Abstract
The second son of Richard Child, a London merchant, Sir Josiah Child was born in 1630 and enjoyed a highly successful merchant career during which he amassed a considerable fortune. His business ventures, which included the provisioning of Navy ships, led to his appointment as Deputy to the Navy’s Treasurer at Portsmouth in 1655 and he became Mayor of that city in 1658. He was appointed a director of the East India Company in 1674, and with the exception of 1676 he was re-elected to a directorship in every subsequent year until his death. In 1681 he was elected governor of the company and established a close relationship with the Crown. Following the Revolution of 1688, and in response to mounting attacks on his conduct of company affairs, he relinquished some of his active management responsibilities.
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Bibliography
Letwin, W. 1959. Sir Josiah child, merchant economist. Boston: Harvard Graduate School of Business.
Macauley, T. (Lord) 1848, 1855, 1861. The history of England from the accession to James the second. New York: AMS Press, 1968.
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Vickers, D. (2018). Child, Josiah (1630–1699). In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_167
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_167
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Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
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