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Previous textbooks on 18th and 19th century Britain have tended to be written either from a social and political standpoint, or about economics in the abstract, as if the history could be reduced to statistical analysis. The aim of this book is to incorporate the revisionist work on British
economic growth, which deals impersonally in broad national aggregates, with the work of social and political historians. It stresses the connections between the economy and debates over public policy, and examines the regional variations in agriculture and industry, with particular attention to the
differences between England and Scotland. Much revisionist work concerns the operation of assumed national markets; the aim of the book is to show how these markets were formed, and how a national economy was created. The British economy underwent major strucrual change over the period from 1700 to
1850, as population moved from agriculture and rural life to industry and towns.
Martin Danton gives a clear and balanced picture of the continuity and change in the early development of the world's first industrial nation. His book will become prescribed reading for all students of 18th and 19th century British history, and for economists studying the industrial
revolution.
List of contents
- Progress and Poverty: The Possibilities of Growth
- 1: Agriculture and Rural Society
- Agricultural Production: The Limits of Growth
- The Rise of the Great Estates and the Decline of the Yeoman
- Open Fields and Enclosure: The Demise of Commonality
- 2: Industry and Urban Society
- Diversities of Industrialization
- The Domestic Systems of Manufacturers
- The Coming of the Factory
- Furnaces, Forges, and Mines
- Capital and Credit
- 3: Integrating the Economy
- Integration and Specialization
- Transport
- Merchants and Marketing
- Banks and Money
- Demand, Supply, and Industrialization
- 4: Poverty, Prosperity, and Population
- Births, Marriages, and Deaths
- The Standard of Living and the Social History of Wages
- Poor Relief and Charity
- 5: Public Policy and the State
- The Visible Hand: The State and the Economy
- Taxation and Public Finance
- Mercantilism and Free Trade
- Conclusion
About the author
Amongst Daunton's previous publications are: Housing the Workers: A Comparative Perspective 1850-1914 (editor, Leciester UP, 1989), A Property-owning Democracy? Housing in Britain (Faber, 1987), House and Home in Victorian City, 1850-1914 (Edward Arnold, 1984), and Councillors and Tenants (Leicester UP, 1983)
Summary
In 1700, Britain was a rural country. By 1850, the year before the Great Exhibition, it was 'the workshop of the world'. This book examines this change, the creation of national markets, and the economic growth which characterized the movement from agriculture to industry. It is useful for anyone studying 18th and 19th century British history.
Additional text
Daunton has written a work of grand synthesis and sustained argument, which will be read and reread by professionals and students alike. The book is well produced, with convenient notes and excellent bibliographies, and is a signal achievement not least because its author has rescued so many important findings from highly technical studies and made them part of a story told in lucid, attractive prose. Both admirers and critics will want a sequel.
