Malthus , Thomas Robert , 1766-1834 , political economist

Thomas Robert Malthus was born in Surrey in 1766. He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, and graduated with a BA in 1788 and an MA in 1791, becoming a fellow in 1793. He was ordained deacon in the Church of England in 1789 and ordained priest in 1791. His first and best-known book An Essay on the Principle of Population was published in 1798, with several substantially revised editions following during the next two decades; he also wrote several other books on economics and demographics. From 1805 until his death Malthus was professor of history and political economy at East India College, Haileybury, Hertfordshire. He became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1818 and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1825, and was a founding member of both the Political Economy Club and the Statistical Society of London.