Thomas Mackay

Thomas Mackay (1849 – 1912) was a British wine merchant and classical liberal.

Mackay, the son of a colonel, was born in Edinburgh and educated at Glenalmond.

[1] He was called to the bar in 1879 but left to enter the wine trade because he felt that he was not earning enough to support his wife and family.

He retired ten years later in order to campaign for liberalism.

[2] He criticised old age pensions because he believed they would harm character and advocated reducing "the encouragement to pauperism held out by our present system of out-door relief" by restoring independence.