William Jardine (merchant)

William Jardine, who lived from 24 February 1784 to 27 February 1843, trained in medicine at the University of Edinburgh Medical School and received a diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1802. In 1803 he went to sea as a surgeon's mate on the East India Company ship Brunswick and served as a ship's surgeon for about fourteen years, trading in goods such as cassia, cochineal and musk on the side. He left medicine for commerce in May 1817 and became an agent and later a partner in the Canton opium trade, co-founding the Hong Kong based firm Jardine, Matheson and Company with James Matheson. After the Chinese commissioner Lin Zexu destroyed seized opium in 1839, he lobbied the British foreign secretary in London for a forceful response, which led to the First Opium War. He sat as the Whig member of Parliament for Ashburton from 1841 until his death. He is recorded here for his medical training and early surgical career, not for his later trade.