William Jardine (merchant)

Common card · No. 325366

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...

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