Sir James Caird (10 July 1816 – 9 February 1892) was a Scottish agriculturist, agricultural writer and politician. His views were based on economic liberalism which led to him forming an advisory relationship to Sir Robert Peel and later under Benjamin Disraeli. He examined the Irish famine and still later served on the commission to examine the famines in India.

Life

Grave of Sir James Caird in Highgate Cemetery

Born at Stranraer, the son of James Caird and Isabella McNeil,''Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950'' Caird was educated at

Edinburgh High School The Royal High School (RHS) of Edinburgh is a co-educational school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland. It serves 1,200 pupils drawn from four feeder primar ...

and

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. He was

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Dartmouth from 1857 to 1859 and for Stirling Burghs from 1859 to 1865. He started as a progressive farmer at Baldoon and then became a land-owner at Kirkcudbrightshire. He grew to become a voice of the

free-trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...

farmer and thus represented economic liberalism of the period. In 1849, he wrote ''High Farming as the best Substitute for Protection.'' The work caught the attention of the Conservative Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, who saw Caird as a well-informed commentator. Peel invited Caird to examine agriculture and the famine in Ireland. Caird subsequently represented the "Peelite" position on economics and famine relief. In 1850 he wrote ''The Plantation Scheme: Or, the West of Ireland as a Field of Investment.'' He toured America, and Canada. He was appointed a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

in 1865 and President of the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

in 1880-1882 and was made a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...

in 1889. Caird travelled to India from October 1878 to join a commission of famine inspectors. He held opinions that the Indian administrators did not appreciate. He was of the opinion that famine relief should be aimed to save life and was against fitness tests and wage payment against work for Indians. He believed that Indian governance needed fundamental change with peasants receiving payment in kind with handling of harvest variability. He even considered that land revenue superstructure including the Indian Civil Services needed pruning or even abolition. He was senior member of the

Land Commission The Irish Land Commission was created by the British crown in 1843 to 'inquire into the occupation of the land in Ireland. The office of the commission was in Dublin Castle, and the records were, on its conclusion, deposited in the records tower t ...

in 1882. He was director of the land department of the Board of Agriculture from 1889 to 1891. He was appointed a CB in 1869 and promoted to KCB in 1882. He died on 9 February 1892 and was buried on the eastern side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

Works

* ''English Agriculture in 1850-51'' (London, 1852) * ''The Plantation Scheme; Or, the West of Ireland as a Field of Investment'' (Edinburgh, 1850) * via Internet Archive

Notes

References

External links

*
Famine Commission Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caird, James 1816 births 1892 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Dartmouth Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People from Stranraer Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society 19th-century Scottish businesspeople UK MPs 1857–1859 UK MPs 1859–1865 Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Stirling constituencies