John Lewis Ricardo

John Lewis Ricardo
John Lewis Ricardo
Member of Parliament for; Stoke-upon-Trent
	In office; 1841–1862 Serving with William Taylor Copeland, Hon. Frederick Leveson-Gower, William Taylor Copeland
Preceded by	John Davenport; William Taylor Copeland
Succeeded by	William Taylor Copeland; Henry Grenfell
Personal details
Born	1812; London, England
Died	2 August 1862 (aged 49–50); West Brompton, England
Spouse	Catherine Duff; (m. 1841; died 1862)
Children	Alexander Ricardo
Occupation	Businessman, politician

John Lewis Ricardo (1812 – 2 August 1862) was a British businessman and politician.

Early life

Ricardo was born in London in 1812. He was the eldest son of financier Jacob Ricardo and nephew of the economist David Ricardo.^[1]

Career

Following the death of his father in 1834, Ricardo abandoned his plans for a career in the British Army and, instead, took over his father's financial firm, in partnership with his uncle, Samson Ricardo.^[1]

Ricardo was Chairman of the North Staffordshire Railway from 1846 until his death. In 1846, he and William Fothergill Cooke founded the Electric Telegraph Company, the world's first public telegraph company, and Ricardo served as chairman until its merger with the International Telegraph Company in 1856. He was also a director of London and Westminster Bank.^[2]

Ricardo was a leader of a group of businessmen who, in 1845, purchased the patents for the electric telegraph designed by Cooke and Wheatstone. Ricardo was Electric Telegraph's largest shareholder, and its executive chairman, for its first 12 years.^[3] His goal was to build a network that would distribute breaking financial news to his own newsrooms adjacent to all British stock exchanges—an information monopoly that would be valuable to speculators and investors. However, when the established telegraph companies formed monopolistic cartels and raised prices to newspapers, Ricardo secretly switched sides and campaigned for their nationalization.^[4]

Political career

In 1841 he was elected Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent as a Liberal, serving until his death.^[1] In the House, he was an advocate for free trade and was active in the repeal of the Navigation Acts in 1849.^[5]

Personal life

In 1841, he married Catherine Duff (c. 1820–1869), the daughter of General Sir Alexander Duff and sister of James Duff, 5th Earl Fife. Together, they had one son:^[1]

Alexander Ricardo (1843–1871), who married Florence Campbell, the eldest daughter of Robert Campbell.^[6]^[7]^: 10

Ricardo died in West Brompton on 2 August 1862.^[8]

Publications

The anatomy of the Navigation Acts, Charles Gilpin, London (1847)

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "RICARDO, John Lewis (1812-1862), of Exbury House, Fawley, Hampshire". www.histparl.ac.uk. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
^ Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events of the year: 1862. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1863. p. 690.
^ Mather, Francis C. "The railways, the electric telegraph and public order during the Chartist period, 1837–48." History 38.132 (1953): 40–53.
^ Roger Neil Barton, "The birth of telegraphic news in Britain," Media History (2010) 16#4, pp. 379–406
^ Fetter, Frank Whitson. "The Influence of Economists in Parliament on British Legislation from Ricardo to John Stuart Mill", The Journal of Political Economy, 83 no.5 (1975) 1051–1064.
^ "Robert 'Tertius' Campbell, of Buscot". Clan MacFarlane and associated clans genealogy. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
^ Ruddick, James (2001). Death at the Priory: Love, Sex, and Murder in Victorian England. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press. ISBN 0-87113-832-8.
^ Obituary, The Gentleman's Magazine (Oct. 1862) pp. 496–97.

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Lewis Ricardo
John Lewis Ricardo at ThePotteries.org
The Ricardo Album at RicardoPhotoAlbum.com

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by John Davenport William Taylor Copeland	Member of Parliament for Stoke-upon-Trent 1841–1862 With: William Taylor Copeland 1841–1852 Hon. Frederick Leveson-Gower 1852–1857 William Taylor Copeland 1857–1862	Succeeded by William Taylor Copeland Henry Grenfell

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[histparl-1] "RICARDO, John Lewis (1812-1862), of Exbury House, Fawley, Hampshire". www.histparl.ac.uk. History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 28 May 2024.

[2] Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events of the year: 1862. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1863. p. 690.

[3] Mather, Francis C. "The railways, the electric telegraph and public order during the Chartist period, 1837–48." History 38.132 (1953): 40–53.

[4] Roger Neil Barton, "The birth of telegraphic news in Britain," Media History (2010) 16#4, pp. 379–406

[5] Fetter, Frank Whitson. "The Influence of Economists in Parliament on British Legislation from Ricardo to John Stuart Mill", The Journal of Political Economy, 83 no.5 (1975) 1051–1064.

[:8-6] "Robert 'Tertius' Campbell, of Buscot". Clan MacFarlane and associated clans genealogy. Retrieved 26 April 2022.

[:2-7] Ruddick, James (2001). Death at the Priory: Love, Sex, and Murder in Victorian England. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press. ISBN 0-87113-832-8.

[8] Obituary, The Gentleman's Magazine (Oct. 1862) pp. 496–97.

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