Business leaders and town gentry in early industrial Britain: specialist occupations and shared urbanism

Abstract

Three major conclusions are derived from close study of Britain's pioneering directories in the 1770s and 1780s. First, they show that over 30,000 leading townsmen and women were enmeshed into the burgeoning knowledge grid through the public listings of their addresses, status and occupations. Secondly, a close examination of that information reveals a notable extent of occupational specialization -among both men and women, and among individuals and the nascent firms -thus confirming one of Adam Smith's key observations about the nature of Britain's increasingly commercialized, if still largely pre-mechanized, economy. Thirdly, aggregative analysis highlights systematic differences in the socio-economic characteristics of different towns: from manufacturing, commercial and professional centres to the great capital cities to the specialist leisure towns and resorts -all interlocking in an inter-dependent urban network. Hence this evidence suggests that a generic re-interpretation of all large towns as 'residential leisure towns' on the strength of their flourishing cultural life (as recently proposed by Stobart and Schwarz) is misleading, as it obscures significant systemic differences between different types of towns. At the same time, however, the interlinked urban network was generating a confidently shared urbanism, bridging between aristocratic and middle-class society. That link was exemplified by the listing of numerous titled and gentlemanly 'town gentry' alongside the business leadersas the directories in effect flourished their collective calling cards.What did James, 3rd duke of Chandos (1731-89) and premier peer of the realm, have in common with Sarah Harman and Sarah Stephens, two Bristol grutt-makers in 1775, following a distinctly obscure occupation? Outwardly, not much. Yet Harman and Stephens were sufficiently * With warm thanks to Amanda Goodrich, Edmund Green and two anonymous referees for their highly cogent criticisms; with pained but heartfelt acknowledgement to Tony Belton for rejecting draft after draft until the text was finished; and with long-standing gratitude to Serena Kelly, for her flair and her hard graft for a foundational ESRC-funded project 'Urban occupations in Britain in the early Industrial Revolution', HR/8053 (1982); FOO/23/2077FOO/23/ (1983, which launched a series of collaborative research programmes in urban, economic and psephological history.

The City within the City: A Glimpse of Elite Formation in Deptford, London and Dadaocheng, Taipei

“…Economic and political power forged by this new group had to be invented in their image (public styling). 29 The increase in manufacturing and the growth of entrepreneurs-the shopkeepers and merchants-was reflected in the upsurge of industry and overseas trade. This was coupled with the expanding need of commercial and financial institutions.…”

Review of periodical literature published in 2012

“…There are a significant number of contributions related to urban history this year, with articles on Ayr, Glasgow, and Manchester, as well as a more wide‐ranging article on trade directories by Corfield. Corfield's article, building on her extensive work in this field, examines in great detail the local directories produced in British cities in the 1770s and 1780s, showing how these publications together collated the details of 30,000 ‘persons of consequence’ in urban Britain and Ireland.…”

“…There are a significant number of contributions related to urban history this year, with articles on Ayr, Glasgow, and Manchester, as well as a more wide‐ranging article on trade directories by Corfield. Corfield's article, building on her extensive work in this field, examines in great detail the local directories produced in British cities in the 1770s and 1780s, showing how these publications together collated the details of 30,000 ‘persons of consequence’ in urban Britain and Ireland. Through a detailed analysis of this data she is able to extrapolate information on occupations which provides very clear evidence for specialization within individual towns and regions, conclusions that Corfield argues complicate the recent categorization by some scholars of all large towns as ‘residential leisure towns’.…”

“…Corfield's article, building on her extensive work in this field, examines in great detail the local directories produced in British cities in the 1770s and 1780s, showing how these publications together collated the details of 30,000 ‘persons of consequence’ in urban Britain and Ireland. Through a detailed analysis of this data she is able to extrapolate information on occupations which provides very clear evidence for specialization within individual towns and regions, conclusions that Corfield argues complicate the recent categorization by some scholars of all large towns as ‘residential leisure towns’. Her analysis, while highlighting local particularities, also stresses the experience of ‘shared urbanism’ common to all those listed in these directories, whether they were artisans, merchants, or gentry.…”

“…Her analysis, while highlighting local particularities, also stresses the experience of ‘shared urbanism’ common to all those listed in these directories, whether they were artisans, merchants, or gentry. Like Corfield's work, Cooke's study of Glasgow's West India merchants employs a psephological methodology, although the much smaller size of his sample allows him to explore his subject in greater detail. What we get, therefore, is a detailed profile of those Glasgow merchants engaged in trade with the West Indies over almost a century.…”