Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Industrial Laisser-Faire and the Policy of Cromwell

  • Chapter
Cromwell

Part of the book series: World Profiles ((WOPR))

Abstract

AT THE CLOSE of the Middle Ages there was never a hint A that the political sovereign was not entitled to regulate the economic life of his principality, and it is nowadays a commonplace among economic historians that industry in England was in fact regulated with varying thoroughness by the government in the century or so preceding the outbreak of civil war in the 1640s. It is also agreed that long before the end of the eighteenth century the triumph of laisser-faire was assured and indeed that this was one of the main factors in precipitating the ultimate heightening of manufacturing speed and skill that passes under the name of “the industrial revolution.” As to when and how the change in governmental policy was effected there is at present less certainty. It is the purpose of this essay to suggest further clues to the solution of the prolem and, in particular, by examining the effectiveness of industrial regulation during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell to determine the attitude of Puritan government in its heyday toward industry and incidentally thereby to help toward elucidating the significance—or insignificance—of the Civil Wars and the subsequent religious changes in English economic history.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 74.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. J. U. Nef, The Rise of the British Coal Industry, II (1932), 119–33. The complexity of industrial associations is set out in

    Google Scholar 

  2. G. Unwin, Industrial Organization in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (1904), pp. 103–47; cf. also

    Google Scholar 

  3. F. J. Fisher, “Some Experiments in Company Organization in the Early Seventeenth Century,” Economic History Review, IV (1932–34), 177–94.

    Google Scholar 

  4. G. Unwin, Studies in Economic History (1927), pp. 292–93, and

    Google Scholar 

  5. J. E. Pilgrim, “The Cloth Industry in Essex and Suffolk, 1558–1640,” thesis summary in Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, XVII (1939–40), 144.

    Google Scholar 

  6. G. D. Ramsay, The Wiltshire Woollen Industry in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (1943), pp. 85–100.

    Google Scholar 

  7. A. P. Wadsworth and J. L. Mann, The Cotton Trade and Industrial Lancashire, 1600–1780 (1931), pp. 54–70.

    Google Scholar 

  8. F. J. Fisher, “The Influence and Development of the Industrial Gilds in the Larger Provincial Towns under James I and Charles I,” thesis summary in Bull. Inst. Hist. Res., X (1932), 47.

    Google Scholar 

  9. The disturbance caused by the Civil Wars to the industrial life of the country was not without limits. For instance, the Company of Cutlers of Hallamshire, though it operated over a large and disturbed area, was hardly affected by the strife in Yorkshire. R. E. Leader, History of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire, I (1905), p. 41.

    Google Scholar 

  10. C.S.P.D., 1654–58, passim; S. and B. Webb, English Local Government, I (1906), 305–06.

    Google Scholar 

  11. J. Latimer, Annals of Bristol in the Seventeenth Century (Bristol, 1900), p. 32; C.S.P.D., 1653–54, p. 222.

    Google Scholar 

  12. There is an article on Sheppard in the D.N.B. See also C.S.P.D., 1655–56, pp. 169, 189, 340–41, 370; 1656–57, pp. 121, 149, 161, 181, 191; 1657–58, p. 178; C. H. Firth (ed.), Clarke Papers, III (1899), 61, 64;

    Google Scholar 

  13. Wm. Sheppard, England’s Balme (1657), preface.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Wm. Sheppard, England’s Balme (1657), pp. 25 et seq., 135, 164–65, 167–71,175–76,184,185,188–91,203–04.

    Google Scholar 

  15. The widespread nature of the inquisition into borough charters under the Protectorate and the importance of the part played by Sheppard is brought out by B. L. K. Henderson, “The Commonwealth Charters,” in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 3rd ser., VI (1912). In addition to those incorporations noted by Mr. Henderson, there are traces of attention being directed to charters at Chippenham and Stratford-on-Avon.

    Google Scholar 

  16. F. H. Goldney (ed.), Records of Chippenham (1889), p. 222, and

    Google Scholar 

  17. J. O. Halliwell, Council Book, of Stratford-on-Avon (1863), p. 420. Cf. also C.S.P.D., 1653–54, p. 344; 1655–56, pp. 121–22, 364, 370; 1656–57, p. 224.

    Google Scholar 

  18. C.S.P.D., 1655–56, pp. 253, 371; 1656–57, pp. 233–34, 267; B. L. K. Henderson, “The Commonwealth Charters,” Trans. Roy. Hist. Soc. 3rd ser., VI (1912), 135–39, 153, 161; H.M.C. Reading, p. 192; H. Hall (ed.), “The Commonwealth Charter of the City of Salisbury,” Camden Miscellany, XI (1907), 187–88 et passim.

