Nicholas Barbon

He is regarded as one of the first economists and introduced several key innovations in the field of financial markets and insurance. Initially trained as a physician, in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London, he became a property developer. In this role, he introduced significant innovations. He is credited as introducing several important types of financial instrument including fire insurance and mortgages, founding England's first insurance agency and the first bank to issue mortgages. Barbon was also one of the first economists, writing books about commerce, international trade, finance and state policy, presenting ideas that were heterodox in his day but are now foundational to modern economics. Economic historians consider him one of the first writers to attack mercantilism and promote free trade, as well as one of the first to systematically examine the money supply and economic growth.

• Name — Nicholas Barbon • Born — c. 1640 • Birthplace — London • Died — c. 1698 • Place of death — Osterley House, Middlesex • Other Names — * Nicholas Barebon • Nicholas Barebone • If-Jesus-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned • Unless-Jesus-Christ-had-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned • Known for — * Fire insurance • property development • economic theory • speculation • middle name • Occupation — * Physician • economist • builder

Nicholas Barbon was born in London in either 1637 or 1640. He was the eldest son of Praise-God Barebone (or Barbon), the namesake of Barebone's Parliament of 1653, the predecessor of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate. Praise-God Barebone was a Fifth Monarchist who purportedly gave Nicholas the baptismal name "If-Jesus-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned," an example of a hortatory name, a type of virtue name that was common among some Dissenting families in 17th-century England. Conflicting sources claim the name "Unless-Jesus-Christ-Had-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned" was given to Nicholas' father or to his uncle and Nicholas' hortatory name was supposedly a variant on this name. Barbon became a religious separatist with Millenarianist beliefs, including fervent advocacy of infant baptism in particular. He studied medicine at the Universities of Leiden and Utrecht in the Netherlands, and received his Doctor of Medicine qualification from the latter in 1661. Three years later, he became an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in London.

He soon turned from the medical profession to the building trade, which suddenly became important in 1666 when the Great Fire of London devastated most of the City of London which at the time was separated from Westminster, the seat of Britain's government, by two miles of countryside, dotted with grand mansions. Within a few years he was "the most prominent London builder of his age". He built houses streets at a time, often around squares, and his developments were mostly to the west of the City of London, where land was plentiful. Barbon was responsible for joining the city to the seat of government at Westminster for the first time as a result of developments along the Strand, Bloomsbury, St Giles and Holborn. Barbon did this despite long-established restrictions on new buildings associated with various Acts of Parliament and royal declarations in the late 16th century: he often simply disregarded legal and local objections, demolished existing buildings without permission and rebuilt speculatively in search of a quick profit. On 11 June 1684, Barbon's expansionary speculation brought him and his building tradesmen into conflict with lawyers based at Gray's Inn. Barbon started his largest project yet, the redevelopment of Red Lion Square, and environs in Holborn without being authorised to do so. The Gray's Inn lawyers, Inns of Court adjacent saw their rural outlooks jeopardised, and started physical fist fights with Barbon's workmen, but the developer and his men fought back. The lawyers subsequently obtained warrants for his arrest but Barbon had these set aside and the development scheme was completed. Another setback came when houses he had built at Mincing Lane collapsed because of inadequate foundations. "He was unique in the unscrupulousness and brazenness of his business tactics" and his contemporary Roger North, who studied his dealings and interviewed him on the subject, called him "an exquisite mob master" in recognition of his ability to manipulate people to carry out his schemes.

At the same time, Barbon took an interest in the development of insurance and the banking industry, and helped to pioneer both. In 1680–81, with 11 associates, he founded an "Insurance Office for Houses" which offered fire insurance for up to 5,000 households in London. Fires were a major danger in London at the time: the Great Fire destroyed more than 13,000 houses and displaced about 100,000 people, and another conflagration in 1678 damaged the Middle Temple, one of the Inns of Court. In 1690, together with John Asgill, he founded the National Land Bank. This was Britain's first land bank—a financial institution which issued loans in the form of mortgages against real estate. These were popular with landowners because they could now raise money against the value of their main asset. The bank was moderately successful, and even threatened to usurp the Bank of England in 1696. The government budget deficit had grown to an unsustainable level; Barbon merged the National Land Bank with another institution (founded by John Briscoe) to form Land Bank United, and offered the government a £2 million loan (£ as of). The scheme foundered when Barbon and Briscoe could not raise enough money, and Land Bank United was demerged. Barbon was also active in other fields during the 1690s. Largely in order to take advantage of Parliamentary privilege and thus gain immunity from prosecution by his creditors he bought a number of burgages in the rotten borough of Bramber in Sussex, which enabled him to be elected one of its Members of Parliament in 1690 and 1695. Another project involved trying to pump drinking water from the River Thames, to be piped to his new building developments. He patented a design in 1694, and tried to sell pumping rights alongside fire insurance contracts.

Barbon built a house for himself and his business interests in Crane Court, off Fleet Street, but later moved to Osterley House, a large 16th-century mansion west of London. By the time of his death, Barbon had built or financed developments to the value of £200,000 (£ as of) according to Sir John Lowther, 1st Viscount Lonsdale. He died at Osterley in 1698 or 1699. His will was written in May 1698 and his executors received probate on 6 February 1699.

• A Discourse Shewing the Great Advantages that New-buildings and the Enlarging of Towns and Cities do Bring to a Nation (1678) • A Letter to a Gentleman in the Country, Giving an Account of the Two Insurance - Offices; the Fire-Office & Friendly-Society (1684) • Apology for the Builder; or a Discourse showing the Cause and Effects of the Increase of Building (1685) • A Discourse of Trade (1690) • An Answer to Paper Entituled, Reasons against Reducing Interest to Four per Cent (1694) • A Discourse Concerning Coining the New Money Lighter (1696)

The authorities additionally record the headings Nicholas If-Jesus-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barebon and Nicholas Unless-Jesus-Christ-Had-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barbon. His recorded language was English. He was the child of Praise-God Barebone.

Nicholas Barbon is recorded as economist, politician, physician and architectural theoretician.