Walter Boyd (c.1754–1837) was a British financier.
Life
Boyd was born in obscure circumstances in Scotland about 1754. Before the outbreak of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
he was a banker in Paris. The progress of events soon caused him to flee, and the property of the firm of Boyd, Ker, & Co., of which he was the chief member, was confiscated in October 1793. In March 1793 the firm of Boyd, Benfield, & Co. was established in London. Boyd, as the principal partner, contributed £60,000 to the common stock.
He was a supporter of
William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger (28 May 175923 January 1806) was a British statesman, the youngest and last prime minister of Great Britain (before the Acts of Union 1800) and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ire ...
, and enjoyed his confidence. He was employed in contracting to the amount of over £30 million for large government loans, and for some time was very prosperous. He was also M.P. for
Shaftesbury
Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hilltop settlement in Dorset, being built about above sea level on a ...
(1796–1802), which at the period of his election was a pocket borough of his partner
Paul Benfield
Paul Benfield (1742–1810) was an English East India Company employee and trader, financier and politician. He is now known as a target for the rhetoric of Edmund Burke, and for his spectacular bankruptcy.
Life
Benfield went out to India as a ...
, who was returned along with him .
After a few years the firm got into difficulties. It had at one time seemed likely that the property seized at Paris would be restored, but the revolution of 4 September 1797 caused the overthrow of the government which had taken preliminary steps towards restitution, and the final confiscation of the property followed. In expectation of a different issue, Boyd, Benfield, & Co. had entered into arrangements which soon resulted in disaster. They obtained private help, and even assistance from government, but in 1799 the affairs of the company were put into liquidation, and Boyd found himself ruined.
He visited France in the brief interval of the
Peace of Amiens (March 1802 – May 1803), was one of those detained, and was not released till the fall of Napoleon in 1814. On his return to England he was able to recover something of his former prosperity, and sat as M.P. for
Lymington
Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...
from April 1823 to 1830.
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...
met him in April 1828, and gives an account, though not accurate, of his remarkable self-sacrifice on behalf of his creditors.
Boyd died at Plaistow Lodge,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, on 16 September 1837.
Works
Boyd wrote pamphlets on financial subjects. They were:
* ''Letter to the Right Honourable William Pitt on the Influence of the Stoppage of Issues in Specie at the Bank of England on the Prices of Provisions and other Commodities'' (London, 1801, 2nd ed. 1811). This was called forth by a pamphlet on the effects of the suspension of cash payments in 1797, and was intended to prove "that the increase of banknotes is the principal cause of the great rise in the price of commodities and every species of exchangeable value" (p. 7). These conclusions were attacked by
Sir Francis Baring in his ''Observations'' (1801), and other writers.
* ''Reflections on the Financial System of Great Britain, and particularly on the Sinking Fund'' (1815, 2nd ed. 1828). This was written in captivity in France in 1812. It discusses the benefits of a
sinking fund
A sinking fund is a fund established by an economic entity by setting aside revenue over a period of time to fund a future capital expense, or repayment of a long-term debt.
In North America and elsewhere where it is common for public and priva ...
as a means of clearing off
national debt, and explains various schemes for its application.
* ''Observations on Lord Grenville's Essay on the Sinking Fund'' (London, 1828), a reply to a treatise published the same year.
References
*
External links
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Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Walter
1754 births
1837 deaths
British bankers
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
British MPs 1796–1800
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
UK MPs 1820–1826
UK MPs 1826–1830
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Lymington
Prisoners and detainees of France