Thomas Law (1756–1834)

Thomas Law (October 23, 1756 – 1834), was known as an important reformer of British policy in India, where he served as collector of revenue for the East India Company and established policy known as the Permanent Settlement, a way of figuring taxation and land tenure for natives. He returned to England for his health in 1791, and emigrated to the United States in 1794. He settled in Washington, D.C., where he became a major investor in the developing new capital. He was known as one of the wealthiest men in the city.

Law had taken his three mixed-race natural sons born in India to England for their education. He eventually took both surviving sons to the US, where they both attended top colleges, and one became a lawyer. In 1796 Law married Elizabeth Parke Custis, daughter of a planter family and the eldest granddaughter of Martha Custis Washington. They had one daughter together who married. Law invested in Washington, DC development and became active in social and cultural circles.

Thomas Law was born on October 23, 1756 in Cambridge, England, as the youngest son of a clerical British family. He was raised in the Anglican Church as his father was Edmund Law, Bishop of Carlisle; his brothers were Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough; George Henry Law, later Bishop of Bath and Wells; and John Law, Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh in Ireland.

Thomas Law went to India as a "writer", or clerk, in the service of the East India Company in 1773, the entry-level position. He rose through the Company ranks. He became a revenue collector and judge in the province of Bihar, which had a population of two million, but resigned the position as judge. As collector, in addition to fiscal duties he had responsibilities that combined a judicial and executive nature of a chief magistrate.

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