Thomas Robert Malthus

A Famous Political Economist

Who Was Thomas Malthus?

Born Feburary 13th, 1766 in Surrey, England

His nationality was British

He was famous as a Political Economist

His parents were Daniel and Henrietta Malthus

His dad was a wealthy man interested in science

Who Was Thomas Malthus?

He had six sisters and one brother

Thomas married his wife Harriet on March 13th, 1804

They had 3 children together

He and his wife lived a quiet life together

They were very involved in the church and travelled

He Died on December 23rd, 1834 in Bath, England

Thomas’ Education/ Early Life:

Thomas received his early education at home

His father taught him, as well as tutors who were friends of his dads

In 1784, he attended Jesus College in Cambridge

He mastered in English, Latin and Greek

He graduated from here in 1788

Thomas’ Education/ Early Life:

In 1788, he became a Minister of the Church in England

He got a Masters degree from Jesus College in 1791

In 1796, he became a Member of the Church in the town of Albury, England

He began preaching and writing while involved in the church

Thomas’ Education/ Early Life:

He was involved in debates with his father at these churches

He began writing his debate ideas on paper

These debates lead to the many essays he wrote relating to population

Where Thomas Worked:

In 1805, Thomas became a professor of History and Political Economy

He taught at the East India College in England.

His students referred to him as “Pop” or “Population” Malthus

Thomas taught here until his death in 1834

Thomas’ Relation to Biology:

In 1798, he published the First Edition of an Essay

The Essay was called “The Principle of Population as It Affects the Future Improvements in Society”

This was Thomas’ most famous work

Thomas’ Essay Argument:

Populations, both human and animals, grow at an exponential rate

Food Supplies, grow at an constant rate

Therefore, populations will always grow faster than the food required to support them

Thomas’ Essay Argument:

He said that if a countries population continued to explode the way it did, there was no hope that the worlds food supply could keep up.

An increase in population would eventually decrease the ability of the world to feed itself.

Thomas’ Essays Continued

Thomas made a total of 6 revisions to his Essay on “The Principle of Population”

He kept further explaining his points and adding new ideas

How to Sustain the Population:

Thomas believed their were 2 types of “checks” that could reduce population to a sustainable level:

Preventive Checks- These affect the birth rate and include things like people not reproducing, delaying marriage until a couple has money, and restricting marriage of people in poverty

Positive Checks- These increase the death rate, leading to early death and include things like disease, starvation, war.

All This Lead to Darwin’s Theory…

Charles Darwin read Thomas’ Essay and was inspired by it

He used many of Thomas’ ideas and used his work as a building block for his theory of Natural Selection.