Local Business Voice: The History of Chambers of Commerce in Britain, Ireland, and Revolutionary America, 1760-2011

937 Pages·2012·8.362 MB·English

by  Robert J. Bennett

LOCAL BUSINESS VOICE
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Local Business Voice
The History of Chambers of
Commerce in Britain, Ireland,
and Revolutionary America
–
1760 2011
ROBERT J. BENNETT
1
3
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Preface
This book seeks to provide the first systematic scholarly study of chambers of
commerce and related organizations. It seeks to be definitive and exhaustive in
order to provide to other researchers, and to the chamber system itself, a proper
understanding of both local variations and broad trends and dynamics. The book
alsoconstructsaresourceoflong-termalignedlocaldatathatcanbeusedforfuture
benchmarking and long-term comparative research, which has been deposited at
theUKDataArchive.
Thepreparationofthebookhasdependedchieflyonawiderangeofsourcesheld
in Local Record and Archive Offices, Libraries, Universities, and Local Studies
Centres,andinlocalchambersthemselves.Nationalsourceshavealsobeenheavily
used: chiefly the London Guildhall Library and London Metropolitan Archives,
British Library, Newspaper Library (Colindale), The National Archives at Kew,
PublicRecordOfficeNorthernIreland,IrishNationalArchives,NationalLibraryof
Scotland,BritishLibrary,OxfordBodleianLibrary,LondonSchoolofEconomics,
CambridgeUniversityLibrary,UniversityCollegeLondon,SocietyofGenealogists,
SheffieldArchives(Wentworth-WoodhouseMuniments),USLibraryofCongress,
and the two national organizations (the British Chambers of Commerce, and
ChambersIreland).Inaddition,forincorporatedchambers,theCompaniesRegis-
ters have been extensively used at Cardiff (and TNA), Belfast, and Dublin. A full
trawlhasalsobeenmadeofthemajorelectronicarchivesourcesformaterialfromthe
18thcenturyonwards.ParticularlyvaluableisEighteenthCenturyOn-line;Makingof
theModernWorld(theGoldsmithsKresspapers);theParliamentaryPapersArchive,
and Irish Parliamentary Papers; and searches of The National Archives, A2A, and
relatedwebsites;butmanyothere-sourceshavealsobeenused,ascited.Although
meeting with only limited success, efforts to track down records in Exeter and
Macclesfield (which are the least well preserved of the significant chambers) have
benefited from the help of local historians Todd Gray (Exeter) and Rod Thorn
(Macclesfield Silk Museum). In other areas, Joan Hanford (Liverpool Athenaeum
library), the Library Company of Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Historical
Association gave invaluable help with sources; in York, Jill Redford provided
informationandhelpwiththearchivesoftheYorkMerchantAdventurers.Tothe
staffineachofthesearchivesIverygratefullyrecordmythanks.
To help the process of consulting local records, 23 Cambridge University
studentsweretrainedandvisited60RecordOfficesandLibrariesoverthesummer
of2005.Thisprovidedabout20%ofthetotalnumericaldatacollected,andgreatly
helpedwithinitialscopingofthelocalsourcesbygatheringpaper-basedcatalogue
entries (which still characterizes many sources). Their work was quality-checked
against other sources, and the work of three students redone by the author, with
other areas expanded. I am pleased to record my thanks to the students involved:
Alex Capewell, Matthew Cullen, Karen Eyre, Andrew Farquhar, Melanie Jones,
vi Preface
NikolaiKoval,CharlotteLambie,AndyLiggins,KimMacDonald,StevenMartin,
Claire McCarroll, Esther Morgan, Laura Osbaldeston, Caroline Pay, Kirsten
Purcell,SarahQuartermain,JennyReid,ChrisRimmer,SianScaife,MarcThomp-
son, Helen Walton, Charlotte Wood, and Samuel Wring. At Cambridge, Jan
Parsons provided invaluable support and keyed some of the early versions of the
chapters;andthefiguresweredrawnbyPhilipStickler.
Ron Taylor's book in 2007 has contributed greatly to our understanding of
chambers, and it contains some unique information and insights unavailable
