William Jardine (24 February 1784 – 27 February 1843) was a Scottish physician, merchant and opium dealer who co-founded the Hong Kong–based conglomerate Jardine, Matheson & Co. Educated in medicine at the University of Edinburgh, in 1802 Jardine obtained a diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. The next year, he became a surgeon's mate aboard the Brunswick belonging to the East India Company, and set sail for India. In May 1817, he abandoned medicine for trade.
Jardine was a resident in China from 1820 to 1839. His early success in Canton as a commercial agent for opium merchants in India led to his admission in 1825 as a partner in Magniac & Co., and by 1826 he controlled that firm's Canton operations. James Matheson joined him shortly afterwards with Magniac & Co. reconstituted as Jardine, Matheson & Co. in 1832. After Imperial Commissioner Lin Zexu destroyed 20,000 cases of opium seized from British traders in 1839, Jardine arrived in London that September to press Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston for a forceful response, which resulted in the First Opium War.
Following his return to Britain from China, between 1841 and 1843, he was Member of Parliament for Ashburton representing the Whig party. Jardine died in 1843, bringing an end to his short political career.
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Early life
Jardine, one of seven children, was born in 1784 on a small farm near Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. His father, Andrew Jardine (abt. 1750- d. 1793), died when he was nine, leaving the family in some economic difficulty. Though struggling to make ends meet, Jardine's older brother David (1776-1827) provided him with money to attend school. Jardine began to acquire credentials at the age of sixteen.
In 1800 he entered the University of Edinburgh Medical School where he took classes in anatomy, medical practice, and obstetrics among others. While his schooling was in progress, Jardine was apprenticed to a surgeon who would provide housing, food, and the essential acquaintance with a hospital practice, with the money his older brother, David, provided.
He graduated from the Edinburgh Medical School on 2 March 1802, and was presented a full diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He chose to join the service of the British East India Company (EIC) and in 1803, at the age of 19, boarded the East Indiaman Brunswick as a surgeon's mate in the East India Company's Maritime Marine Service. Taking advantage of his employee's "cargo privilege", he traded successfully in cassia, cochineal and musk during his 14 years as a surgeon at the firm.
On his first voyage, Jardine met two men who would come to play a role in his future as a drug trafficking merchant. The first was Thomas Weeding, a fellow doctor, and surgeon of the Glatton, one of the other ships in the convoy. The second was 26-year-old Charles Magniac who had arrived in Guangzhou at the beginning of 1801 to supervise his father's watch business in Canton in partnership with Daniel Beale.
By leaving the East India Company in 1817, Jardine was able to exploit the opportunity afforded by the company's policy of not transporting opium but contracting the trade out to free traders. Jardine entered into partnership with retired surgeon Thomas Weeding and opium and cotton trader Framji Cowasji Banaji. The firm did well and established Jardine's reputation as an able, steady and experienced private trader. One of Jardine's agents in Bombay, who would become his lifelong friend, was Parsee opium and cotton trader Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy.
Both men were on the Brunswick when the crew of a French ship forcibly boarded her. Jeejeebhoy long continued as a close business associate of Jardine and that a portrait of Jeejeebhoy hung in Jardines' Hong Kong office in the 1990s was tribute to that.
Jardine, Matheson & Co.
James Matheson joined Magniac & Co. from the firm Yrissari & Co where he was partner. After Francis Xavier de Yrissari's death, Matheson wound up the firm's affairs and closed shop. Yrissari, leaving no heir, had willed all his shares in the firm to Matheson. This created the perfect opportunity for Matheson to join in commerce with Jardine. Matheson proved a perfect partner for Jardine.
James Matheson and his nephew, Alexander Matheson, joined the firm Magniac and Co. in 1827, but their association was officially advertised on 1 January 1828. Jardine was known as the planner, the tough negotiator and strategist of the firm and Matheson was known as the organization man, who handled the firm's correspondence, and other complex articles including legal affairs.
Matheson was known to be behind many of the company's innovative practices. And both men were a study in contrasts, Jardine being tall, lean and trim while Matheson was short and slightly portly. Matheson had the advantage of coming from a family with social and economic means, while Jardine came from a much more humble background.
Jardine was tough, serious, detail-oriented and reserved while Matheson was creative, outspoken and jovial. Jardine was known to work long hours and was extremely business-minded, while Matheson enjoyed the arts and was very eloquent.
William C. Hunter wrote about Jardine, "He was a gentleman of great strength of character and of unbounded generosity." Hunter's description of Matheson was, "He was a gentleman of great suavity of manner and the impersonation of benevolence." But there were similarities in both men. Both men were hardworking, driven and single-minded in their pursuit of wealth.
Both men were also known to have continuously sent money home to less fortunate family members in Scotland and to have helped nephews by providing them work within the firm. Upon the death of his older brother, David, Jardine set up a fund for his brother's widow and arranged schooling for his four sons. In a letter to Magniac, Jardine wrote,
My only Brother has a very large family, three or four of them Boys, and as he has not the means of providing for them all, in the way I wish to see them provided for, I am desirous of having one of them here, to commence in the office, and work his way, by industry and application to business.
Departure from China and breakdown of relations
Matheson returned to China in 1836 to prepare to take over the firm as Jardine was preparing to fulfill his temporarily delayed retirement. Jardine left Canton on 26 January 1839 for Britain as retirement but in actuality to try to continue Matheson's work. The respect shown by other foreign opium traffickers to Jardine before his departure can be best illustrated in the following passage from a book by William C. Hunter.
