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Who comprised the nation of shareholders? Gender and investment in Great Britain, c. 1870–1935

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  • JANETTE RUTTERFORD
  • DAVID R. GREEN
  • JOSEPHINE MALTBY
  • ALASTAIR OWENS

Abstract

This article explores the widening ownership of stocks and shares in Great Britain between 1870 and 1935. It demonstrates the extent of that growth and the increasing number of small investors. Women became more important in terms of the number of shareholders and value of holdings. Factors that encouraged this trend included the issue of less risky types of investments, and legal changes relating to married women's property. We examine the ‘deepening’ importance of stocks and shares for wealth holders, arguing that the growing significance of these kinds of financial assets was as important as the growth in the investor population.

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  • Janette Rutterford & David R. Green & Josephine Maltby & Alastair Owens, 2011. "Who comprised the nation of shareholders? Gender and investment in Great Britain, c. 1870–1935," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 64(1), pages 157-187, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:64:y:2011:i:1:p:157-187
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2010.00539.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Acheson, Graeme G. & Campbell, Gareth & Turner, John D., 2015. "Who financed the expansion of the equity market? Shareholder clienteles in Victorian Britain," QUCEH Working Paper Series 15-07, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    2. van Lieshout, Carry & Smith, Harry & Montebruno, Piero & Bennett, Robert, 2019. "Female entrepreneurship: business, marriage and motherhood in England and Wales, 1851–1911," MPRA Paper 101452, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Engelbert Stockhammer & Erik Bengtsson, 2020. "Financial effects in historic consumption and investment functions," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(3), pages 304-326, May.
    4. David r. Green & Alastair Owens, 2013. "Geographies of wealth: real estate and personal property ownership in England and Wales, 1870–1902," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 66(3), pages 848-872, August.
    5. Richard S. Grossman & Masami Imai, 2011. "Contingent Capital and Bank Risk-Taking among British Banks before World War I," Wesleyan Economics Working Papers 2011-003, Wesleyan University, Department of Economics.
    6. John D Turner & Qing Ye & Clive B Walker, 2018. "Media Coverage and Stock Returns on the London Stock Exchange, 1825–70," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 22(4), pages 1605-1629.
    7. Graeme G. Acheson & Gareth Campbell & John D. Turner & Nadia Vanteeva, 2015. "Corporate ownership and control in Victorian Britain," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(3), pages 911-936, August.
    8. Carlos, Ann M. & Fletcher, Erin & Neal, Larry, 2012. "Share Portfolios and Risk Management in the Early Years of Financial Capitalism: London 1690-1730," CEI Working Paper Series 2012-12, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    9. Campbell, Gareth & Quinn, William & Turner, John D. & Ye, Qing, 2015. "What moved share prices in the nineteenth-century London stock market?," QUCEH Working Paper Series 15-06, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    10. Teupe, Sebastian, 2020. "Keynes, Inflation, and the Public Debt: "How to Pay for the War" as a Policy Prescription for Financial Repression?," Working Papers 16, German Research Foundation's Priority Programme 1859 "Experience and Expectation. Historical Foundations of Economic Behaviour", Humboldt University Berlin.
    11. Ann M. Carlos & Erin Fletcher & Larry Neal, 2015. "Share portfolios in the early years of financial capitalism: London, 1690–1730," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(2), pages 574-599, May.
    12. Lennard, Jason, 2018. "Did monetary policy matter? Narrative evidence from the classical gold standard," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 16-36.
    13. Foreman-Peck, James & Hannah, Leslie, 2011. "Extreme Divorce: the Managerial Revolution in UK Companies before 1914," Cardiff Economics Working Papers E2011/21, Cardiff University, Cardiff Business School, Economics Section.
    14. Acheson, Graeme G. & Coyle, Christopher & Jordan, David P. & Turner, John D., 2018. "Share trading activity and the rise of the rentier in the UK before 1920," QUCEH Working Paper Series 2018-04, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    15. Jennifer Aston & Paolo Di Martino, 2014. "Risk and Success: Re-assessing Female Entrepreneurship in Late Victorian and Edwardian England," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _125, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    16. Janette Rutterford & Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos & Carry van Lieshout, 2017. "Individual investors and local bias in the UK, 1870–1935," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 70(4), pages 1291-1320, November.
    17. Gareth Campbell & William Quinn & John D. Turner & Qing Ye, 2018. "What moved share prices in the nineteenth†century London stock market?," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 71(1), pages 157-189, February.
    18. Jennifer Aston & Paolo Di Martino, 2014. "Risk and Success: Re-assessing Female Entrepreneurship in Late Victorian and Edwardian England," Economics Series Working Papers Number 125, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    19. Acheson, Graeme G. & Campbell, Gareth & Gallagher, Áine & Turner, John D., 2018. "Independent women: Shareholders in the age of the suffragettes," QUCEH Working Paper Series 2018-09, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    20. Quinn, William & Turner, John D., 2021. "Riding the bubble or taken for a ride? Investors in the British bicycle mania," QUCEH Working Paper Series 21-07, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    21. Gareth Campbell & John D. Turner & Qing Ye, 2018. "The liquidity of the London capital markets, 1825–70†," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 71(3), pages 823-852, August.
    22. Janette Rutterford & Dimitris Sotiropoulos & Carry van Lieshout, 2015. "Individual investors and local bias in the UK, 1870-1935," Working Papers 15009, Economic History Society.

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