    Google Scholar 

  19. C. G. Francis (ed.), Charters Granted to Swansea (1867), pp. 25–27, 33–35, 39, 45, 249 et passim.

    Google Scholar 

  20. C. H. Firth and R. S. Rait (eds.), Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642–60, II (1911), 775 and 1137; C.S.P.D., 1655–56, p. 201;

    Google Scholar 

  21. B. L. K. Henderson, “The Commonwealth Charters,” Trans. Roy. Hist. Soc. 3rd ser., VI (1912), 159, 161.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Commons’ Journals, 1653–59, pp. 349–50, 452, 459, 475, 480, 492, 494, 495, 515, 521, 524, 527, 540; J. James, History of the Worsted Manufacture in England (1857), p. 153. The contents of the Somerset petition are not known; they may have concerned the excise, but probably were a request for incorporation (C.S.P.D., 1655–56, pp. 260–61).

    Google Scholar 

  23. Baines Correspondence, f. 224; H. Heaton, The Yorkshire Woollen and Worsted Industries (1920), pp. 230 et seq.; C.S.P.D., 1655–56, p. 187;

    Google Scholar 

  24. B. L. K. Henderson, “The Commonwealth Charters,” Trans. Roy. Hist. Soc. 3rd ser., VI (1912), 161; Commons’ Journals, 1653–59, pp. 467, 475, 478, and 588;

    Google Scholar 

  25. Thomas Burton, Diary, ed. J. T. Rutt, I (1828), 126–27, quot.

    Google Scholar 

  26. M. James, Social Problems and Policy during the Puritan Revolution (1930), pp. 163–64.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Baines, even if supported financially by the wealthier clothiers—and the payment of M.P.s would naturally come from their better-off constituents —was also the nominee of their poorer colleagues and had indeed been elected despite the opposition of the oligarchic corporation of Leeds, as represented by the returning alderman (Baines Correspondence, ff. 199 and 203). See also H. Heaton, The Yorkshire Woollen and Worsted Industries (1920), pp. 232 et seq.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Anon., To the Lord Protector. The Humble Representation of the Promoters and Inventers of the Art of Frameworfe-Knitting, that they may be incorporated by Charter under the Great Seale of England (1656), pp. 1–2, 12–13 et passim; W. Felkin, History of the Machine-Wrought Hosiery and Lace Manufactures (1867), pp. 61–67;

    Google Scholar 

  29. F. A. Inderwick, The Interregnum, 1648–60 (1891), p. 90; C.S.P.D., 1655–56, p. 336; 1656–57, pp. 64–65, 268; J. D. Chambers, “The Worshipful Company of Framework Knitters (1657–1779),” Economica, no. 27 (1929), pp. 296–329;

    Google Scholar 

  30. B. L. K. Henderson, “The Commonwealth Charters,” Trans. Roy. Hist. Soc. 3rd ser., VI (1912), 159;

    Google Scholar 

  31. M. James, Social Problems and Policy during the Puritan Revolution (1930), p. 172;

    Google Scholar 

  32. E. Lipson, Economic History of England, II (1931), 105.

    Google Scholar 

  33. J. D. Chambers, Nottinghamshire in the Eighteenth Century (1932), pp. 111–16. It may be added here that the Bench during the Protectorate does not appear to have been unfriendly to grants of monopoly; Hale in pronouncing favorable judgment upon the Soapmakers’ Company patent of 1637 was at pains to point out in 1656 that—with familiar qualifications— patents for the well regulating and ordering of trades were perfectly legal.

    Google Scholar 

  34. T. Hardres, Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Court of Exchequer in the Years 1655, 1656, 1657, 1658, 1659 and 1660 (1693), pp. 53–55.

    Google Scholar 

  35. On the interpretation of the records, cf. S. Kramer, The English Craft Gilds (1927), pp. 186–90, and

    Google Scholar 

  36. R. K. Kelsall, Wage Regulation under the Statute of Artificers (1938), pp. 15–28, 53–66.

    Google Scholar 

  37. The question of wage assessments is treated by R. H. Tawney, “The Assessment of Wages by the Justices of the Peace,” Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial und Wirtschaftsgeschiehte, XI (1913), and the most recent evidence is summarized by R. K. Kelsall, Wage Regulation under the Statute of Artificers (1938), to both of which this and the following paragraph are indebted.

