William Jardine

William Jardine was a Scottish surgeon who became a leading merchant in Canton and co-founded the firm Jardine, Matheson & Company. His fortune was closely tied to the opium trade, and he lobbied the British government for military action against Qing restrictions on commerce.

After returning to Britain he entered Parliament, while the firm he created became a major imperial trading house. William Jardine was born in Lochmaben and died in London.

Amitav Ghosh’s River of Smoke recreates the Canton opium world in which merchants such as William Jardine pressed against Qing restrictions while profits from Indian opium sustained the trade in tea and other Chinese goods. Flood of Fire carries that commercial confrontation into the First Opium War, showing how merchants, speculators and the expeditionary force profit from and participate in the coercive reopening of trade. Stephen R. Platt’s Imperial Twilight provides the historical analysis, identifying Jardine as a particularly forceful advocate of British military pressure when Lin Zexu’s suppression campaign threatened the opium merchants’ position.