William Jardine (merchant) - Early Life

Early Life

Jardine, one of five children, was born in 1784 on a small farm near Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. His father, Andrew Jardine, died when he was nine, leading the family in some economic difficulty. Though struggling to make ends meet, Jardine's older brother David provided him with money to attend school. Jardine began to acquire credentials at the age of sixteen. In 1800 when 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 and in 1802 at the age of 18 boarded the East Indiaman Brunswick. On 15 March, after satisfying the entry requirements, William Jardine, was paid two months advanced wages as a surgeon's mate in the East India Company’s Maritime Marine Service. One advantage of service with the East India Company was that employees were allowed to trade in goods on their own account. Each employee was allowed cargo space equivalent to two chests or about a hundred pounds of cargo. Jardine engaged in this trade with exceptional dexterity, even leasing the apportioned cargo space of other crew members who did not have interest in using the space, and was able to save quite an amount of money.

Jardine's first voyage was uneventful other than his initial encounter with the economics of an Indiaman’s journey to Asia. He also met two men on his first voyage who would come to play a role in his future as a 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 fathers watch business in Canton in partnership with Daniel Beale.

On leaving the East India Company in 1817, Jardine became an independent trader and entered into partnership with Thomas Weeding and Framjee Cowasjee. The firm did well in the domain of private traders 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 Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy. Both men were on the Brunswick when the crew of a French ship forcibly boarded her. Jejeebhoy was the first Parsee merchant to be created a baronet by Queen Victoria and he would become fabulously wealthy in the years to come.

In 1824, a very important opportunity arose for Jardine. The house of Magniac, the largest and most prominent of all China trading houses fell into disarray. Hollingworth Magniac, who succeeded his brother Charles Magniac after the latter's death in Paris was in search for competent partners to join his firm as he was intent on leaving Asia. He was also forced to have his brother, Daniel, resign from the firm after marrying his Chinese mistress. In later years, Jardine had helped Daniel by sending his young son Daniel Francis, his child by his Chinese wife, to Scotland for school. Hollingworth, after an extensive search for a senior partner, settled with Jardine, whose business reputation was already well known throughout Asia. Both Jardine and Magniac also invited James Matheson to join the firm. Magniac returned to England in late 1820s with the firm in the hands of two of the most talented traders in Asia. Contrary to the practice at the time of retiring partners removing their capital from the firm, Hollingworth left his capital with the firm in trust to Jardine and Matheson. The firm carried the name Magniac and Co. until 1832 as the name Magniac was still formidable throughout China and India. Hollingworth wrote about William Jardine:

“You will find Jardine a most conscientious, honourable, and kind-hearted fellow, extremely liberal and an excellent man of business in this market, where his knowledge and experience in the opium trade and in most articles of export is highly valuable. He requires to be known and to be properly appreciated.”