Rae, John, 1796-1872 : Economist
John Rae, economist and author, was born 1 June 1796 in Footdee, a suburb of Aberdeen, Scotland, son of John Rae and Margaret Cuthbert. He died 12 July 1872 at Staten Island, New York.
Rae entered Marischal College in 1809 or 1810 and in 1815 was granted a Master of Arts degree. In this period, Rae was keenly interested in science and invention and invented a device for measuring ocean currents. He became a medical student at the University of Edinburgh in 1815 and continued his studies there until 1817. He never defended his dissertation, which expounded some novel views on human society and natural science. Rae realized that it would be imprudent to challenge the medical profession in Edinburgh with these ideas, thus he postponed his thesis pending further study. He never received his medical degree as a result of not defending his research.
After his education, Rae toured Norway and spent time in Paris in 1818 and married about this time. All that is known of his wife is that her name was Eliza. In the spring of 1822, Rae and his wife emigrated to Canada. Rae first went to Montreal, where his sister Ann Cuthbert was living. He soon left Montreal to open a boys' school in Williamstown, Upper Canada. Rae became a spokesperson for the Presbyterian Church in Canada in connection with the Church of Scotland in Williamstown, a town with the largest Presbyterian congregation at that time.
Rae published his "Statement of Some New Principles on the Subject of Political Economy" in 1834 (it was reprinted in 1905 by Charles Whitney Mixter as "The Sociological Theory of Capital"). The book was unsuccessful, and having to earn a living, he was appointed headmaster of the Gore District Grammar School in Hamilton. He remained in this position until 1848. In the late 1840s, Rae's relations with the Gore District School became strained, and in 1849, the school was closed, effectively dismissing Rae from his position. When his wife died in 1849, Rae set off for California. In 1851, he sailed to the Hawaiian Islands where he soon set up a small school in Maui. In the 1850s, he was appointed medical agent of the Board of Health, became a district judge of Hana, a notary public and a coroner.
Rae continued writing and doing research, and was highly praised for his essays on the legislative system in Hawaii, polynesian languages, and the geology, volcanoes and tides of Hawaii.
In 1871, he left Hawaii and moved to Staten Island, New York, where he died the next year, at 77 years, and was buried in an unmarked grave.