    Google Scholar 

  38. A list of these assessments will be found in R. K. Kelsall, Wage Regulation under the Statute of Artificers (1938), p. 115.

    Google Scholar 

  39. O. Wakeman, Shropshire Quarter Sessions Records (1905), pp. 5, 14, 26, 56;

    Google Scholar 

  40. H. H. Copnall, Nottinghamshire County Records (Nottingham, 1915), p. 113;

    Google Scholar 

  41. W. Le Hardy, Calendar to the Sessions Books and Sessions Minute Books and Other Sessions Records of the County of Hertford, V (Hertford, 1928), 112, 116.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Chester Castle, Cheshire Quarter Sessions Minute Book of Presentments and Indictments, 1654–62; J. C. Atkinson, North Riding Quarter Sessions Records, V (1886), 178.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Chester Town Hall, Order Book of the Chester Corporation, 1624–84; E. B. Jupp and W. W. Pocock, An Historical Account of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters of the City of London (1887), p. 316;

    Google Scholar 

  44. B. L. Hutchins, “The Regulation of Wages by Gilds and Town Authorities,” Economic Journal, X (1900), 408;

    Google Scholar 

  45. M. James, Social Problems and Policy during the Puritan Revolution (1930), pp. 178–79. It should be remembered, however, that there was constant friction in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries between the boroughs and the various building trades:

    Google Scholar 

  46. G. Unwin, Industrial Organization in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (1904), pp. 64–67.

    Google Scholar 

  47. R. Holmes (ed.), Booke of Entries of the Pontefract Corporation (Pontefract, 1887), p. 406.

    Google Scholar 

  48. J. U. Nef, The Rise of the British Coal Industry, II (1932), 130;

    Google Scholar 

  49. F. W. Dendy (ed.), Extracts from the Records of the Company of Hostmen of Newcastle-on-Tyne (Durham, 1901), pp. xxiv, 109, 114.

    Google Scholar 

  50. C. H. Firth and R. S. Rait (eds.), Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, II (1911), 1057.

    Google Scholar 

  51. C. H. Firth (ed.), Clarke Papers, III, 75; T. Birch (ed.), A Collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, IV (1742), 686 et passim;

    Google Scholar 

  52. F. A. Inderwick, The Interregnum, 1648–60 (1891), pp. 63, 65.

    Google Scholar 

  53. J. Latimer, Annals of Bristol in the Seventeenth Century (Bristol, 1900), pp. 32–33, 38;

    Google Scholar 

  54. W. S. Weeks, Clitheroe in the Seventeenth Century (Clitheroe, 1927), p. 47;

    Google Scholar 

  55. C. H. Mayo, The Municipal Records of Dorchester (Exeter, 1908), p. 649;

    Google Scholar 

  56. W. E. Layton, “Notices from the Great Court and Assembly Books of the Borough of Ipswich,” The East Anglian, new ser., II (1887–88), 157, 173, 196;

    Google Scholar 

  57. J. P. Earwaker (ed.), The Court Leet Records of Manchester, IV (Manchester, 1887), 100–03 et passim; Newport, Isle of Wight, offices of the Town Clerk, Newport Lawday Book, April 1654 and Court Book of the Piepowder Court, passim;

    Google Scholar 

  58. J. C. Cox (ed.), Northampton Borough Records, II (Northampton, 1898), 79;

    Google Scholar 

  59. Hewitson, Preston Court Leet Records (1905), pp. 2, 29, 37, 45, 59, 81;

    Google Scholar 

  60. J. M. Guilding (ed.), Reading Records, IV (1892–96), 497, 540;

    Google Scholar 

  61. H. W. Adnitt, “The Orders of the Corporation of Shrewsbury, 1511–1735,” Trans. Shropshire Archaeol. Nat. Hist. Soc., XI (1888), 185; B.M. Add. MS. 34,604, Accompt Book of the Bakers’ Company of York, 1584–1835, ff. 169–81. I am indebted to L. P. Addison for examining the Newport documents on my behalf.

