Josiah Child
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Sir Josiah Child, 1st Baronet, (c. 1630/31 – 22 June 1699) was an English economist, merchant and politician. He was an economist proponent of
mercantilism Mercantilism is a economic nationalism, nationalist economic policy that is designed to maximize the exports and minimize the imports of an economy. It seeks to maximize the accumulation of resources within the country and use those resources ...
and governor of the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
. He led the company in the
Anglo-Mughal War Anglo-Mughal War (1686–1690) was a war fought between Mughal Empire and British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was fo ...
.


Early life

Child was born around 1630–31 and christened in St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange on 27 February 1630–31, the second son of Richard Child, a merchant of Fleet Street (buried 1639 at Hackney), and Elizabeth Roycroft of Weston Wick, Shropshire. After serving his apprenticeship in the family business, after much struggle, he succeeded. At about age 25, he started on his own account at
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
as victualler to the Navy under the
Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...
; he is also described as "agent to the Navy Treasurer". He amassed a comfortable fortune, and became a considerable stock-holder in the East India Company. In 1659, he was elected Member of Parliament for
Petersfield Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own Petersfield railway station, railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rai ...
in the
Third Protectorate Parliament The Third Protectorate Parliament sat for one session, from 27 January 1659 until 22 April 1659, with Chaloner Chute and Thomas Bampfylde as the Speakers of the House of Commons. It was a bicameral Parliament, with an Upper House having a po ...
. He was elected MP for Dartmouth in 1673 in a by-election to the
Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. With the exception of the Long Parliament, it was the longest-lasting English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring ...
. History of Parliament Online - Child, Josiah
Accessed 27 January 2023.


Purchase of Wanstead Manor

Child purchased Wanstead Manor in Essex in 1673 from the executors of Sir Robert Brooke and spent much money on laying out the grounds of the manor house, Wanstead Hall. The diarist
John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diary, diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's Diary, ...
made the following characteristically waspish entry for 16 March 1683
"I went to see Sir Josiah Child's prodigious cost in planting of walnut trees about his seat and making fishponds many miles in circuit in Epping Forest in a barren spot as commonly these overgrown and suddenly monied men for the most part seat themselves. He from an ordinary merchant's apprentice & management of the East India Company's common stock being arrived to an estate ('tis said) of £200,000 and lately married his daughter to the eldest son of the Duke of Beaufort, late Marquis of Worcester, with £30,000 (''some versions £50,000'') portion at present, & various expectations. This merchant most sordidly avaricious etc."
According to
Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; 1660 – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, merchant and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translati ...
, Child "added innumerable rows of trees, avenues and vistas to the house, all leading up to the place where the old house stood, as to a centre". In 1678, Child was created
Baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
Child of Wanstead in the County of Essex. In 1685 he was elected MP for
Ludlow Ludlow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road (Great Britain), A49 road which bypasses the town. The town is near the conf ...
. He served as High Sheriff of Essex in 1689.


Career with the East India Company

Child's advocacy, both by speech and by pen (under the
pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...
''Philopatris)'', of the East India Company's claims to political power, as well as to its right of restricting competition to its trade, brought him to the notice of the shareholders. He was appointed a Director in 1677, rising to Deputy-Governor and finally became Governor of the East India Company in 1681. In this latter capacity, he directed the company's policy as if it were his own private business. He and Sir John Child, president of Surat and governor of Bombay (no relation according to the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', arms: "Vert, 2 bars engrailled between 3 leopards' faces or") are sometimes credited with the change from unarmed to armed traffic, but the actual renunciation of the
Roe Roe, ( ) or hard roe, is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooking, c ...
doctrine of unarmed traffic by the company was resolved upon in January 1686, under Governor Sir Joseph Ash, when Child was temporarily out of office.


War with Mughal India

Child lost the war with Aurangzeb, 6th Mughal Emperor of India, which took place between 1688 and 1690. Aurangzeb, however, did not take any punitive action against the company and restored its trading privileges. "For a massive indemnity and promises of better conduct in the future, he
Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...
graciously agreed to the restoration of their
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
's trading privileges and the withdrawal of his troops".