A few days before Mr. Jardine’s departure from Canton, the entire foreign community entertained him at a dinner in the dining room of the East India Company’s Factory. About eighty persons of all nationalities, including India, were present, and they did not separate until several hours after midnight. It was an event frequently referred to afterwards amongst the residents, and to this day there are a few of us who still speak of it.
The Qing government was pleased to hear of Jardine's departure, then, being were more familiar with Jardine as the trading head and were quite unfamiliar with Matheson, proceeded to stop the opium trafficker. Lin Zexu, appointed specifically to suppress the drug trafficking in Guangzhou, stated, "The Iron-headed Old Rat, the sly and cunning ring-leader of the opium smugglers has left for The Land of Mist, of fear from the Middle Kingdom's wrath." He then ordered the surrender of all opium and the destruction of more than 20,000 cases of opium in Guangzhou, representing 50 per cent of the entire trade in opium in 1838. He also ordered the arrest of opium trafficker Lancelot Dent, the head of Dent and Company (a rival company to Jardine Matheson). Lin also wrote to Queen Victoria, to submit in obeisance in the presence of the Chinese Emperor.
War and the Chinese surrender
Having arrived in London in September 1839, Jardine's first order of business was to meet with Lord Palmerston. He carried with him a letter of introduction written by Superintendent Elliot that relayed a few of his credentials to Palmerston,
This gentleman has for several years stood at the head of our commercial community and he carries with him the esteem and kind wishes of the whole foreign society, honourably acquired by a long career of private charity and public spirit.
In 1839, Jardine successfully persuaded the British Foreign Minister, Lord Palmerston, to wage war on China, giving a full detailed plan for war, detailed strategic maps, battle strategies, the indemnifications and political demands from China and even the number of troops and warships needed. Aided by Matheson's nephew, Alexander Matheson (1805–1881) and MP John Abel Smith, Jardine met several times with Palmerston to argue the necessity for a war plan.
This plan was known as the Jardine Paper. In the 'Jardine Paper', Jardine emphasized several points to Palmerston in several meetings and they are as follows: There was to be complete compensation for the 20,000 chests of opium that Lin had confiscated, the conclusion of a viable commercial treaty that would prevent any further hostilities, and the opening of further ports of trade such as Fuzhou, Ningbo, Shanghai, and Keeson-chow.
It was also suggested by Jardine that should the need arise to occupy an island or harbor in the vicinity of Guangzhou, Hong Kong would be perfect because it provided an extensive and protected anchorage. As early as the mid-1830s, the island of Hong Kong had already been used for transhipment points by Jardine Matheson and other firms' ships.
Jardine clearly stated what he thought would be a sufficient naval and military force to complete the objectives he had outlined. He also provided maps and charts of the area. In a well calculated recommendation letter to Parliament, creating a precedent now infamously known as 'Gunboat Diplomacy', Jardine states:
Death and legacy
In late 1842, Jardine's health had rapidly deteriorated due to colon cancer. In the latter part of the year, Jardine was already bedridden and in great pain. He was assisted by his nephew, Andrew Johnstone and later on by James Matheson in his correspondence. Despite his illness, Jardine was still very active in keeping an eye on business, politics and current affairs, and continued to welcome a steady stream of visits from family members, business partners, political associates and his constituents.
He died on 27 February 1843, just three days after his 59th birthday, one of the richest and most powerful men in Britain and Member of Parliament. Jardine's funeral was attended by a very large gathering of family, friends, government and business personalities, many of whom Jardine had helped in his lifetime.
Jardine, a bachelor, willed his estate to his siblings and his nephews. Though gleaning from Oxford University Press' immense collection of Jardine Matheson's correspondence from its earliest years, it can be speculated that Jardine had an illegitimate child, a daughter, with a 'Mrs. Ratcliffe' who was provided with an annual pension and shares with Jardine's firms which was later on cashed out years after Jardine's death. Jardine had provided extensive correspondence with various associates in London instructing to carry out provisions to Mrs. Ratcliffe and her daughter, named Matilda Jane or 'Tilly' as Jardine affectionately called her in his letters. There were also letters from Tilly to Jardine requesting for additional monetary assistance. An older nephew, Andrew Johnstone, administered Jardine's issue.
His other nephews David, Joseph, Robert and Andrew Jardine, all sons of Jardine's older brother David, continued to assist James Matheson in running Jardines. Matheson retired as taipan in 1842 and handed over control of the firm to his nephew Sir Alexander Matheson, who was also known as of the same capacity and competence as the elder Jardine and Matheson. David Jardine, another nephew of Jardine, became taipan after Sir Alexander Matheson and was one of the first two unofficial members appointed to the Legislative Council in Hong Kong. David in turn would hand over to his brother Sir Robert control of the firm. Joseph succeeded Robert as taipan.
Sir Robert Jardine (1825–1905) is the ancestor of the Buchanan-Jardine branch of the family. A descendant of Sir Robert, Sir John Buchanan-Jardine, sold his family's 51% holding in Jardine, Matheson and Co. for $84 million at the then prevailing exchange rate in 1959. A great-nephew of Jardine who would be taipan from 1874 to 1886, William Keswick (1834–1912), is the ancestor of the Keswick branch (pronounced Ke-zick) of the family.