Child, SIR JOSIAH

Child, SIR JOSIAH, writer on commerce, was born in 1630, the second son of a merchant of London. He himself made a fortune of £200,000 as a navy victualler at Portsmouth and a director of the East India Company. In 1678 he was made a baronet, and he died 22d June 1699. His principal work is Brief Observations concerning Trade and the Interest of Money (1668); a 3d edition (1690), much enlarged, is entitled A New Discourse of Trade, and has as an appendix, 'A small Treatise against Usury.' In this work he explains his plans for the relief and employment of the poor, including the substitution of districts or unions for parishes, and the compulsory transportation of paupers to the colonies.—His brother, SIR JOHN CHILD, was governor of Bombay, where he died, 4th February 1690.