Topic: William Cunningham

William Cunningham (December 29, 1849 - 1919), English economist, was born at Edinburgh, Scotland. He was an eminent economic historian, a proponent of the historical method in economics, and an opponent of free trade.

Educated at Edinburgh Academy and University and Trinity College, Cambridge, he graduated BA in 1873, having gained a first class in the Moral Science tripos. In the same year took holy orders, later serving as chaplain of Trinity College, Cambridge from 1880-91. He was university lecturer in history from 1884 to 1891, in which year he was appointed Tooke Professor of Economy and Statistics at King's College London, a post which he held until 1897. He was lecturer in economic history at Harvard University (1899), and Hulsean lecturer at Cambridge (1885). He became vicar of Great St Mary's, Cambridge, in 1887, and was made a fellow of the British Academy. In 1907 he was appointed archdeacon of Ely.

Cunningham's Growth of English Industry and Commerce during the Early and Middle Ages (1890; 4th ed., 1905) and Growth of English Industry and Commerce in Modern Times (1882; 3rd ed., 1903) are among the standard works of reference on the industrial history of England.