Walter Bagehot

Walter Bagehot (/ˈbædʒət/ BAJ-ət; 3 February 1826 – 24 March 1877) was a

Walter Bagehot
British journalist, businessman, and essayist, who wrote extensively about
government, economics, and literature.

Contents
Life
Journalism
Works
Legacy
Major publications
References
Bibliography
Further reading Portrait of Walter Bagehot
External links
Born 3 February 1826
Langport, Somerset,
England
Life Died 24 March 1877
Bagehot was born in Langport, Somerset, England, on 3 February 1826. His father, (aged 51)
Thomas Watson Bagehot, was managing director and vice-chairman of Stuckey's Langport, Somerset,
Bank. He attended University College London (UCL), where he studied England
mathematics, and in 1848 earned a master's degree in moral philosophy.[1] Bagehot Nationality British
was called to the bar by Lincoln's Inn, but preferred to join his father in 1852 in his
Alma mater University College
family's shipping and banking business.
London
In 1858, Bagehot married Elizabeth (Eliza) Wilson (1832–1921), whose father, Occupation Businessman,
James Wilson, was the founder and owner of The Economist; the couple were essayist, journalist
happily married until Bagehot's untimely death at age 51, but had no children.[2] A Signature
[3]
collection of their love-letters was published in 1933.

Journalism
In 1855, Bagehot founded the National Review with his friend Richard Holt Hutton.[4][5] In 1860, he became editor-in-chief of The
Economist. In the 17 years he served as its editor, Bagehot expanded The Economist's reporting on politics and increased its influence
among policymakers.

Works
In 1867, Bagehot wrote The English Constitution,[6] a book that explores the nature of the constitution of the United Kingdom,
specifically its Parliament and monarchy. It appeared at the same time that Parliament enacted the Reform Act of 1867, requiring
Bagehot to write an extended introduction to the second edition which appeared in 1872.
Bagehot also wrote Physics and Politics (1872), in which he examines how civilisations
sustain themselves, arguing that in their earliest phase civilisations are very much in
opposition to the values of modern liberalism, insofar as they are sustained by
conformism and military success, but once they are secured it is possible for them to
mature into systems which allow for greater diversity and freedom.

In Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market (1873) Bagehot seeks to explain
the world of finance and banking.[7] His observations on finance are often cited by
central bankers, most recently in the wake of the global financial crisis which began in
2007. Of particular importance is "Bagehot's Dictum" that in times of financial crisis
central banks should lend freely to solventdepository institutions, yet only against sound
collateral and at interest rates high enough to dissuade those borrowers that are not
genuinely in need.[8]

Legacy
Bagehot never fully recovered from a bout of pneumonia he suffered in 1867, and he
died in 1877 from complications of what was said to be a cold.[9] Collections of
Bagehot's literary, political, and economic essays were published after his death. Their Title page of the first edition of
subjects ranged from Shakespeare and Disraeli to the price of silver. In honour of his Bagehot's The English
contributions, The Economist's weekly commentary on current affairs in the UK is Constitution, 1867.[6]
entitled "Bagehot". Every year, the British Political Studies Association awards the
Walter Bagehot Prize for the best dissertation in the field of government and public
administration.

Major publications
Bagehot, Walter (1848). "Principles of Political Economy," The Prospective
Review, Vol. 4, No. 16, pp. 460–502.
Bagehot, Walter (1858). Estimates of Some Englishmen and Scotchmen .
Bagehot, Walter (1867). The English Constitution.
Bagehot, Walter (1872). Physics and Politics.
Bagehot, Walter (1873). Lombard Street: A Description of the Money
Market.
Bagehot, Walter (1875). "A New Standard of Value," The Economist, Vol.
33, No. 1682, pp. 1361–63.
Bagehot, Walter (1877). Some Articles on the Depreciation of Silver and on
Topics Connected with It.
Bagehot, Walter (1879). Literary Studies.
Bagehot, Walter (1880). Economic Studies.
Bagehot, Walter (1881). Biographical Studies. Lombard Street, 1873.
Bagehot, Walter (1885). The Postulates of English Political Economy.
Bagehot, Walter (1889). The Works of Walter Bagehot.

