Giffen, SIR ROBERT, K.C.B.

Giffen, SIR ROBERT, K.C.B. (1895) and LL.D., statistician and writer on trade and finance, was born at Strathaven in Lanarkshire in 1837, studied at Glasgow University, and was trained in a solicitor's office. He entered journalistic life at Stirling in 1860, and two years later removed to London, where, a strong free-trader, he was connected with the Globe (until 1866), the Fortnightly Review, the Examiner (1868-76), and the Daily News (1873-76). In 1876 he was appointed chief of the statistical department of the Board of Trade, and in 1893 of the labour department also, but resigned in 1897. He was president of the Statistical Society from 1882 to 1884, and has published Stock Exchange Securities (1878), Essays in Finance (first series, 1879; 4th ed. 1886; second series, 1886), and numerous official reports and papers.