Jonathan Duncan (1799–1865), often referred to as "Jonathan Duncan, the younger", was a British advocate of reforming the monetary system. He was born in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

while his father (also called

Jonathan Duncan Jonathan Duncan may refer to: *Jonathan Duncan (Governor of Bombay) (1756–1811) *Jonathan Duncan (swimmer) (born 1982), New Zealand swimmer *Jon Duncan (born 1975), British orienteer *Jonathan Duncan (currency reformer) (1799–1865), British advo ...

) was governor there. Following the death of Duncan, senior, in 1811, Sir Charles Forbes acted as his guardian. He graduated with a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

from

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

in 1821. In the years up to 1841, he wrote a number of history books about Russia, religious wars in France, and

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

. In 1846, he was editor of a newspaper called ''The Sentinel'', and presented a petition to

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

criticizing

Frederic Festus Kelly Frederic Festus Kelly (died 3 June 1883) was a high official in the British Post Office. He was also the founder of Kelly & Co. (later Kelly's Directories Ltd.), which published the Kelly's Directory, a sort of Victorian-era "Yellow Pages" that l ...

, chief inspector of letter-carriers. In 1846, he wrote the tract "How to reconcile the rights of property, capital, and labour" for the Currency Reform Association. In 1847 he wrote a tract for the National Anti-Gold Law League, arguing that the size of the circulation should be determined by supply and demand. He opposed

bullionism Bullionism is an economic theory that defines wealth by the amount of precious metals owned. Bullionism is an early and perhaps more primitive form of mercantilism. It was derived, during the 16th century, from the observation that the Kingdom of E ...

and Sir

Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850), was a British Conservative statesman who twice was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835, 1841–1846), and simultaneously was Chancellor of the Exchequer (1834–183 ...

's banking and monetary laws, and the monetary policies of Samuel Jones-Loyd. Other publications included "The Principles of Money demonstrated, and Bullionist Fallacies refuted" (1849) and " The Bank Charter Act: ought the Bank of England or the People of England to receive the Profits of the National Circulation?" (1858). From 1846 to 1853 he lived at No. 13 Chester Place, Kennington (this address was later known as 255 Kennington Road,

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

References

Other

* Matthew, H.C.G., "Duncan, Jonathan, the younger (1799-1865)", in Matthew, H.C.G. & Harrison, B.H. (eds.), ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: In Association with the British Academy: from the Earliest Times to the Year 2000'', Oxford University Press, (Oxford), 2004. {{DEFAULTSORT:Duncan, Jonathan 1799 births 1865 deaths British people in colonial India Monetary reformers British reformers