James Wilson (UK politician)
Encyclopedia
James Wilson was a Scottish businessman, economist and Liberal
politician. He founded The Economist
and the Standard Chartered Bank
.
in the Borders
. His wealthy father William Wilson owned a textile mill, and his ancestors were local sheep farmers. He was the fourth of 15 children, of whom 10 reached adulthood. His mother died when James was young.
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).
was £25,000 in 1837, or £1,630,000 in 2005 pounds). 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
to form Standard Chartered Bank
in 1969.
, 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.
as Liberal
Member of Parliament
for Westbury
, Wiltshire
, in 1847. Because of his economic experience prime minister Lord John Russell
appointed him Secretary of the Board of Control (which ran the affairs of India
) in 1848, a post he held until the government fell in 1852. He then served as Financial Secretary to the Treasury
between 1853 and 1858, firstly in Lord Aberdeen
's coalition government and secondly in Lord Palmerston
's first administration. In 1857 he was returned to Parliament for Devonport. He again briefly held office under Palmerston as Paymaster-General
and Vice-President of the Board of Trade
between June and August 1859 and was sworn of the Privy Council the same year.
In August 1859 Wilson resigned these offices and his seat in parliament to sit as the financial member of the Council of India
. He was sent to India to establish the tax structure, a new paper currency and remodel the finance system of India after the revolt of 1857. However, he was in office only a year before he died. In 1860 he refused to leave the stifling summer heat of Calcutta, contracted dysentery
and died in August of that year, aged 55.
Strangely even though he contributed greatly to the financial set-up of the British empire in India, he lay buried unknown at a cemetery at Mullick Bazar in Kolkata. His grave was discovered in 2007 by CP Bhatia, an assistant commissioner of Income Tax, while he was researching a book on India's tax history. Due to the efforts of CP Bhatia the tombstone was restored by the Christian Burial Board, thus restoring some dignity to a man that was in a way one of the forefathers of the Indian Tax structure.
.
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
politician. He founded The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
and the Standard Chartered Bank
Standard Chartered Bank
Standard Chartered PLC is a multinational financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom with operations in more than seventy countries...
.
Early life
Wilson was born in HawickHawick
Hawick is a town in the Scottish Borders of south east Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-southeast of Selkirk. It is one of the farthest towns from the sea in Scotland, in the heart of Teviotdale, and the biggest town in the former county of Roxburghshire. Hawick's architecture is...
in the Borders
Scottish Borders
The Scottish Borders is one of 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of Northumberland...
. His wealthy father William Wilson owned a textile mill, and his ancestors were local sheep farmers. He was the fourth of 15 children, of whom 10 reached adulthood. His mother died when James was young.
A successful disciplined autodidact scholar from a Quaker family, he was destined to be a schoolmaster
Schoolmaster
A schoolmaster, or simply master, once referred to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British public schools, but is generally obsolete elsewhere.The teacher in charge of a school is the headmaster...
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
Faculty of Advocates
The Faculty of Advocates is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary...
, against his family religion, he decided to be schooled in economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
. 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
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
when James was 19, with a gift of £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
2,000 each (£130,000 in 2005 pounds).
Business career in London
The brothers established a manufacturing factory – Wilson, Irwin & Wilson – that they dissolved it in 1831. Wilson continued in the same line of business with much success (his net worthNet worth
In business, net worth is the total assets minus total outside liabilities of an individual or a company. For a company, this is called shareholders' preference and may be referred to as book value. Net worth is stated as at a particular year in time...
was £25,000 in 1837, or £1,630,000 in 2005 pounds). During the economic crisis of 1837, he lost most of his wealth when the price of indigo
Indigo
Indigo is a color named after the purple dye derived from the plant Indigofera tinctoria and related species. The color is placed on the electromagnetic spectrum between about 420 and 450 nm in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet...
fell. By 1839 he sold most of his property and avoided bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
. However, in 1853 he founded The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China
Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China
The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China was a bank founded in London in 1851/1853 by Scotsman James Wilson following the grant of a Royal Charter from Queen Victoria. It opened its first branches in 1858 in Calcutta and Bombay and then in 1863 in Karachi and Shanghai...
