Marshall, Alfred (1842–1924)

Alfred Marshall was born in Bermondsey (Surrey, United Kingdom) in a middle-class family. After attending Merchant Taylors' School, in London, he was admitted to St John's College, Cambridge, graduating as second in the first class of the Mathematical Tripos in 1865. Deep concern for the human and social problems of the time triggered his interest in moral and mental science, eventually determining the choice of economics as his subject of study. This apprenticeship gave him a unique combination of technical skills and wide philosophical and historical perspectives, as witnessed by his early writings. As a fellow of St John's, he lectured in the Moral Sciences Tripos, mainly on economics, until 1877 when his marriage with Mary Paley forced him to resign because celibacy was required ...