since the early 19th century, the Baring family maintained close relations with the
Berenberg family of bankers. ==Hereditary titles==