Sir William Taylor Money, FRS ( – April 1834) was a

Bombay Marine The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was the naval force of British India and the Dominion of India. Along with the Presidency armies, later the Indian Army, and from 1932 the Royal Indian Air Force, it was one of the Armed Forces of British India. Fr ...

officer, merchant and politician. Serving as a captain in the Bombay Marine, he commanded several merchantmen before being appointed superintendent of the Marine, where he oversaw the protection of

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 ...

(EIC) shipping routes in the Indian Ocean. Money later became a director of the EIC and a member of parliament, contributing to British commercial policies, naval strategy and scientific exploration. Money Island is named in his honor.

Early life

He was the eldest son of Captain William Money of Wood End House, Walthamstow, a director of the East India Company for 1789–96, and Martha, the daughter of James Taylor.

Career

Money was commissioned in the

as a lieutenant on ''

Rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

'' in 1786 and in 1793 he became captain of the '' General Goddard'' belonging to

Sir Robert Wigram, 1st Baronet Sir Robert Wigram, 1st Baronet (30 January 1744 – 6 November 1830) was a British merchant shipbuilder and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain and of the United Kingdom between 1802 and 1807. Background Wigram was ...

, his father's business partner. After a successful initial voyage he was given the command of other Wigram ships including the ''Walthamstow''. On his retirement from sea in 1801 he became the Marine Superintendent at Bombay, a post he held until 1813. Charles Rathbone Low, ''History of the Indian Navy: (1613-1863)'' (R. Bentley & Son, 1877), p 475 During this period he served as president of the

Asiatic Society of Bombay The Asiatic Society of Mumbai (formerly ''Asiatic Society of Bombay'') is a learned society in the field of Asian studies based in Mumbai, India. It can trace its origin to the Literary Society of Bombay which first met in Mumbai on 26 November 1 ...

from 1815. He also gave his name to Money Island in the

Paracel Islands The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands () and the Hoàng Sa Archipelago (), are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea and currently controlled by the People's Republic of China. The word ''paracel'' is of Portuguese origi ...

group in the South China Sea which was named after him by the British naval surveyor Daniel Ross. On his return to England he established a home in

Streatham Park Streatham Park is an area of suburban South London that comprises the eastern part of Furzedown ward in the London Borough of Wandsworth, formerly in the historic parish of Streatham. It is bounded by Tooting Bec Common to the north, Thrale Road ...

, Surrey and became a Director of the East India Company from 1818 to 1826. He entered Parliament as the member for

Wootton Bassett Royal Wootton Bassett , formerly Wootton Bassett, is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, with a population of 13,570 at the 2021 Census. In the north of the county, it lies to the west of the town of Swindon and northeast of ...

from 1816 to 1820 and for Mitchell from 1820 to 1826. He gave up his Parliamentary seat in March 1826 when appointed consul to the Lombard states but died of cholera in Venice in April 1834. He was elected a

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

in 1818. and invested a Knight of the

Royal Guelphic Order The Royal Guelphic Order (), sometimes referred to as the Hanoverian Guelphic Order, is a Kingdom of Hanover, Hanoverian order of chivalry instituted on 28 April 1815 by the Prince Regent (later King George IV). It takes its name from the House ...

in 1831.

Private life

He had married Eugenia, the daughter of William Money of Homme House, Much Marcle, Herefordshire, with whom he had 7 sons and 2 daughters. He left all his property to his wife in trust for their children, but his estate in Java had to be sold to pay his debts. Several of his children and grandchildren also served in the Indian army or civil service.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Money, William Taylor 1769 births 1834 deaths British East India Company civil servants Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1812–1818 UK MPs 1818–1820 UK MPs 1820–1826 Fellows of the Royal Society Deaths from cholera Bombay Marine officers