Thomas Hope

Thomas Hope was a successful and gifted Dutch banker in the 18th century. He is considered as the main author of a proposal to the States-General and the Admiralty to improve Holland's diminishing trade position through abolition of the export tax and lowering import tax. In 1752 he was the main investor in the VOC. As a Quaker - rejecting war and violence - and dissenter he was not allowed to official governmental jobs, but in 1756 at the beginning of the Seven Years' War he joined the Presbyterians and was appointed as manager by Anne of Hanover. In 1762 he founded Hope & Co. In 1766 he was representing the stadtholder in all the chambers of the VOC. Adam Smith dedicated the fourth edition of his Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776) to Thomas Hope.