References
1. Hutton, Richard Holt (1915). "Memoirs." (https://archive.org/stream/worksandlifewal00barrgoog#page/n6/mode/2up)
In: The Works and Life of Walter Bagehot, Vol. 1. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.,pp. 1–54.
2. Roberts, David H. "Walter Bagehot: A Brief Biography"(http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bagehot/bio.html). The
Victorian Web. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
3. "Women's Studies Subject Guide: Eliza Wilson" (http://www.hull.ac.uk/arc/collection/womensstudies/wilson.html).
University Archives. The University of Hull. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
 4. Walter Bagehot by St. Norman John-Stevas The British Council/National Book League/Longmans, Greene & Co.
(htt
ps://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=9428981) London. (1963)
5. Andrew King, John Plunkett (2005).Victorian Print Media: A Reader. Oxford University Press. p. 50.(https://books.g
oogle.com/books?id=Lnazy2B3SQAC&pg=P A272&dq=isbn:0199270376&hl=es#PP A50,M1) ISBN 0-19-927037-6.
"National Review (1855–64) one of the most prestigious quarterlies of mid-century
"
6. Walter Bagehot (1867), The English Constitution(1st ed.), London: Chapman & Hall, OCLC 60724184 (https://www.
worldcat.org/oclc/60724184).
7. "Bagehot and International Lending". by Professor M. Lipton.The Financial Times (London, England),Tuesday, June
12, 1984; p. 17; edition 29,344.
8. Paul Tucker, Deputy Governor, Financial Stability, Bank of England, "The Repertoire of Official Sector Interventions
in the Financial System: Last Resort Lending, Market-Making, and Capital" (http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publicat
ions/speeches/2009/speech390.pdf)Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20120220193000/http://www .bankofengl
and.co.uk/publications/speeches/2009/speech390.pdf)20 February 2012 at theWayback Machine., Bank of Japan
2009 International Conference, 27–28 May 2009, p. 5
9. Roger Kimball, "The Greatest Victorian" (http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/bagehot-kimball-2990), The New
Criterion October 1998.

Bibliography
Barrington, Emilie Isabel Wilson (1914).Life of Walter Bagehot. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
Buchan, Alastair (1960).The Spare Chancellor: The Life of Walter Bagehot. East Lansing: Michigan State University
Press.
Orel, Harold (1984). Victorian Literary Critics. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Sisson C.H. (1972). The Case of Walter Bagehot. London: Faber and Faber Ltd.
Stevas, Norman (1959). Walter Bagehot a Study of His Life and Thought. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Sullivan, Harry R. (1975).Walter Bagehot. Boston: Twayne Publishers.
" Bagehot, Walter". A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature . Wikisource. 1910
"Bagehot, Walter". Encyclopædia Britannica(11th ed.). 1911.

Further reading
Barrington, Emilie Isabel Wilson (1933).The Love-letters of Walter Bagehot and ElizaWilson. London: Faber &
Faber
Baumann, Arthur Anthony(1916). "Walter Bagehot." In: Persons & Politics of the Transition. London: Macmillan &
Co., pp. 121–50
Birrell, Augustine (1922). "Walter Bagehot." In: The Collected Essays and Addresses of the Rt. Hon. Augustine
Birrell, Vol. 2. London: J.M. Dent & Sons, pp. 213–35
Brogan, Hugh (1977). "America and Walter Bagehot," Journal of American Studies,Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 335–56
Brinton, Crane (1962). "Walter Bagehot." In: English Plolitical Thought in the 19th Century
. New York: Harper
Torchbooks
Clinton, David (2003). "'Dash and Doubt': W
alter Bagehot and International Restraint,"The Review of Politics,Vol.
65, No. 1, pp. 89–109
Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature
. London: J.M. Dent & Sons, p. 20
Easton, David (1949). "Walter Bagehot and Liberal Realism," The American Political Science Review, Vol. 43, No. 1,
pp. 17–37
Edwards, Ruth Dudley (1993).The Pursuit of Reason:The Economist 1843–1993. London: Hamish Hamilton
Grant Duff, M.E. (1903). "Walter Bagehot: His Life and Works, 1826–1877." In: Out of the Past. London: John
Murray, pp. 1–34
Halsted, John B. (1958). "Walter Bagehot on Toleration," Journal of the History of Ideas,Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 119–28
Hanley, Brian (2004). "'The Greatest Victorian' in the New Century: The Enduring Relevance of W
alter Bagehot's
Commentary on Literature, Scholarship, and Public Life",Papers on Language and Literature,Vol. 40, No. 2, pp.
167–98
 Irvine, William (1939). Walter Bagehot. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
Kolbe, F.C. (1908). "Walter Bagehot: An Appreciation,"The Irish Monthly, Vol. 36, No. 419, pp. 282–87
Morgan, Forrest (1995).Collected Works of Walter Bagehot. Routledge
Ostlund, Leonard A. (1956). "Walter Bagehot—Pioneer Social Psychology Theorist,"Social Science, Vol. 31, No. 2,
pp. 107–11
Spring, David (1976). "Walter Bagehot and Deference," The American Historical Review, Vol. 81, No. 3, pp. 524–31
Stephen, Leslie (1907). "Walter Bagehot." In: Studies of a Biographer, Vol. 3. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, pp.
144–74
Stevas, Norman, ed. (1986).The Collected Works of Walter Bagehot: Volumes 1–15. New York: Oxford University
Press
Westwater, S.A.M. (1977). "Walter Bagehot: A Reassessment," The Antioch Review, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 39–49
Wilson, Woodrow (1895). "A Literary Politician," The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 76, No. 457, pp. 668–80
Wilson, Woodrow (1898). "A Wit and a Seer," The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 82, No. 492, pp. 527–40

External links
Works by Walter Bagehot at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Walter Bagehot at Internet Archive
Works by Walter Bagehot at Hathi Trust
Walter Bagehot: at McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought
.
Works by Walter Bagehot at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Works by Walter Bagehot on The Online Library of Liberty

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