This major study considers bankruptcy in eighteenth-century England. Typically, business enterprise in this period has been seen as a success story - where men like Boulton, Watt, Wedgwood and Arkwright helped to forge the Industrial Revolution. But this is a myth, for thousands of businesses failed, hounded by their creditors into bankruptcy and ignominy. This book charts their history by looking at the incidence and causes of bankruptcy and by examining contemporary reactions to these. In this way, not only is evidence produced to improve our understanding of the nature of business...

Volumes 2 and 3 of the Industrial Revolutionseleven part set (Industrial Revolution in Britain vol I and II) present over thirty of the articles which have best illuminated Britain's Industrial revolution, and cover four main areas: the concept of the Industrial Revolution, and the central themes of land, labour and capital. They provide a way of exploring historians' changing approaches to the first Industrial Revolution. A substantial introduction sets the articles into their conceptual, evidential and histiographical context and directs readers to recent work.

Volumes 2 and 3 of the Industrial Revolutions eleven part set, (Industrial Revolution in Britain Vol I and II) present over thirty of the articles which have best illuminated Britain's Industrial revolution, and cover four main areas: the concept of the Industrial Revolution, and the central themes of land, labour and capital. They provide a way of exploring historians' changing approaches to the first Industrial Revolution. A substantial introduction sets the articles into their conceptual, evidential and histiographical context and directs readers to recent work.

This edition publishes for the first time a little-known work on improving England's economy, written around 1706 and presented to Queen Anne on the eve of the parliamentary Union of England and Scotland. As such it contributed to a growing body of writing about managing the economy in Britain. That the work has often been overlooked is partly because its author, Nehemiah Grew, is best known as a botanist and as a medic. But his distinctive voice and decided views warrant wider appreciation. In part his unusual contribution to economic literature arose from his involvement in the early Royal...

An innovative account of how thousands of acts of parliament sought to improve economic activity during the early industrial revolution.

An innovative account of how thousands of acts of parliament sought to improve economic activity during the early industrial revolution.