elsewhere. As ABCC director general he was responsible for commissioning my
originalinvolvementwithchambers,tocontributetotheirDevelopmentStrategyin
1990–1. It is a source of great regret that his premature death on 28 September
2009(obituary:TheTimes,5November2009)preventedhimcommentingonthe
final text.He wasmostgenerous incommentsonthe originalspecificationofthe
research in which he hoped to be involved, and was able to comment on various
aspects of the early text, which is cited where it arises. His successor at BCC over
2002–11, David Frost, has been equally generous in supporting this study, has
given very helpful comments on the text, and allowed access to much BCC
information, including Benchmarking data and back-store materials. The book
itself remains independent and does not represent BCC opinion. Other BCC
staff have also been invaluable, particularly Sue Deans and Ronan Quigley, and
in earlier periods Alan Bartlett, Andrew Lansley, Sally Low, Ian Peters, David
Lennan, and Chris Humphries. Without Lansley, who ferreted out the early
chamber Censuses of the period 1979–83 and passed copies to the author many
yearsago,itisdoubtfulthatthisinformationwouldhavesurvivedsincenotraceof
theoriginalscannowbefound.InIreland,IanTalbot,chiefexecutiveofChambers
Irelandwasalsomosthelpfulandhascommentedonrelevantsectionsofthetext.
Many local chambers have also provided very extensive help with accessing their
private archives. I would particularly like to thank the following chambers for
providing access to their records: Barnstaple, Cambridge, Chesterfield, Cork,
Coventry,Croydon,Derby,Dover,HerefordandWorcester,IpswichandSuffolk,
IsleofWight,Jersey,Lancaster,Limerick,London,Luton,Portsmouth,Preston,St
Helens, York, and Waterford. Others have given valuable comments, particularly
Ian Kelly (Hull); and Liverpool chamber laid on magnificent support for the
publicationofits18th-centuryhistory.
Significant support for modern analysis, intellectual development, and discus-
sions has also been derived from four PhD students who have worked with the
authorattheLSEandCambridge:WilliamBratton,DanijelMekic,SusanPriest,
and John Sellgren. The first three were supported by the ESRC as collaborative
CASE students with BCC; I am most grateful to them and ESRC and BCC for
theirsupportandinsights.Myco-authorsandresearchersonotherstudieshavealso
provided critical insights into the agencies that work with chambers: particularly
Andrew McCoshan, Peter Wicks, Gunter Krebs, Diane Payne, Mark Ramsden,
Crispian Fuller, and Paul Robson. Their contributions are fully cited in the text
where they arise. Financial support has chiefly come from two British Academy
small grants (SG39253 and SG44870), but significant benefits have also been
Preface vii
derivedfromseveralstudiesfinancedbytheLeverhulmeTrustandAnglo-German
Foundation,whichhaveemployedtheresearchersnotedabove.
Thanks are also due to Chris Law (Salford University) and Brian Robson
(ManchesterUniversity)formakingavailabletheoriginaldatausedintheirstudies
ofBritishpopulationforthe19thcentury.Theoriginaldata,storedonrecordcards
inashoebox,havebeenre-keyedforthisstudybySuYinTan.Correctionstothese
data for the early years have been made available by Jack Langton (Oxford
University). Population data for the 20th century were provided by Tony Cham-
pion(NewcastleUniversity).Thesesourceshavebeensupplementedwhereneces-
sary(e.g.forIreland).Otheracademicadvicehasbeeninvaluableinhelpinglocate
sources, interpret the evidence, or comment on some of the text. I would like to
thankMartinDaunton,RichardSmith,andJohnThompsonatCambridge;Paul
Langford at Oxford; Alison Olson at University of Maryland; as well as all others
whohaveprovidedsuggestions.Thepublishershaveprovedmagnificentlysupport-
ive.Lastandnotleast,mywife,Elizabeth,deservesspecialthanksforforbearance,
andforreadingandimprovingthetext.Theerrorsandomissionsofcourseremain
myown.
RobertBennett
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