Richard Price

Born in Wales in 1723, Richard Price went on to build a remarkable career in London as a Nonconformist minister and public thinker. He served at Newington Green, where he became known not only for preaching but also for writing on some of the biggest questions of his age: how people should live, how governments should be judged, and how nations should manage money.

Price wrote on morals, politics, economics, and probability, and he earned respect for the unusual breadth of his mind. He is especially remembered for works on ethical questions and for his interest in public finance and life insurance, fields in which his numerical thinking gave him an important place in the early history of statistics and actuarial science.

He was also a bold defender of civil and political liberty. His writings in support of the American Revolution brought him wide attention, and his later welcome for the French Revolution made him a prominent and controversial figure in British public debate. He died in 1791, leaving a legacy that reaches across philosophy, religion, and political thought.