Abstract
Born at Compton Beauchamp in Berkshire, the eldest son of John Raven Senior, Vicar of Durnford, Nassau Senior studied for the Bar in London, was the first Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford, 1825–30, and was elected to a second term, 1847–52. In 1831 he was appointed Professor of Political Economy at King’s College, London, but was soon forced to resign over his controversial recommendation that some of the revenues of the Established Church in Ireland be turned over to the Roman Catholics. Senior became a respected adviser: he served on the Commission for inquiring into the Administration and Operation of the Poor Laws (1832–4), being mainly responsible for the writing of its report, and was consulted by Lord John Russell on Irish Poor Law Reform in 1836. In 1841 Senior drew up the Report of the Commission on the condition of the Unemployed Hand-loom Weavers (on this see Stigler 1949, Lecture 3). Two years after it was founded in 1821 Senior was elected to membership of the Political Economy Club and remained a member, except for the years 1848–53, until his death.
This chapter was originally published in The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, 1st edition, 1987. Edited by John Eatwell, Murray Milgate and Peter Newman
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References
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de Marchi, N. (1987). Senior, Nassau William (1790–1864). In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1795-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1795-1
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Senior, Nassau William (1790–1864)- Published:
- 16 March 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1795-2
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Senior, Nassau William (1790–1864)- Published:
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1795-1