London in the Age of Industrialisation: Entrepreneurs, Labour Force and Living Conditions, 1700-1850

by L. D. Schwarz

Overview

This book is the first full-length analysis of the London working population and the effects of the industrial revolution in London to appear for over sixty years. Prior to the mid-nineteenth century London may not have experienced the direct effects of the industrial revolution to any great extent, but the indirect effects were felt strongly. L. D. Schwarz disagrees with the view that "The industrial revolution was a storm that passed over London and broke elsewhere," and seeks to judge the effect of industrialization on what was the country's largest manufacturing city. Its size and role as national capital meant that London was in certain important respects unique, but it was nonetheless susceptible to many of the wider economic transformations that occurred during the period 1700-1850, and Dr. Schwarz offers a detailed analysis of the changes to the economy and social structure of London these wrought.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521545679
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/04/2004
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy and Society in Past Time , #19
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.75(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction; Part I. Wealth and Occupations in London: 1. The structure of London's economy and labour force; 2. Manufacturing, services and the London bourgeoisie; Part II. Fluctuations and Mortality in the Metropolis: 3. Trends, cycles and wars; 4. Seasonal fluctuations; 5. The population of London: the ending of the old regime; Part III. The Standard of Living and the London Trades: 6. The making of a wage rate; 7. The challenge of sweated labour: a tale of four trades; 8. The defences of the inferior artisans, conclusion: downstream from industrialisation; Appendices: 1. Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century sources on occupations and incomes; 2. Occupations insured with Sun Fire Office and Royal Exchange Assurance, 1775–87; 3. 1851 census: Armstrong classification; 4. 1851 census: summary tables.

Editorial Reviews

"L. D. Schwarz's London in the Age of Industrialisation...is a major breakthrough....an important, stimulating and wide-ranging book. Schwarz forces us to re-examine a number of fundamental questions about the Hanoverian metropolis." Times Literary Supplement

"Schwarz's admirable analysis adds considerable detail to our understanding of London's development and whets our appetite for further integration of the available data with explanatory vehicles. One can ask no more from any work." Journal of Economic History

"...those interested in the impacts of industrialization and demographic change on London in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries will surely wish to consult this monograph." N. F. R. Crafts, Albion

"... a book which will be cited continually by historians of London during the age of industrialization." Lynn MacKay, Victorian Review

"...a highly original book, full of ideas as well as facts, which deserves to be consulted by those interested in contemporary labour questions as well as by labour and urban historians in general and anyone particularly interested in London or specialising in British history." Theo Barker, Labor History

"Throughout, Schwarz emphasizes continuities, as well as disjunctures. The metropolis has an expositor who gives due weight and convincing insights into the forces which transfigured London." Journal of Social History

"Schwarz makes an impressive case for continuity in the economic and social life of the capital from the seventeenth century to the twentieth...specialists in the hard social history of the capital will surely welcome it. In the range of new data it presents on demographic, economic, and social trends of the eighteenth century. it makes an impressive breakthrough." Stewart Weaver, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"London in the Age of Industrialism is an admirably researched, elegantly written, and thoroughly accessible book. Schwarz has synthesized a diverse, multidisciplinary literature, incorporating his own detailed archival work to provide a new perspective on economy and society in London over one and one-half centuries." the Journal of Modern History

From the Publisher