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Wealth Making in Nineteenth-and Early Twentieth-Century Britain: Industry v. Commerce and Finance

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  • Tom Nicholas

Abstract

This paper refutes the hypothesis put forward by W.D. Rubinstein that a disproportionately large share of Britain's wealth makers were active in commercial and financial trades in London. We use a data set of businessmen active in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Britain and quantitative methods to show that the pattern of wealth holding was much more diverse than supposed by Rubinstein. A large fortune could be made in a variety of regions and occupations. Big industrialists active in the provinces were equally capable of generating wealth similar in size and significance to the City elite. More generally, London was not the centre of wealth making in this period. Neither was there a subordination of industrial and manufacturing to commercial and financial wealth.

Suggested Citation

  • Tom Nicholas, 1999. "Wealth Making in Nineteenth-and Early Twentieth-Century Britain: Industry v. Commerce and Finance," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(1), pages 16-36.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:bushst:v:41:y:1999:i:1:p:16-36
    DOI: 10.1080/00076799900000200
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    Cited by:

    1. Peter Scott, 2021. "The anatomy of Britain's interwar super‐rich: reconstructing the 1928/9 ‘millionaire’ population," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(3), pages 639-665, August.
    2. Neil Cummins & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2020. "On the Structure of Wealth-holding in Pre-Famine Ireland," Working Papers 202029, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    3. Ortiz-Villajos, José M. & Sotoca, Sonia, 2018. "Innovation and business survival: A long-term approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8), pages 1418-1436.
    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. David R. Green & Alastair Owens, 2003. "Gentlewomanly capitalism? Spinsters, widows, and wealth holding in England and Wales, c. 1800–1860," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 56(3), pages 510-536, August.

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