Augustine Heard was an American businessman. He also founded and endowed the Ipswich Public Library.
Background
Augustine Heard was born on March 30, 1785, in Ipswich, Massachusetts, United States, the fifth of the eight children of John Heard and Sally Staniford, his father’s second wife. His father was a leading ship-owner and merchant dealing in the West Indies and China. The elder Heard was also prominent in state politics and served as a state senator and as chief justice.
Education
Augustine entered Phillips Exeter Academy in 1799, but it does not appear that he was graduated from that institution.
Career
In 1803 Augustine Heard was in the employ of Ebenezer Francis, one of the principal merchants of Boston, and in his twentieth year, 1805, he sailed to Calcutta as supercargo of a vessel belonging to his employer. He was absent two years on this voyage. He continued to go to sea, and on February 18, 1812, in the brig Caravan, he sailed for the first time as master, being both captain and supercargo. On this voyage eighty thousand dollars in cargo and treasure were entrusted to his care. His skill as a navigator and success as a merchant were of such a high order that he soon became one of the foremost captains in the East-India trade, and he had the choice of some of the best ships trading with the Orient. He had been able to build up a comfortable fortune through his numerous ventures, and in 1829 he completed his active sea career.
In June 1830, while in his forty-sixth year, Heard sailed for Canton to become a partner in the famous firm of Samuel Russell & Company, in which he had a three-sixteenths’ interest. His work was marked with success, but being in bad health he returned to America in 1834 at the end of his term. He then settled in Boston, from which city he directed his business and investments. Owing to internal friction, Russell & Company was reorganized in 1840, and the new firm of Augustine Heard & Company was established with Joseph Coolidge, formerly of Russell & Company, as the active partner in Canton.
In 1841, Heard returned to China to assume charge of the business there, taking with him his nephew, John Heard, who later became the managing partner in Canton. The Opium War was in progress when Heard arrived, and during the period of hostilities his place of business was attacked by a mob which caused him serious loss, although his coolness and fearlessness enabled him to save a large share of his goods. Later he was compensated for his loss by the Chinese government. Carrying on the general merchant and commission business common to the China merchants of his day, he had the confidence and respect of the Chinese, as well as ot his competitors and employees. In contrast to the sharp practices of the small firms, he maintained high standards of business in conjunction with the few large houses at Canton. With those of Samuel Russell, D. W. C. Olyphant and W. S. Wetmore, his firm was one of the font American houses to survive the competition. In that highly individualistic period of American foreign policy, it had an important influence in shaping the Far Eastern policy of his government.
Heard returned to America in 1844 and never again went to China, although he made several trips to Europe. Each of his four nephews, however, served his turn as manager of the firm in China, and the second of them, Augustine Heard, was American minister to Korea from 1890 to 1893. As long as Heard lived, the business was very profitable, but after the Civil War it suffered from the same deleterious conditions that affected all American firms in the Orient. He died at Ipswich in the same house in which he was born.