Gilbert Slater

Gilbert Slater (27 August 1864 – 8 March 1938) was an English economist and social reformer of the early 20th century.

Gilbert was born in Plymouth in 1864. His father was a school teacher. Slater studied economics and worked as a professor. In 1909, he was appointed principal of Ruskin College and served from 1909 to 1915. From 1915 to 1921, Slater served as the Professor of Economics at the University of Madras. Slater died in 1938 at the age of 73.

Slater is known for rural developments he initiated in India. Slater is also known for his love for Dravidian culture and civilization and for theorizing that the works of Shakespeare were actually written by several different writers at different times.

Slater was born at Plymouth, England on 27 August 1864 to a schoolmaster, Daniel Slater.

Slater graduated in economics and taught the subject as an academic. He wrote one of the first Phds at the London School of Economics. Enclosure of Common Fields in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries was published in 1905. (LSE Magazine Winter 2010)

Slater served as the Principal of Ruskin College, Oxford from 1909 to 1915.

In 1915, Slater sailed to India to take over as the first Professor of economics and head of the new economics department of the University of Madras which was founded in 1912. and chaired the economics department of Madras University from 1915 to 1921. Even before he arrived in India, Slater had learnt the Tamil language and was ready for his new assignment. During his tenure, Gilbert and his team performed a detailed survey of the villages in the Madras Presidency and analyzed the prevailing economic conditions. One of the people who assisted Slater in his study was South Indian businessman M. Ct. Muthiah Chettiar. The results of the survey were published in the book Some South Indian Villages. During his tenure, Slater worked hard to eradicate poverty.

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