    Google Scholar 

  62. Chester Castle, Minute Books of Indictments and Presentments at Cheshire Quarter Sessions 1640–54 and 1654–62, Easter and Midsummer Sessions 1654, and Midsummer Sessions 1655; J. C. Cox, Three Centuries of Derbyshire Annals, II (1890), 255;

    Google Scholar 

  63. W. Le Hardy, Calendar to the Sessions Books of the County of Hertford, V (Hertford, 1928), 121;

    Google Scholar 

  64. H. H. Copnall, Nottinghamshire County Records (Nottingham, 1915), pp. 49, 52;

    Google Scholar 

  65. E. H. Bates (ed.) (Harbin), Quarter Sessions Records for the County of Somerset, III (1912), 250; V.C.H. Surrey, IV, 434;

    Google Scholar 

  66. W. W. Ravenhill, “Some Western Circuit Assize Records of the Seventeenth Century,” Wiltshire Archaeol. Nat. Hist. Soc. Mag., LXXIII (1890), 74; H.M.C. Wilts, p. 132; County Hall, Worcester, Quarter Sessions Rolls of Indictments and Recognisances for Worcestershire, 1653–56, passim;

    Google Scholar 

  67. G. Unwin, Industrial Organization in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (1904), pp. 67–69.

    Google Scholar 

  68. H. Stocks (ed.), Records of Leicester, IV (Cambridge, 1923), 433, 439, 442–43;

    Google Scholar 

  69. M. James, Social Problems and Policy during the Puritan Revolution (1930), p. 269;

    Google Scholar 

  70. T. Bailey, Annals of Nottinghamshire, III (Nottingham, 1853), 856.

    Google Scholar 

  71. W. Le Hardy, Calendar to the Sessions Books and Sessions Minute Books and Other Sessions Records of the County of Hertford, VI (Hertford, 1928), 11. See also, for example, J. C. Atkinson, North Riding Quarter Sessions, V, 159, 168, and VI, 7.

    Google Scholar 

  72. S. Kramer, The English Craft Gilds (1927), pp. 24–26, 31, 42;

    Google Scholar 

  73. A. Hamilton Thompson, “On a Minute-Book and Papers Formerly Belonging to the Mercers’ Company of the City of Durham,” Archaeologia Aeliana, 3rd ser., XIX (1922), 228–29;

    Google Scholar 

  74. C. Walford, Gilds, Their Origin, Constitution, Objects and Later History (1888), p. 202;

    Google Scholar 

  75. H. Stocks (ed.), Records of Leicester, IV (Cambridge, 1923), 416;

    Google Scholar 

  76. M. H. Dodds, Extracts from the Municipal Accounts of Newcastle-on-Tyne (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1920), pp. 11, 104–05; Bodleian, MS. Morrell 6, Election and Order Book of the Company of Tailors, Oxford, f. 157; B.M., Add. MS. 24,462, Gildbook of the Company of Mercers, Linen Drapers, Woollen Drapers and Merchant Taylors of Sandwich, Co. Kent, 1655–1772, ff. 3–7;

    Google Scholar 

  77. A. H. Johnson, History of the Worshipful Company of Drapers of London, III (Oxford, 1922), 233;

    Google Scholar 

  78. W. S. Prideaux, Memorials of the Goldsmiths’ Company of London, II (1897), 35, 56, 68;

    Google Scholar 

  79. E. B. Jupp and W. W. Pocock, An Historical Account of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters of the City of London (1887), p. 635.

    Google Scholar 

  80. J. Brown, Life of John Bunyan (1885), p. 98;

    Google Scholar 

  81. R. S. Ferguson and W. Nanson, Some Municipal Records of the City of Carlisle (Carlisle, 1887), pp. 97 et seq.; Chester Town Hall, Chester Corporation Order Book and Chester City Assembly Book, entries for September 1657;

    Google Scholar 

  82. W. S. Weeks, Clitheroe in the Seventeenth Century (Clitheroe, 1928), pp. 39, 41;

    Google Scholar 

  83. J. M. Lambert, Two Thousand Years of Gild Life, with a Full Account of the Gilds and Trading Companies of Kingston-upon-Hull (Hull, 1891), p. 175; W. E. Layton, Notices from the Great Court and Assembly Books of the Borough of Ipswich, III, 177;

    Google Scholar 

  84. H. Stocks (ed.), Records of Leicester, IV (Cambridge, 1923), 443;

    Google Scholar 

  85. W. S. Martin, Records of Maidstone (1926), p. 135; Newport Sessions Book, August 17, 1654 and Lawday Book, October 1656;

    Google Scholar 

  86. W. T. Baker, Records of the Borough of Nottingham, V (Nottingham, 1900), 291; Hewitson, Preston Court Leet Records, pp. 31–32, 52;

