GIFFEN, Sir Robert, 1837-1910, Kt, economist and statistician

Scope and Content

This collection consists of Giffen's correspondence on subjects including the national finances, currency and bimetallism (particularly in relation to India), wages and prices, free trade, and expenditure on the army and navy; articles by Giffen, on diverse subjects including the national finances and monetary laws, the Political Economy Club, and househunting and housebuilding; papers on subjects including war risks to British trade and shipping and 'The Statist'; and press cuttings concerning currency, trade, public finance, and Giffen himself.

Administrative / Biographical History

Sir Robert Giffen, 1837-1910, was educated at Glasgow University and then went on to work as a clerk in a solicitors office, 1850-1855. However he spent the majority of his career working with statistics. He became sub-editor of The Globe , 1862-1866, and then assistant editor of The Economist , 1868-1876. He then left journalism to become chief of the statistical department of the Board of Trade, 1876-1882, Assistant Secretary of the Board of Trade and afterwards Controller-General of Commercial Labour and Statistical Departments, 1882-1897. From 1882 to 1884, he was president of the Statistical Society.

Arrangement

This collection consists of five volumes: Volume I: Letters to Sir Robert Giffen, 1861-1900; Volume II: Letters to Sir Robert Giffen, 1901-1910; Volume III: Articles by Sir Robert Giffen, c 1860-1904; Volume IV: Miscellaneous Letters and Papers, 1878-1907; Volume V: Press cuttings, 1886-1914. The correspondence is indexed by the name of the correspondent.

Access Information

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Other Finding Aids

Printed handlist and online catalogue available.

Archivist's Note

Output from CAIRS using template 14 and checked by hand on March 27, 2002

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Geographical Names