James Wilson (UK politician)

James Wilson (UK politician)

James Wilson (June 3, 1805 – August 11, 1860) was a Scottish hat maker, politician and economist, as well as the founder of "The Economist".

Early life

Wilson was born in Hawick in the Borders. A successful disciplined autodidact scholar from a Quaker family, he was destined to be a schoolmaster but hated it so much that he "would rather to be the most menial servant in [his] father's mill". After considering studying for election to the Faculty of Advocates, against his family religion, he decided to be schooled in economics. So at the age of 16, he became an apprentice in a hat factory. Later, his father then bought the business for him and his elder brother, William. They left Scotland and moved to London, England when James was 19, with a gift of £2,000 each (£130,000 in 2005 pounds).

The entrepreneur in London

The brothers established a manufacturing factory that they dissolved it in 1831. Wilson continued in the same line of business with much success (his net worth was £25,000 in 1837, or £1,630,000 in 2005 pounds). In January 1832, he married Elizabeth Preston of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. They had six daughters and Eliza, the eldest, married Walter Bagehot. During the economic crisis of 1837, he lost most of his wealth when the price of indigo fell. By 1839 he sold most of his property and avoided bankruptcy. However, in 1853 he founded The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, which later merged with the Standard Bank of British South Africa to form Standard Chartered Bank in 1969.

The Editor

Wilson was generally opposed to privileging the Church of England, the secret ballot when it was proposed in 1853, and the Corn Laws. He wrote a pamphlet titled "Influences of the Corn Laws, as affection all classes of the comminity, and particularly the landed interests". It slowly received positive feedback and Wilson's fame had grown. He then went on writing on currency, and especially "The Revenue; or, What should the Chancellor do?". He started to write for newspapers, including the Manchester Guardian.

In 1843 he established "The Economist" as a newspaper to campaign for free trade, and acted as Chief editor and sole proprietor for sixteen years. "The Economist" is still published today, now with a weekly circulation of over 1.2 million globally.

Political Life

He entered the Parliament of the United Kingdom as a Liberal member of the Commons for Westbury, Wiltshire in 1847. For his economic experience he was swiftly appointed as Secretary of the Board of Control, which ran the affairs of India, and served for four years. In the Aberdeen coalition government he was Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Vice-President of the Board of Trade. In August 1859 he resigned his seat to sit as the financial member of the Council of India, but was in office only a year before he died: he refused to leave the stifling heat of Calcutta in the summer, and contracted dysentery.

He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1859.

References

* "James Wilson" by Ruth Dudley Edwards in Oxford DNB
* "The Pursuit of Reason:" The Economist "1843-1993", Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Massachusetts ISBN 0-87584-608-4
* "Who's Who of British MPs" by Michael Stenton (Harvester, Sussex, 1976) ISBN 0-85527-219-8


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • James Wilson (disambiguation) — There have been various people called James Wilson of significance:Politicians*James Wilson (1742 ndash;1798), signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence *James Wilson (UK politician) (1805 ndash;1860), UK member of parliament and …   Wikipedia

  • James Wilson (UK Labour politician) — James Wilson (24 August 1879 ndash; 15 August 1943) was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Dudley from 1921 to 1922,and for Oldham from 1929 to 1931. References *Rayment …   Wikipedia

  • James Wilson (politician) — James Wilson (April 9, 1825 August 8, 1867) was a United States Representative from Indiana. He was the father of John L. Wilson. He was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Later, he graduated from Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana in 1842. He …   Wikipedia

  • James Wilson (U.S. politician) — Infobox US Cabinet official name=James Wilson order=4th title=United States Secretary of Agriculture term start=March 6, 1897 term end=March 5, 1913 predecessor=Julius S. Morton successor=David F. Houston birth date=birth date|1835|8|16|mf=y… …   Wikipedia

  • Charlie Wilson (Texas politician) — Charlie Wilson (Photo ca. 1995) Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas s 2nd district In office January 3, 1973 – October …   Wikipedia

  • Bill Wilson (Scottish politician) — Infobox MSP honorific prefix = name = Bill Wilson honorific suffix = imagesize = 150px caption = constituency MP = West of Scotland parliament = Scottish majority = term start = 3 May 2007 term end = predecessor = successor = birth date = Birth… …   Wikipedia

  • John Wilson (Ontario politician) — John Wilson (February 5 1807 ndash; June 3 1869) was an Ontario lawyer, judge and political figure. He shot and killed Robert Lyon in what is believed to have been the last duel fought in Ontario and the last fatal duel in Canada.He was born in… …   Wikipedia

  • James Henderson — may refer to:* James Pinckney Henderson (1808–1858), American politician, first governor of Texas * James Wilson Henderson (1817–1880), American politician, fourth governor of Texas * James Henderson (Scottish politician) (born 1936), Scottish… …   Wikipedia

  • James Robertson — James Robertson, Jim Robertson, Jimmy Robertson and Jamie Robertson is a name shared by the following individuals:Public officials*James Robertson (loyalist) (1710 ndash;1788), Scottish English military official; civil governor of the Province of …   Wikipedia

  • James McKay — is the name of:* James McKay (Canadian politician), Canadian Member of Parliament * James McKay (fur trader) (1828–1879), Canadian fur trader, interpreter, and politician * James Iver McKay (1793 1853), United States Representative from North… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”