Political Economy

The Chair of Commercial and Political Economy and Mercantile Law was instituted by the Merchant Company of Edinburgh in 1871. Unlike other Edinburgh Chairs, this was a fixed-term appointment of seven years. The first holder of the Chair, William Ballantyne Hodgson (1815-1880), accepted the appointment on the understanding that he would receive life-tenure after five years if his teaching proved successful. Although his classes were popular, Political Economy was not part of any degree course, and, after the trial period, the Merchant Company argued that student numbers were insufficient to merit life-tenure. They nonetheless re-elected Hodgson to the post in 1878, an appointment which he accepted under protest.

Hodgson was a leading educational reformer. Educated at the University of Edinburgh, he was later Principal of the Liverpool Mechanics' Institute, and of Chorlton High School, Manchester.

In 1871 he was appointed as the first Professor of Commercial and Political Economy and Mercantile Law at the University of Edinburgh; unlike all the other Chairs of the day this was a fixed-term appointment of seven years. His classes were popular, even though his subject was not part of any degree curriculum, and he accepted re-appointment in 1878. He died suddenly two years later while attending a conference in Brussels.