    Google Scholar 

  87. J. M. Guilding (ed.), Reading Records, IV (1892–96), 488, 510, 513, 517, 522, 527, 535; H.M.C. Rye, p. 230;

    Google Scholar 

  88. F. A. Inderwick, “Rye under the Commonwealth,” Sussex Archaeol. Coll., XXXIX (1894), p. 10;

    Google Scholar 

  89. R. Benson and H. Hatcher, History of Salisbury (1843), p. 441.

    Google Scholar 

  90. A. H. A. Hamilton, Quarter Sessions from Queen Elizabeth to Anne (1878), p. 164;

    Google Scholar 

  91. W. Le Hardy, Calendar to the Sessions Books of the County of Hertford (Hertford, 1928), passim;

    Google Scholar 

  92. J. Wake (ed.), Quarter Sessions Records of the County of Northampton (1924), p. 132; Worcester, County Hall, Quarter Sessions Rolls of Indictments and Recognisances, passim.

    Google Scholar 

  93. Cf. F. J. Fisher, “The Influence and Development of the Industrial Gilds in the Larger Provincial Towns under James I and Charles I,” thesis summary in Bull. Inst. Hist. Res., X (1932), passim.

    Google Scholar 

  94. H. Stocks (ed.), Records of Leicester, IV (Cambridge, 1923), 430;

    Google Scholar 

  95. Simpson, “The City Gilds of Chester: The Smiths’, Cutlers’ and Plumbers’ Company,” Journ. Chester and North Wales Archaeol. and Hist. Soc. new ser., XX (1914), 44; B.M., Egerton MS. 2,044, Register of Ordinances of the Bristol Corporation, 1551–1656, ff. 66–67.

    Google Scholar 

  96. E. B. Jupp and W. W. Pocock, An Historical Account of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters of the City of London (1887), p. 277; Newport, Isle of Wight, Office of the Town Clerk, Newport Convocation Book, passim;

    Google Scholar 

  97. M. Sellers, The York Mercers and Merchant Adventurers, 1356–1917 (Durham, 1918), p. 284; B.M., Add. MS. 10,407, Account-book of the Company of Silk Weavers of York, ff. 145–49; W. E. Layton, “Notices from the Great Court and Assembly Books of the Borough of Ipswich,” The East Anglian, IV, 220.

    Google Scholar 

  98. C. H. Firth and R. S. Rait (eds.), Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, II (1911), 1132; C.S.P. Ven., 1653–54, pp. 264–65; C.S.P.D., 1654, pp. 343, 346.

    Google Scholar 

  99. B.M., Add. MS. 24,462, Gild-book of the Company of Mercers, Sandwich, f. 6; J. Latimer, Annals of Bristol in the Seventeenth Century (Bristol, 1900), p. 32.

    Google Scholar 

  100. W. S. Prideaux, Memorials of the Goldsmiths’ Company, II (1897), 74–75.

    Google Scholar 

  101. H. Stocks (ed.), Records of Leicester, IV (Cambridge, 1923), 425.

    Google Scholar 

  102. A. Plummer (ed.), The Witney Blanket Industry (1934), pp. 114–21.

    Google Scholar 

  103. 13 Geo. III, c. 68; cf. E. Lipson, Economic History of England, III (1931), 270.

    Google Scholar 

  104. R. K. Kelsall, Wage Regulation under the Statute of Artificers (1938), p. 27, urges that “the case for a divergence between assessed and economic rates before, say, the sixteen-eighties is still not proven.”

    Google Scholar 

  105. T. K. Derry, “The Enforcement of a Seven Years’ Apprenticeship under the Statute of Artificers,” in Abstracts of Dissertations for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Oxford, IV (1931), 13–14.

    Google Scholar 

  106. H. Heaton, The Yorkshire Woollen and Worsted Industries (1920), pp. 241–42.

    Google Scholar 

  107. G. Unwin, The Gilds and Companies of London (1908), pp. 345–46.

    Google Scholar 

  108. S. Kramer, The English Craft Gilds (1927), p. 176.

    Google Scholar 

  109. W. S. Holdsworth, A History of English Law, VI (1924), 333–49, 516–23. Holt is noticed in the D.N.B.

    Google Scholar 

  110. It has been pointed out by R. H. Tawney, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism (1926), p. 236, that “a systematic and theoretical individualism did not develop” until after the Restoration. Much further study of local industries is required before the period of the advent of laisser-faire can be satisfactorily determined.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. G. D. Ramsay
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Ivan Roots

Copyright information

© 1973 Ivan Roots

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Ramsay, G.D. (1973). Industrial Laisser-Faire and the Policy of Cromwell. In: Roots, I. (eds) Cromwell. World Profiles. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-01479-8_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-01479-8_7

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-01481-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-01479-8

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation