biography
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1658–1719)
|
| biography:
| Financier and chief projector of the plan to establish the Bank of England, born in Tinwald, Dumfries and Galloway, SW Scotland, UK. He spent some years trading in the West Indies, and then promoted a scheme for a colony in Darien, Central America. After making a fortune by commerce in London, he was instrumental in founding the Bank of England, and was one of its first directors (1694). A firm supporter of free trade, he sailed with the expedition to Darien (1698), and after its failure returned in ill health to England (1699). In 1715 the government awarded him an indemnity for his Darien losses. |
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