The Economist Magazine
James Wilson Leading Economist - Father of Indian Finance
James Wilson was born in1805 in the small Scottish Borders town of Hawick.
His father William was a wealthy textile mill owner and as such expected James to join him in the business.
At the age of 16, after attempting a number of other jobs James was apprenticed to a local hat maker. However, with one eye on the future he continued to study in his spare time.
After only a few months, he progressed from apprentice to partner when his father bought the business for James and his elder brother William.
The business thrived and by the time he was19 it had outgrown Hawick and the brothers moved to London and continuing trading until 1831.
Wilson by this time was a wealthy man, he worked hard and believed strongly, as did his early hero Adam Smith, that there was a, “Scotchman inside every man. with a universal desire to make money and a universal willingness to work for it.”
Corn Laws
During the early years of the 19th century unemployment and prices rose steeply in Britain forcing a severe recession. Wilson and a number of like-minded friends blamed the Corn Laws, a system of taxes established in 1815 after the defeat of Napoleon.
The Scotsman’s campaign to get the Corn Laws abolished finally succeeded in 1846 after Prime Minister Robert Peel asked Parliament to repeal the Act.
His fight to rid the country of the hated tax didn’t stop him working on other projects and his long held ambition to establish a newspaper specialising in economics, finance and commerce was realised.
The Economist Magazine
On September 2, 1843, The Economist Magazine first appeared. In the early days Wilson wrote most of the content himself until handing the reins to his son-in-law Walter Bagehot who is recognised as one of the publication's best editors.
Today the The Economist is a well-respected, authoritative publication on international affairs, business news and economics.
Perhaps it was inevitable that such an influential figure should consider politics as the next step in an already rich and varied career.
Board of Control for India
In 1847, he was elected to Parliament as Liberal member for Westbury and within six months he was offered the position of Joint Secretary to the Board of Control for India.
The Australian Gold Rush (1851) was the catalyst for his next venture, with miners from around the world pouring into the country there was an almost overnight need for, “The common necessities of life.”
Tea, coffee, rum, tobacco, and spices were all in great demand and James Wilson immediately saw the need for a new bank to facilitate this new and growing trade. On October 9 1852, The Economist announced the issuing of the prospectus of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China. The Chartered Bank was later to merge with the Standard Bank (Standard Chartered Bank) and remains today a powerful force in modern global banking.
Lord Palmerston
By 1859, Lord Palmerston was Prime Minister and Wilson was offered the post of Finance Member of the Viceroy of India Council. Probably more out of a sense of public duty rather than a real desire to turn his back on the House of Commons he left Britain for Calcutta.
There, “gigantic difficulties” awaited him as, in essence the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
His work in India was cut short when, like many Westerners unused to the harsh climate he died of dysentery. The date was August 11, 1860.
He is still remembered in the sub-continent as the person who introduced income tax, paper currency (Rupee) and a balanced budget. Indeed, he first, “Evoked order out of the chaos of Indian finance.”
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