This collection of reported British shareholder meetings originally published between 1800 and 1920 provides scholars and students new insight into the development of big businesses in the world today. Although such meetings comprised only one of many facets of companies’ intersections with their publics during the nineteenth century, they regularly provide a rich insight into each industry. This collection offers a breadth of examples, including utilities, land companies, and theatres as well as mining, insurance, banking, and transport, to allow readers to gain a sense of the protean nature of incorporation during the long nineteenth century. Following a general introduction, the book is divided into four sections: Doing the Business (on day-to-day financial operations), Politics (on corporate activities than intersected with British political and imperial concerns), Failure (on the communication and reception of financial ruin), and Mergers and Acquisitions (on shareholders’ responses to proposed mergers). Short introductions to each document provides the necessary information about each company and its constituents. This title will be of great interest to students of History, Business, and Finance.

A highly distinguished team of contributors addresses the complex and crucial role of finance in European history during the period 1880-1960.

An account of the rise of banking since the Middle Ages and its place in the modern international economy, first published in 1997.

Current interest in the history of money and banking remains strong and it is opportune to survey developments both in the UK, USA, Europe and Asia. This set provides historical analysis which incorporates research from the early twentieth century onwards in a form that is both accessible to students of money & banking and economists, economic historians and bankers This set re-issues 38 volumes originally published between 1900 and 2000. It charts the history of early banking, discusses banking in the UK, Europe,Japan and the USA, analyses banks as multinationals, the UK mortgage market, banking policy and structure and examines specific sectors such as gilts and gold.

This book is concerned with developments in three main areas of monetary history: domestic commercial banking; monetary policy; and the UK’s international financial position. For ease of analysis the 160 years under study are arranged into three clear chronological divisons. Part 1 covers the years 1826-1913, a period in which the UK emerged as the world’s leading economic power. It was in these years that an extensive and fully-operative domestic banking system was established. Part 2 covers 1914 to 1939 – the years which marked a break in the traditional monetary arrangements of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Part 3 covers 1939-1986 when the dominance of state influence within the domestic money markets was re-established by the Second World War and the acceptance by the authorities of the obligation to ‘manage’ the economy which meant that successive postwar governments took direct responsibility for the conduct of monetary and credit policy.

This book is concerned with developments in three main areas of monetary history: domestic commercial banking; monetary policy; and the UK's international financial position. For ease of analysis the 160 years under study are arranged into three clear chronological divisons. Part 1 covers the years 1826-1913, a period in which the UK emerged as the world's leading economic power. Part 2 covers 1914 to 1939 - the years which marked a break in the traditional monetary arrangements of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Part 3 covers 1939-1986 when the dominance of state influence within the domestic money markets was re-established by the Second World War and the acceptance by the authorities of the obligation to 'manage' the economy which meant that successive postwar governments took direct responsibility for the conduct of monetary and credit policy.

Analyses the emergence, growth and performance from the 1830s to the present

Should businessmen who commit fraud go to prison? This question has been asked repeatedly since 2008. It was also raised in nineteenth-century Britain when the spread of corporate capitalism created enormous new opportunities for dishonesty. Historians have presented Victorian Britain as a haven for white-collar criminals, beneficiaries of a prejudiced criminal justice system which only dealt harshly with offences by the poor. Boardroom Scandal challenges these beliefs. Based on an unparalleled sample of legal cases - many examined here for the first time - James Taylor presents a radical new interpretation of the relationship between capitalism and the law. Initially, there were no criminal sanctions against publishing false prospectuses, concealing losses in balance sheets, and even misappropriating company money. But parliament became convinced of the need to criminalize these practices to protect the culture of stock market investment on which mid-Victorian prosperity increasingly rested. Persuading judges to play along was harder, with many invoking the principle of caveat emptor to exonerate defendants. But by the end of the century, successful prosecutions of company executives were commonplace. These trials performed multiple functions: they stabilized confidence in times of crisis; they dramatized the class blindness of the law; and they were increasingly seen as essential as faith in a self-regulating economy ebbed. The criminalization of fraud, therefore, has far-reaching implications for our understanding of nineteenth-century Britain. It also has relevance today in light of the on-going economic crisis and the issues it raises regarding business ethics and the role of the state.

This volume presents a broad investigation into the relationship between the centre and the periphery in banking. Focusing on the historical development of financial markets, from their emergence in the early modern period to today's global financial and capital markets, the chapters investigate how local, national and international relationships have affected and helped shape the banking industry over three-hundred years. This wide-ranging discussion in time and place is provided by a group of international experts, encompassing bankers, economists, economic historians and historians, and will be of interest to all those with a scholarly or professional interest in the development of financial institutions.