, which later merged with the Standard Bank
Standard Bank (historic)
The Standard Bank was a British overseas bank, which operated mainly in Africa from 1863 to 1969. It merged with the Chartered Bank in 1969 to form Standard Chartered.-History:...
to form Standard Chartered Bank
Standard Chartered Bank
Standard Chartered PLC is a multinational financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom with operations in more than seventy countries...
in 1969.
Journalistic career
Wilson was generally opposed to privileging the Church of EnglandChurch of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, the secret ballot
Secret ballot
The secret ballot is a voting method in which a voter's choices in an election or a referendum are anonymous. The key aim is to ensure the voter records a sincere choice by forestalling attempts to influence the voter by intimidation or bribery. The system is one means of achieving the goal of...
when it was proposed in 1853, and the Corn Laws
Corn Laws
The Corn Laws were trade barriers designed to protect cereal producers in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland against competition from less expensive foreign imports between 1815 and 1846. The barriers were introduced by the Importation Act 1815 and repealed by the Importation Act 1846...
. He wrote a pamphlet
Pamphlet
A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...
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
Currency
In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
, 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
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
as a newspaper to campaign for free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
, 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 career
Wilson entered the House of CommonsBritish House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
as Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Westbury
Westbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Westbury was a parliamentary constituency in Wiltshire from 1449 to 2010. It was represented in the House of Commons of England until 1707, and then in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and finally in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801...
, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, in 1847. Because of his economic experience prime minister Lord John Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC , known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was an English Whig and Liberal politician who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century....
appointed him Secretary of the Board of Control (which ran the affairs of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
) in 1848, a post he held until the government fell in 1852. He then served as Financial Secretary to the Treasury
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
Financial Secretary to the Treasury is a junior Ministerial post in the British Treasury. It is the 4th most significant Ministerial role within the Treasury after the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and the Paymaster General...
between 1853 and 1858, firstly in Lord Aberdeen
George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen
George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen KG, KT, FRS, PC , styled Lord Haddo from 1791 to 1801, was a Scottish politician, successively a Tory, Conservative and Peelite, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1852 until 1855.-Early life:Born in Edinburgh on 28 January 1784, he...
's coalition government and secondly in Lord Palmerston
Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, KG, GCB, PC , known popularly as Lord Palmerston, was a British statesman who served twice as Prime Minister in the mid-19th century...
's first administration. In 1857 he was returned to Parliament for Devonport. He again briefly held office under Palmerston as Paymaster-General
Paymaster-General
HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom. The Paymaster General is in charge of the Office of HM Paymaster General , which held accounts at the Bank of England on behalf of Government departments and selected other public bodies...
and Vice-President of the Board of Trade
Vice-President of the Board of Trade
The office of Vice-President of the Board of Trade was a junior ministerial position in the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created in 1786 and abolished in 1867. From 1848 onwards the office was held concurrently with that of Paymaster-General...
between June and August 1859 and was sworn of the Privy Council the same year.
In August 1859 Wilson resigned these offices and his seat in parliament to sit as the financial member of the Council of India
Council of India
The Council of India was the name given at different times to two separate bodies associated with British rule in India.The original Council of India was established by the Regulating Act of 1773 as a council of four formal advisors to the Governor-General at Fort William...
. He was sent to India to establish the tax structure, a new paper currency and remodel the finance system of India after the revolt of 1857. However, he was in office only a year before he died. In 1860 he refused to leave the stifling summer heat of Calcutta, contracted dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
and died in August of that year, aged 55.
Strangely even though he contributed greatly to the financial set-up of the British empire in India, he lay buried unknown at a cemetery at Mullick Bazar in Kolkata. His grave was discovered in 2007 by CP Bhatia, an assistant commissioner of Income Tax, while he was researching a book on India's tax history. Due to the efforts of CP Bhatia the tombstone was restored by the Christian Burial Board, thus restoring some dignity to a man that was in a way one of the forefathers of the Indian Tax structure.
Family
Wilson married Elizabeth Preston of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in January 1832. They had six daughters, of whom Eliza, the eldest, married Walter BagehotWalter Bagehot
Walter Bagehot was an English businessman, essayist, and journalist who wrote extensively about literature, government, and economic affairs.-Early years:...
.
Works
- Influences of the corn laws, as affecting all classes of the community, and particularly the landed interests
- Fluctuations of currency, commerce, and manufactures : referable to the corn laws