William Fleetwood

Fleetwood was descended of an ancient Lancashire family, and was born in the Tower of London on New Year's Day 1656.

[2] In 1708, he preached a sermon before the queen at the national service of thanksgiving for victory at the Battle of Oudenarde[3] His opposition to the doctrine of non-resistance brought him into conflict with the Tory ministry of 1712 and with Swift, but he never entered into personal controversy.

[2] His principal writings are An Essay on Miracles (1701); Chronicum preciosum (an account of the English coinage, 1707); and Free Sermons (1712), containing discourses on the death of Queen Mary, the Duke of Gloucester and King William.

[2] His memorial by monumental masons Edward Stanton (sculptor) and Christopher Horsnaile is in the north chancel aisle of Ely Cathedral.

Adam Smith used some of Fleetwood's data in The Wealth of Nations (1776), but did not develop—or even adopt—the idea of comparing purchasing power at different dates.