James Man (1755–1823) was the founder of

Man Group Man Group plc is an active investment management business listed on the London Stock Exchange. It provides a range of funds across liquid and private markets for institutional and private investors globally and is the world's largest publicly tr ...

. Born in

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

and apprenticed to a William Humphrey as a

barrel maker A cooper is a person trained to make wooden casks, barrels, vats, buckets, tubs, troughs and other similar containers from timber staves that were usually heated or steamed to make them pliable. Journeymen coopers also traditionally made ...

, James Man decided to establish his own business as a

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

-broker in 1783. In 1784, he secured a contract to supply the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

with

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Phili ...

. This business grew into Man Group, a substantial investment management business. He retired in 1819 and moved to Dartmouth,

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, where he died in 1823.

Family

James Man married Sarah Roberts in 1781.

References

1755 births 1823 deaths British businesspeople Date of birth missing Date of death missing People from Whitechapel {{UK-business-bio-stub