HET: R.H. Inglis Palgrave

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Sir Robert Harry Inglis Palgrave, 1827-1919.

British banker, journalist, economist and statistician, editor of the famous Dictionary on Political Economy.

Sir Robert Harris Inglis Palgrave was the son of Francis Palgrave, a Medieval historian and Jewish convert (nee Cohen; Palgrave was his wife's surname). R.H. Inglis Palgrave was educated at Charterhouse School but did not go on to university. Although Palgrave would later help edit his father's academic work, his first instinct was to enter his grandfather's business in Yarmouth, the bank of Gurneys Birkbeck Barclay Buxtons & Orde in 1845.

R.H. Inglis Palgrave began publishing in the late 1860s. His 1871 essay won a prize from the Statistical Society of London. His 1873 treatise, focusing particularly on bank statistics, set him out as one of the leading authorities on banking matters and spokesman of the country banks. Palgrave gave testimony to the House of Commons on banks of issue in 1875. He edited the Banker's Almanack and Banker's Magazine. In 1877, after Bagehot's death, Palgrave succeeded him at The Economist, jointly with Daniel Conner Lathbury (pipping out Giffen). Palgrave served as financial editor of The Economist from 1877 to 1883, and eventually bought a share of the newspaper.

In 1883, Inglis Palgrave was president of Section F of the BAAS, and launched plans to create a society to publish a economics-dedicated journal, what eventually became British Economic Association in 1890 (later renamed the Royal Economic Society).

R.H. Inglis Palgrave's principal claim to fame is perhaps for having edited the comprehensive three-volume Dictionary of Political Economy, (1894-1901).

In 1987, a new dictionary of economics, edited by John Eatwell, Murray Milgate and Peter Newman, and published by Macmillan, was entitled The New Palgrave: A dictionary of economics. The title is only in honor of Palgrave's earlier dictionary. The entries, are entirely new.

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Major Works of R.H. Inglis Palgrave

"On the House Accomodation of England and Wales, with reference to the census of 1871", 1869, JSS of London, p.411
"On the Local Taxation of Great Britain and Ireland", 1871, JSS of London, p.111 [offprint]
Notes on Banking of Great Britain and Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, and Hamburg, 1873 [bk]
Analysis of the Transactions of the Bank of England, for the years 1844-72, with observations on the relation of the banking reserve of the Bank of England to the current rate of interest and an inquiry into some of the causes which have led to the high rates charged in recent years. 1874 [bk]
Palgrave's testimony June 21 (p.268), June 24 (p.271), June 28 (p.290) and July 1 (p.312) in Report from Select Committee of the House of Commons on Banks of Issue, 1875 [bk]
Analysis of the minutes of evidence taken before the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Banks of Issue, 1875 [bk]
"On the Influence of a Note Circulation in the Conduct of Banking Business", 1876-77, Trans MSS, p.71 [av]
Bank Rate in England, France and Germany, 1844-1878, with remarks on the causes which influence the rate of interest charged, and an analysis of the accounts of the Bank of England, 1880 [bk]
Political Economy Reading Book, adapted to the requirements of the new code, 1882 [bk]
Dictionary of Political Economy, 3 vols, 1894-1899
- v.1 (A-E) (1894)
- v.2 (F-M) (1896)
- v.3 (N-Z) (1899)
- 1901 2nd ed.: v.1 (A-E), v.2 (F-M), v.3 (N-Z),
- 1906 reprint with corrections: v.2 (F-M)
- 1908: Appendix
- 1909 reprint with corrections: v.1 (A-E)
- 1910 reprint with corrections: v.2 (F-M), v.3 (N-Z & App).
- 1912: v.2 (F-M)
- 1913: v.3 (N-Z & App).
- 1915 v.1 (A-E)
- 1918: v.3 (N-Z & App)
- 1919 v.1 (A-E),
- 1925 ed., v.1, v.2, v.3
"The History of the Separation of the Departments of the Bank of England", in 1910, National Monetary Commission: the English Banking System, p.149
Bank Rate and the Money Market in England, France, Germany, Holland and Belgium, 1844-1900, 1903 [bk]
An Enquiry into the Economic Condition of the Country, 1904 [bk]

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Resources on R.H. Inglis Palgrave

"Review of Palgrave's Dictionary of Political Economy, v.1", by E.R.A. Seligman,, 1891, PSQ (Dec),p.761 [js]
Inglis Palgrave entry at Oxford DNB
Palgraive Family Memorials, ed. C.J. Palmer and S. Tucker, 1878 [bk]
Francis Palgrave (father) entry in 1911 Britannica
Wikipedia

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