James Wilson (businessman)

The Right Honourable James Wilson
A portrait of James Wilson by Sir John Wilson Gordon, published in The Pursuit of Reason: The Economist 1843–1993. The portrait was presented to Mrs Wilson in 1859, by the Royal Scottish Academy.
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
In office 5 January 1853 – 21 February 1858
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Earl of Aberdeen The Viscount Palmerston
Preceded by	George Alexander Hamilton
Succeeded by	George Alexander Hamilton
Paymaster General and Vice-President of the Board of Trade
In office 18 June 1859 – 12 August 1859
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Viscount Palmerston
Preceded by	Lord Lovaine
Succeeded by	Hon. William Cowper
Finance Member, Viceroy's Executive Council
In office December 1859 – 11 August 1860
Monarch	Victoria
Governor‑General	Charles Canning, 1st Earl Canning
Prime Minister	The Viscount Palmerston
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Sir Samuel Laing
Personal details
Born	3 June 1805 (1805-06-03) Hawick, Roxburghshire, Scotland
Died	11 August 1860 (1860-08-12) (aged 55) Calcutta, India
Citizenship	United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Political party	Whig Liberal
Spouse	Elizabeth Preston
Children	6

James Wilson (3 June 1805 – 11 August 1860) was a Scottish businessman, economist, and Liberal politician who founded The Economist weekly and the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, which merged with Standard Bank in 1969 to form Standard Chartered.^[1][2][3][4] He was the first Finance Member of the Viceroy's Executive Council from December 1859 until his death in August 1860. Sent there to put order into the chaos that followed the "Sepoy Mutiny" of 1857, he presented India's first budget, and was responsible for the government accounting system, Pay Office, and audit, apart from government paper currency, Indian Police, a Military Finance Commission, and a Civil Finance Commission.^[5]