Paterson, William 1658-1719
Scottish financier and founder of the Bank of England

He was born at Skipnayre farm in Tinwald parish, Dumfriesshire, and spent some years trading in the West Indies. Returning to Europe, he consolidated his fortune in London, and in 1691 proposed the establishment of the Bank of England. When it was founded in 1694 he became a director, but resigned in 1695. Instead he went to Edinburgh, where he promoted a scheme for establishing a new colony at Darien, on the Panama Isthmus. The Scottish parliament created the Company of Scotland to finance the enterprise, and the whole nation backed it. He sailed with the first expedition in a private capacity, shared all its troubles, and returned with its survivors a broken man in December 1699. His energy, however, remained unabated and he had a considerable share in promoting the Union of the Parliaments of Scotland and England in 1707. He was elected to the first united parliament by the Dumfries burghs. He prepared the scheme for Robert Walpole's Sinking Fund, and the conversion and consolidation of the National Debt (1717). In 1715 he was awarded �18,000 as indemnity for his Darien losses.