William Jardine (entrepreneur)

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Portrait of William Jardine, George Chinnery , 1820

William Jardine ( February 24, 1784 - February 27, 1843 ) was a Scottish trader and founder of Jardine, Matheson & Co. (now known as Jardine Matheson Holdings ). He grew up as an opium dealer and was also involved in the opium war in China .

Origin and career

Jardine was born on a farm in Scotland. His father died when Jardine was eight years old. With the help of an older brother, Jardine was able to earn a medical degree from Edinburgh University . At the age of nineteen he was hired as an assistant surgeon on a ship of the East India Company . In 1805 his ship was hijacked by a French warship in East Asia. He was abandoned along with other prisoners at the Cape of Good Hope .

Due to his work for the company, as an officer of the company, he was assigned a private freight contingent on the trips. By trading with this Jardine earned capital for an independent trading activity.

Success with Jardine, Matheson & Co.

Jardine established himself as a trader in Canton (Guangzhou). His business model was selling opium to Indian exporters and reselling it to smugglers who brought the illegal goods ashore and into circulation. Its main trading partners was the Parsi opium dealer Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy . Jardine was able to increase his fortune significantly through the business. Together with James Matheson , he took over Magniac & Co. in 1828. It was renamed Jardine, Matheson & Co. in 1832 .

The company became the most successful of the free trading houses. After a failed attempt with a steamship , the company used specially constructed opium clippers , which were able to ensure a seasonal supply of opium. Jardine also worked with the missionary Karl Gützlaff . After the end of the East India Company's trade monopoly for trade from Europe to and from the colonies in 1834, the business of independent trading houses boomed. He was one of the supporters of Lord Napier's embassy mission , which failed after an unsuccessful demonstration of military force in Canton. From 1837, the Lianguang Governor General's actions endangered their businesses. Jardine and Matheson used their political connections and their social position to open up China by arguing against the Qing dynasty .

Political activity in England

In January 1839, Jardine left Canton for Europe after spending twenty years there with interruptions. He became a member of the House of Commons . He bought a town house on Upper Belgrave Street in London and Lanrick Castle as a country estate in Scotland. When the First Opium War broke out in 1839, Jardine was in Great Britain. Jardine was one of the leading lobbyists for the war. He was in close contact with the then Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston . He provided the British political and military elite with information about China and provided the basis for the British armed forces' war plan.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Julia Lovell: The Opium War. London, 2011, p. 24f
  2. ↑ a b c Stephen R. Platt: Imperial Twilight - The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age. New York, 2019, pp. 199-202
  3. ↑ Stephen R. Platt: Imperial Twilight - The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age. New York, 2019, p. 273f, p. 280f, p. 341, p. 362
  4. ↑ Stephen R. Platt: Imperial Twilight - The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age. New York, 2019, p. 362, p. 432
  5. ^ Song-Chuan Chen: Merchants of War and Peace - British Knowledge of China in the Making of the Opium War. Hong Kong, 2017, p. 14
  6. ↑ Stephen R. Platt: Imperial Twilight - The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age. New York, 2019, p. 362, p. 432
  7. ^ Song-Chuan Chen: Merchants of War and Peace - Britain's Knowledge of China in the Making of the Opium War. Hong Kong, 2017, p. 4f
personal data
SURNAME Jardine, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish trader and founder of Jardine, Matheson & Co
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1784
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 1843