Daniel Defoe - Business Career

Business Career

Defoe entered the world of business as a general merchant, dealing at different times in hosiery, general woollen goods and wine. Though his ambitions were great and he was able to buy both a country estate and a ship (as well as civet cats to make perfume), he was rarely out of debt. In 1684, Defoe married Mary Tuffley, the daughter of a London merchant, receiving a dowry of £3,700 - a huge amount by the standards of the day. With his debts and political difficulties, the marriage was most likely troubled, but it lasted 50 years and produced eight children, six of whom survived.

In 1685, Defoe joined the ill-fated Monmouth Rebellion but gained a pardon by which he escaped the Bloody Assizes of Judge George Jeffreys. William III was crowned in 1688, and Defoe immediately became one of his close allies and a secret agent. Some of the new king's policies, however, led to conflict with France, thus damaging prosperous trade relationships for Defoe, who had established himself as a merchant. In 1692, Defoe was arrested for debts of £700 (and his civets were seized), though his total debts may have amounted to £17,000 his laments were loud and he always defended unfortunate debtors but there is evidence that his financial dealings were not always honest.

Following his release, he probably travelled in Europe and Scotland and it may have been at this time that he traded wine to Cadiz, Porto and Lisbon. By 1695 he was back in England, now formally using the name "Defoe", and serving as a "commissioner of the glass duty", responsible for collecting taxes on bottles. In 1696 he ran a tile and brick factory in what is now Tilbury, Essex and living in the parish of Chadwell St Mary.