Nicholas Loney (1826,

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

– 23 April 1869,

Mount Kanlaon Kanlaon, also known as Mount Kanlaon and Kanlaon Volcano ( hil, Bolkang Kanglaon; ceb, Bolkang Kanglaon; fil, Bulkang Kanlaon), is an active stratovolcano and the highest mountain on the island of Negros in the Philippines, as well as the hig ...

Negros Island Negros is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . Negros is one of the many islands of the Visayas, in the central part of the country. The predominant inhabitants of the island region a ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

businessman and the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

's vice-consul in the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Iloílo Iloilo City, officially the City of Iloilo ( hil, Siyudad/Dakbanwa sang Iloilo; fil, Lungsod ng Iloilo), is a 1st class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines on t ...

Early life

The younger son of Admiral Robert Loney, of 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 ...

, and Ann Condy,John Earle, 'A British Vice-Consul in Southeast Asia', MA Dissertation, University of Plymouth (UK), 2011. Nicholas Loney left home at 16. He first went to

Ibero-America Ibero-America ( es, Iberoamérica, pt, Ibero-América) or Iberian America is a region in the Americas comprising countries or territories where Spanish language, Spanish or Portuguese language, Portuguese are predominant languages (usually form ...

where he traveled extensively and became fluent in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

. He then turned home to

Plymouth, England Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth' ...

but stayed only a short time before departing for

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. He eventually ended up in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

where he worked for Ker & Co., a merchant house.

Career

As the Philippines opened to international trade, Ker & Co. sent him to

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

where he became a popular figure among the business community. When the city of Iloílo was opened to international trade in 1855, he was appointed as the first British Vice Consul in the city the following year on 11 July 1856. In the Philippines, the ''hacienda'' system and lifestyles were influenced by the Spanish colonisation that occurred via

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

for more than 300 years, but which only took off in the 1850s at Loney's behest. Loney's objective, according to

Alfred W. McCoy Alfred "Al" William McCoy (born June 8, 1945) is an American historian and educator. He is the Fred Harvey Harrington Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.systematic

deindustrialisation Deindustrialization is a process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity or activity in a country or region, especially of heavy industry or manufacturing industry. There are different interpre ...

. This deindustrialisation was to be accomplished through shifting labour and capital from Iloílo's textile industry ( hil, habol Ilonggo), the origins of which predate the arrival of the

Castilians Castilians (Spanish: ''castellanos'') are those people who live in certain former areas of the historical Kingdom of Castile, but the region's exact limits are disputed. A broader definition is to consider as Castilians the population belonging ...

, to sugar-production on the neighbouring island of

Negros Negros is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . Negros is one of the many islands of the Visayas, in the central part of the country. The predominant inhabitants of the island region a ...

. The Port of Iloílo was also opened to the flood of cheaply priced British textiles. These changes had the double effect of strengthening England and Scotland's

textile industries The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of yarn, cloth and clothing. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry. Industry process Cotton manufactur ...

at the expense of Iloílo's and satisfying the growing European demand for sugar. Sugar-production was increasing due to growing price of sugar in

and Loney profited from both es, label=none, hacendero and es, label=none, sacada alike by providing loans and purchasing modern machinery from Europe through his firm, Loney & Ker Co., which helped increased the efficiency of sugar-production on

Panay Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and has a total population of 4,542,926 as of 2020 census. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City o ...

and Negros. He also encouraged improvements in raw-materials-export infrastructure at the Port of Iloílo, reclamation of the western bank of the Iloílo River and the construction of Progreso Street (present-day Isidro de la Rama Street) which became the location of numerous sugar warehouses, including his own.

Death

He died on 23 April 1869 while exploring

on the island of Negros. He was buried by the seashore under some coconut trees in what is now Rizal Street in Iloilo City.

Legacy

In March 1904, the Municipal Council of Iloilo passed a resolution naming the

quay A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths ( mooring locatio ...

along the Iloilo River, part of the Port of Iloilo, as Loney Waterfront ( es, Muelle Loney). In March 1981 a statue of Loney was unveiled at the end of the waterfront. Loney had unwittingly planted the seeds of a longstanding

social conflict Social conflict is the Conflict (process), struggle for Agency (sociology), agency or Power (sociology), power in society. Social conflict occurs when two or more people oppose each other in social interaction, and each exerts social power with re ...

on both Panay and Negros, the fruits of which taste ever bitter to this day. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, attempts to abolish the es, label=none, hacienda system in the country through land-reform laws have not been successful. The expiration of the

Laurel–Langley Agreement The Laurel–Langley Agreement was a trade agreement signed in 1955 between the United States and its former colony the Philippines. It expired in 1974. It was an amendment to the Bell Trade Act, which gave full parity rights to American citizens ...

and the resultant collapse of the Negros sugar industry gave

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Ferdinand E. E. Marcos the opening to strip the es, label=none, hacenderos of their self-appointed roles as

kingmaker A kingmaker is a person or group that has great influence on a royal or political succession, without themselves being a viable candidate. Kingmakers may use political, monetary, religious and military means to influence the succession. Origina ...

s in national politics, though arguably such an opportunity had been squandered and any significant gains stillborn.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loney, Nicholas 1826 births British diplomats British expatriates in Venezuela 19th-century British businesspeople English expatriates in the Philippines History of the textile industry in the United Kingdom Businesspeople from Plymouth, Devon Deindustrialization Businesspeople in the sugar industry 1869 deaths