Sir Joshua Van Neck

Sir Joshua Van Neck was a British-Dutch entrepreneur said to have been one of the richest merchants in Europe at his death. Born in Holland, Joshua moved to London where he became a broker and financier for Dutch investors who wanted to invest in British government loans and company shares. During the wars against France in the 1740s and 1750s Van Neck helped underwrite government loans and acted as paymaster to the military. He earned huge money through contract to supply the French tobacco monopoly which was lucrative both to French and English government as well, and thanks to his efforts the contract continued during the wars of 1744-1748 and 1756 and 1763. Finally, for his financial services to the government, Joshua was created a baronet. When he died in 1777 he was described as “one of the richest merchants in Europe” with wealth around £500,000 or £2.9bn. in today’s terms.