Alfred William Flux

Who was Alfred William Flux?

Sir Alfred William Flux CB was a British economist and statistician.

Flux was born in the Landport district of Portsmouth in 1867, the son of a cement maker. He attended Portsmouth Grammar School then studied mathematics at St John's College, Cambridge where he was a Senior Wrangler in 1887. While at Cambridge he became friends with Alfred Marshall, who interested him in economics. He was a foundation member of the Economic Society, and from 1893 until 1908 taught economics, at Manchester and then at McGill University, Montreal. In 1897 while in Manchester he married Harriet Emily Hansen, a Danish woman.

Flux returned to London in 1908 to take up a post as advisor to the Commercial, Labour and Statistics Department. In 1918, he was appointed Head of the Statistics Department of the Board of Trade. The Royal Statistical Society awarded him the Guy Medal in Silver in 1921 and in Gold in 1930. He also served as President of the Society between 1928 and 1930.

Flux retired to Denmark in 1932 and was knighted in 1934. He died of pneumonia in 1942, aged 75.