Marshall, Alfred

Marshall, Alfred (1842-1924), British economist, born in Wandsworth, and educated at St John's College, University of Cambridge. His interest in philosophy led him to the study of ethics. After his appointment to a special lectureship in moral science at St John's in 1868, Marshall turned to the study of political economy, to which he later gave the name economics. In 1875 he went to the United States to observe the effects of tariff protection in a young country. Returning to England, he became principal of University College at Bristol, a post he resigned in 1881. Marshall subsequently spent a year in Italy, returned to Bristol in 1882 as a professor, and then went to Balliol College, University of Oxford, in 1883. From 1885 to 1908 he taught political economy at Cambridge.