1st Edition

Industrial Finance, 1830-1914 The Finance and Organization of English Manufacturing Industry

By P.L. Cottrell Copyright 1980
    320 Pages
    by Routledge

    316 Pages
    by Routledge

    The nineteenth century was a time of rapid change in forms of organization of economic activity. A central feature of such change was, inevitably, the development of new types of finance adapted to the radically new environment.

    An appreciation of the history of these developments makes a substantial contribution to the understanding of the growth and development of the British economy in one of its most dramatic phases.

    Philip Cottrell has written an impressively documented full-scale survey of this crucial period, discussing finance in the context of sweeping reforms of company law, unprecedented technological change and economic expansion, and the institutional effects of all of these. He is primarily concerned with English manufacturing industry but frequently refers, by way of comparison, to extractive industry, Scottish and Welsh developments and the economies of other West European countries. As well as providing a comprehensive overview, the book pays particular attention to coal, iron and textiles amongst the industries and, at the level of organization, to the emergence of the joint stock limited liability company and its gradual adoption by industrialists. The relationship between commercial banks and manufacturing receives detailed consideration and the role of internally accumulated funds and trade credit is discussed. this classic book was first published in 1980.

    Preface ix

    1 Financing the industrial revolution

    I – institutional change 1

    2 Financing the industrial revolution

    II – textiles, coal and iron 19

    3 The development of company law 1825–1914 39

    4 Shares and shareholders of early limited companies 80

    5 Cotton and iron: the provinces and the metropolis 1855–85 104

    6 Private companies and public combines 1885–1914 162

    7 Banks and the finance of industry 194

    8 Internal and private sources of funds 248

    Bibliography 274

    Index to authors 285

    Index to banks and firms 287

    Subject index 290

    Biography

    P.L. Cottrell