Sir Louis Mallet CB PC (14 March 1823 – 16 February 1890) was a British civil servant who was an advocate of

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econ ...

and served on the Council of India.

Career

Louis Mallet was born in Hampstead, grandson of

Jacques Mallet du Pan Jacques Mallet du Pan, (1749-1800), was a Genevan, political journalist and propagandist. A Calvinist thinker and Counter-Revolutionary reformer, he opposed extreme positions held by both Revolutionary and Counter-Revolutionary partisans during ...

and son of John Lewis Mallet who had been Secretary to the Commissioners for Auditing the Public Accounts (predecessor of the National Audit Office) since 1806. He was educated privately and at the age of 16 his father found him a place as a clerk in his own office. He spent eight years in the Audit Office and in 1847 transferred to the Board of Trade where he soon became private secretary to the President of the Board, serving

Henry Labouchere Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

1848–52 and

Lord Stanley Earl of Derby ( ) is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby, under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the en ...

1855–57. In 1860 Mallet was appointed an assistant commissioner under

Richard Cobden Richard Cobden (3 June 1804 – 2 April 1865) was an English Radical and Liberal politician, manufacturer, and a campaigner for free trade and peace. He was associated with the Anti-Corn Law League and the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty. As a you ...

for drawing up detailed tariffs under the Anglo-French Treaty of Commerce (the

Cobden–Chevalier Treaty The Cobden–Chevalier Treaty was an Anglo-French free trade agreement signed between Great Britain and France on 23 January 1860. After Britain began free trade policies in 1846, there remained tariffs with France. The 1860 treaty ended tariffs o ...

) which had been signed in January 1860. Cobden was much impressed by Mallet and he by Cobden, and Mallet became a strong advocate of

, and a founder member of the

Cobden Club The Cobden Club was a society and publishing imprint, based in London, run along the lines of a gentlemen's club of the Victorian era, but without permanent club premises of its own. Founded in 1866 by Thomas Bayley Potter for believers in Free ...

after Cobden's death. In 1865 Mallet was sent to

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to take a leading part in organising an Anglo-Austrian commercial treaty, which was signed in December 1865, though Mallet remained in Vienna until 1867 for follow-up negotiations. In 1872 the

Duke of Argyll Duke of Argyll ( gd, Diùc Earraghàidheil) is a title created in the peerage of Scotland in 1701 and in the peerage of the United Kingdom in 1892. The earls, marquesses, and dukes of Argyll were for several centuries among the most powerfu ...

, then

Secretary of State for India His (or Her) Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for India, known for short as the India Secretary or the Indian Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister and the political head of the India Office responsible for the governance of th ...

, nominated Mallet to the Council of India. In 1874 he was appointed

Permanent Under-Secretary of State A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior civil servant of a department or ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are the non-political civil ...

for India, a position left vacant by the death of his first cousin

Herman Merivale Herman Merivale CB (8 November 1806 – 8 February 1874) was an English civil servant and historian. He was the elder brother of Charles Merivale, and father of the poet Herman Charles Merivale. He was born at Dawlish, Devon to John Herman ...

. He remained in that post until his retirement in 1883, touring India in 1875–76, which was facilitated by the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. Mallet served on a royal commission on the laws relating to copyright in 1876, and was a commissioner for the British representation at the

Paris exhibition Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

of 1878. In the same year he and

Lord Reay Lord Reay, of Reay in the County of Caithness, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. Lord Reay (pronounced "ray") is the hereditary Clan Chief of Clan Mackay, whose lands in Strathnaver and northwest Sutherland were known as the Reay Country. ...

represented India at a Monetary Conference in Paris, convened as a result of a fall in the price of silver relative to gold. Mallet retired in 1883 but was recalled in 1887 to serve for a short period on a Royal Commission on Precious Metals.

Family

In 1858 Mallet married Frances Helen Pellew (daughter of Rev. Edward William Pellew and Marianne Winthrop, and granddaughter of Admiral Sir

Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth Admiral Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB (19 April 1757 – 23 January 1833) was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. His younger brother I ...

) and they had four sons, including Bernard Mallet,

Louis du Pan Mallet Sir Louis du Pan Mallet (10 July 1864 – 8 August 1936) was a British diplomat who was Ambassador to Turkey at the outbreak of World War I. Career Louis du Pan Mallet was the third son of Sir Louis Mallet, a British civil servant. He was educ ...

and Eugene Hugo Mallett. He is buried in

Brookwood Cemetery Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regi ...

Honours

Louis Mallet was appointed CB in 1866 and knighted in 1868. He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1883.The London Gazette, 24 August 1883
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Publications

*''The political opinions of Richard Cobden'', Macmillan, London, 1869 *''The national income and taxation'', Cassell, London, 1884 *''Free Exchange. Papers on political and economical subjects, including chapters on the law of value and unearned increment'' (ed. Bernard Mallet), Kegan Paul, London, 1891. *''The Political Writings of Richard Cobden'', Unwin, London, 1903 *''Cobden's work and opinions'' (with Lord Welby), Cobden Club, London, 1904

References

*Mallet, Bernard
Sir Louis Mallet – A Record of Public Service and Political Ideals
James Nisbet & Co., London, 1905 *Williams, Donovan
Mallet, Sir Louis (1823–1890)
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008, accessed 21 Sept 2012 *Death Of Sir Louis Mallet (obituary), ''The Times'', London, 18 February 1890, page 5 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mallet, Louis 1823 births 1890 deaths Civil servants in the Audit Office (United Kingdom) Civil servants in the Board of Trade Private secretaries in the British Civil Service Members of the Council of India Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for India Knights Bachelor Companions of the Order of the Bath Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom English people of French descent Burials at Brookwood Cemetery