Sir Josiah Child, 1st Baronet, MP (c. 1630/31 – 22 June 1699) was an English economist, merchant and politician.

He from an ordinary merchant's apprentice & management of the East India Company's common stock being arrived to an estate ('tis said) of £200,000 and lately married his daughter to the eldest son of the Duke of Beaufort, late Marquis of Worcester, with £30,000 (some versions £50,000) portion at present, & various expectations.

[4] Child's advocacy, both by speech and by pen (under the pseudonym Philopatris), of the East India Company's claims to political power, as well as to its right of restricting competition to its trade, brought him to the notice of the shareholders.

[1] He and Sir John Child, president of Surat and governor of Bombay (no relation according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, arms: "Vert, 2 bars engrailled between 3 leopards' faces or"[9]) are sometimes credited with the change from unarmed to armed traffic, but the actual renunciation of the Roe doctrine of unarmed traffic by the company was resolved upon in January 1686, under Governor Sir Joseph Ash, when Child was temporarily out of office.

"For a massive indemnity and promises of better conduct in the future, he Aurangzeb graciously agreed to the restoration of their East India Company's trading privileges and the withdrawal of his troops".

[13] He was a moderate in the days of the mercantile system and has sometimes been regarded as a sort of pioneer in developing the free-trade doctrines of the 18th century.

[1] Though Child considered himself a proponent of the competitive market, he simultaneously argued for a government-controlled interest rate and restricted trade among the colonies, benefiting England.

Child, whilst adhering to the doctrine of the balance of trade, observed that a people cannot always sell to foreigners without ever buying from them, and denied that the export of the precious metals was necessarily detrimental.

[1] Like other writers in what is commonly called the mercantilist period or tradition, he viewed a numerous population as an asset to a country.

The issues from this marriage are Rebecca (c. 1666 – 17 Jul 1712) who married firstly Charles Somerset, Marquess of Worcester and secondly John, Lord Granville); Mary who married Edward Bullock of Faulkbourne and died c. 1748;[15] and his heir Josiah Child, 2nd Baronet (c.1668-20 Jan 1704).