21 Facts About Charles Davenant

Charles Davenant was an English mercantilist economist, politician, and pamphleteer.

Charles Davenant was Tory member of Parliament for St Ives, and for Great Bedwyn.

Charles Davenant was born in London as the eldest son of Sir William Davenant, the poet.

In 1678 Davenant was appointed Commissioner of the Excise, earning £500 per year ; taxes were collected using the "farming system".

In 1689 Charles Davenant lost his position as Commissioner of the Excise, and his loan to James II was nullified.

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Charles Davenant applied again in 1694 and again failed to get the position, probably due to objections by Charles Montagu, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Godolphin resigned shortly afterward, and Charles Davenant lost his main supporter for appointment to a public office.

In 1698 Charles Davenant returned to Parliament as a representative of Great Bedwyn; he became associated with the Tory party, which replaced the Whig Junto as the majority in Parliament.

Charles Davenant visited Holland in Autumn 1705, to research wartime traffic with France.

Charles Davenant wrote Sir Thomas Double at Court and New Dialogues upon the Present Posture of Affairs to make amends with the Tory party, which was likely to be returning to power.

Charles Davenant's writings begin to shift away from purely economic discussions to political commentary designed to curry favour with the ruling party to secure employment.

In 1704 Charles Davenant proposed compiling trade numbers for the previous 25 years.

Charles Davenant wrote, but did not publish, Memorial Concerning the Free Trade now Tolerated between France and Holland.

Charles Davenant displayed a favourable opinion of the Dutch in this pamphlet, which contrasts with the position taken in nearly all his other pamphlets.

Charles Davenant did go to great lengths to publish the pamphlet anonymously, and was apparently in a difficult financial position; Waddell therefore suggests that this was a work-for-hire and not necessarily something which Davenant actually supported.

In 1712 Charles Davenant published two Reports to the … Commissioners for … Public Accounts.

Charles Davenant is credited with being the first to discuss the concept of Balance of Trade as being an important part of the financial health of a country.

Charles Davenant proposed in An Essay on Ways and Means of Supplying the War in 1695 that "export surplus was the best way to finance the war" as opposed to taking on long-term debt and increasing taxes on landowners.

In 1696, Charles Davenant wrote Essay on the East-India Trade, which continued the argument that imports should not be restricted because England was a net exporter of the goods imported from India.

Charles Davenant expressed a great dislike and distrust of the Dutch government for most of his life, and feared that if Britain did not supply Indian imports the Dutch would supply Europe instead.

Charles Davenant did seem to be the first to understand the basic concepts of consumer demand and perfect competition, even though bias against the Dutch stems more from fear of a political challenger to England than fear of losing the competitive advantage of England's monopoly in India.