Economic philosophy

Child contributed to the literature of economics, especially ''Brief Observations concerning Trade and the Interest of Money'' (1668), and ''A New Discourse of Trade'' (1668 and 1690). He was a moderate in the days of the mercantile system and has sometimes been regarded as a sort of pioneer in developing the
free-trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist political parties general ...
doctrines of the 18th century. Though Child considered himself a proponent of the competitive market, he simultaneously argued for a government-controlled interest rate and restricted trade among the colonies, benefiting England. He made various proposals for improving English trade by following the Dutch example. He advocated a low rate of interest as the ''causa causans'' of all the other causes of the riches of the Dutch people. This low rate of interest he thought should be created and maintained by public authority. Child, whilst adhering to the doctrine of the
balance of trade Balance of trade is the difference between the monetary value of a nation's exports and imports of goods over a certain time period. Sometimes, trade in Service (economics), services is also included in the balance of trade but the official IMF d ...
, observed that a people cannot always sell to foreigners without ever buying from them, and denied that the export of the
precious metals Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value. Precious metals, particularly the noble metals, are more corrosion resistant and less chemically reactive than most elements. They are usual ...
was necessarily detrimental. Like other writers in what is commonly called the
mercantilist Mercantilism is a nationalist economic policy that is designed to maximize the exports and minimize the imports of an economy. It seeks to maximize the accumulation of resources within the country and use those resources for one-sided trade. ...
period or tradition, he viewed a numerous population as an asset to a country. He became prominent with a new scheme for the relief and employment of the poor. He also advocated the reservation by the mother country of the sole right of trade with her colonies. In ''Sir Josiah Child'', ''Merchant Economist'' (1959), William Letwin considers that Child's economic thought was of little theoretical importance but notes that he was "the most widely-read of seventeenth-century economic writers".


Family

Child married firstly, Hannah Boate, daughter of Edward Boate, on 26 December 1654 at Portsmouth, Hampshire. He had one surviving child, Elizabeth. Two other children died young. Elizabeth married John Howland of Streatham, and their daughter Elizabeth married the
Duke of Bedford Duke of Bedford (named after Bedford, England) is a title that has been created six times (for five distinct people) in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1414 for Henry IV's third son, John, who later served as regent of Fran ...
. Child married secondly, c. 14 June 1663, Mary Atwood, daughter of William Atwood. The issues from this marriage are Rebecca (''c.'' 1666 – 17 Jul 1712) who married firstly Charles Somerset, Marquess of Worcester and secondly John, Lord Granville); Mary who married Edward Bullock of Faulkbourne and died c. 1748;Bullock, Llewellyn C W, ''Memoirs of the Bullock Family'', A J Lawrence 1905 and his heir Josiah Child, 2nd Baronet (c.1668-20 Jan 1704). Child married thirdly, c. 8 August 1676, Emma Willoughby (Willughby), widow of
Francis Willughby Francis Willughby (sometimes spelt Willoughby, ) Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (22 November 1635 – 3 July 1672) was an English ornithology, ornithologist, ichthyology, ichthyologist and mathematician, and an early student of linguistics an ...
of
Wollaton Hall Wollaton Hall is an Elizabethan country house of the 1580s standing on a small but prominent hill in Wollaton Park, Nottingham, England. The house is now Nottingham Natural History Museum, with Nottingham Industrial Museum in the outbuilding ...
and daughter of Sir Henry Barnard. They had one child, a son, Richard Child (5 Feb 1680 – March 1750), who was created Viscount Castlemaine in 1718 and Earl Tylney in 1731. Child died on 22 June 1699 and was buried at Wanstead, East London. His will dated 22 February 1696, was proved on 6 July 1699.


Heraldry

The
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
states positively that he was not related to the
Child & Co Child & Co. is a historic private bank in the United Kingdom, later integrated into the Royal Bank of Scotland, RBS division of the NatWest Group. The bank operated from its long-standing premises at 1 Fleet Street, on the western edge of the C ...
bankers of
Osterley Park Osterley Park is a Georgian era, Georgian country estate in west London, which straddles the London boroughs of London Borough of Ealing, Ealing and London Borough of Hounslow, Hounslow. Originally dating from the 1570s, the estate contains a ...
. The latter have very humble origins, at Heddington, in Wiltshire. It is not known why they used the same heraldry - Burke's Armorials 1884, for example, giving both families the same armorials: "Gules, a chevron ermine between 3 eagles close argent". (See
Villiers family Villiers ( ) is an Nobility, aristocratic family in the United Kingdom. Over time, various members of the Villiers family were made knights, baronets, and peers. Peerages held by the Villiers family include the dukedoms of Duke of Buckingham, Bucki ...
, Earls of Jersey, into which family the banking Child family married.) The earliest bearer of these Child arms was William Childe, sheriff of Worcestershire in 1585. Burke's Armorials, 1884, p. 193. Child & Childe; p. 1057 Villiers, Earls of Jersey.


References


External links

* Macaulay, ''History of England'', vol. iv.; R Grant, ''Sketch of the History of the East India Company'' (1813) * D Macpherson, ''Annals of Commerce'' (1805) * B Willson, ''Ledger and Sword'' (1903) *History of Parliament
Josiah Child
{{DEFAULTSORT:Child, Josiah 1630s births 1699 deaths Merchants from London 17th-century English economists Baronets in the Baronetage of England High sheriffs of Essex Mercantilists Members of the Parliament of England for Dartmouth Politicians from London Directors of the British East India Company English MPs 1659 English MPs 1661–1679 English MPs 1685–1687 17th-century English businesspeople