Abstract
In the beginning there was the Commercial City. Over the course of a century the City of London has been transformed from a commercial centre into a financial one. However, it is little recognised how recent this change has been, for modern writers on the City tend to ignore the commercial aspect entirely or suggest that it was of little importance by the mid-nineteenth century. McRae and Cairncross, for example, omit any mention of trade in their brief review of the City of London in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, though considering it important in the eighteenth.1 However, in Victorian times the City was still regarded as much for its position in domestic distribution and international trade as for its ability to mobilise and organise capital and credit.2 During the inter-war years, the financial components of the City began to dominate public perception, much to the annoyance of the many who were not engaged in that business. One was Percy Hartley, a shipbroker, who complained in 1938 that:
It is remarkable how some country and even suburban folk think that the City is the Stock Exchange and the Stock Exchange is the City — and the chief or indeed only occupation for City men — that is gentlemen — is stockbroking.3
The facilities, indeed, which London enjoys for buying and selling, chartering and financing, are unique, and one cannot, therefore, see anything to disturb its importance as the commercial centre of Europe.
J.A. Findlay, The Baltic Exchange, London 1927, p. 42
The long years of control had one positive result. However necessary or desirable in the exigencies of war, the limitations of government trading in time of peace had been fully demonstrated. Indeed, it may be said that from the post-war experience came a general realisation of the advantages that stemmed from the presence of a free and active market in London, both as a commercial asset to the British economy and for its services to the world metal industry.
Economist Intelligence Unit, The London Metal Exchange, London 1958, p. 163
Few parts of the City have changed so radically as the commodity markets.
W.M. Clarke, The City in the World Economy, London 1965, p. 79
The prime purpose of futures markets is to provide protection against unpredictable price fluctuations — thus enabling forward trading with reduced risks.
Financial Times, 26 July 1985
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
H. McRae and F. Cairncross, Capital City: London as a Financial Centre, London 1984, pp. 6–20.
J.S. Henderson, ‘Commercial and Financial England’ in T.H.S. Escott (ed.) England: Its Peoples and Pursuits, London 1879, p. 188.
P. Hartley, My Life in Shipping, 1881–1938, London 1938, p. 82.
J.H. Dunning and E.V. Morgan, An Economic Study of the City of London, London 1971, pp. 31, 53
J. Orbell, Baring Brothers & Co. Ltd: A History to 1939, London 1985, p. 53
J.C. Brown, A Hundred Years of Merchant Banking, New York 1909, p. 124
W. Maude, Anthony Gibbs & Sons: Merchants and Bankers, 1808–1959, London 1958, pp. 36, 43
S.H. Twining, The House of Twining, 1706–1956, London 1956, pp. 58–62
W.B. Hooper, ‘The Old and New Exchange’, The London Coal Exchange: A Historical Survey, London 1907, pp. 21–2, cf. ‘Methods of Handling Coal from Early Times’, p. 16
cf. P.E. Jones, The Coal Market, London 1962, p. 3
J. Toovey, The London Coal Exchange, London 1956, p. 11
R. Perren, The Meat Trade in Britain, 1840–1914, London 1978, pp. 197–202
C. Maughan, Markets of London, London 1931, p. 145
W.J. Passingham, London’s Markets: Their Origin and History, London 1934, pp. 47, 71
J.T. Critchell and J. Raymond, A History of the Frozen Meat Trade, London 1912, reprinted 1969, pp. 183–4
J.B. Jefferys, Retail Trading in Britain, 1850–1950, Cambridge 1954, pp. 9–11, 30
A. Lewis, ‘The Rate of Growth of World Trade, 1830–1973’, in S. Grassman and E. Lundberg (eds), The World Economic Order: Past and Prospects, London 1981, pp. 38–65.
E. Van Cleef, Trade Centers and Trade Routes, New York 1937, p. 132.
J. Langton and R.J. Morris, Atlas of Industrialising Britain, 1780–1914, London 1986, pp. 96–104
F.E. Hyde, Liverpool and the Mersey: An Economic History of a Port, 1700–1970, Newton Abbot 1971, pp. 96–100
S.W. Dowling, The Exchanges of London, London 1929, pp. 106, 130, 140
Statistical Abstract for the United Kingdom, London 1914, pp. 94–6
J.G. Broodbank, History of the Port of London, London 1921, vol. II, pp. 498–9
G.L. Rees, Britain’s Commodity Markets, London 1972, pp. 144–5, 173, 229, 234, 241–4, 269, 274, 269–70, 325, 334, 351, 417
Economist Intelligence Unit, The London Metal Exchange, London 1958, pp. 10, 61–2
C.A. Jones, International Business in the Nineteenth Century: The Rise and Fall of a Cosmopolitan Bourgeoisie, Brighton 1987, pp. 106, 110–1, 113–14, 116
J.G. Smith, Organised Produce Markets, London 1922, p. 147
G.L. Rees, The History of the London Commodity Markets, London 1978, pp. 32, 59, 129, 144–5, 269
A. Barnard, The Australian Wool Market, 1840–1900, Melbourne 1958, pp. 133–4, 164–8.
D. Forrest, Tea for the British: The Social and Economic History of a Famous Trade, London 1973, p. 256
A.E. Jeffrey, The History of Scrutions, London 1971, pp. 85, 89, 116
J. Bird, The Geography of the Port of London, London 1957, p. 166
R.D. Brown, The Port of London, Lavenham 1978, pp. 115, 183–4, 194.
Port of London Authority, Guide to the Docks and Warehouses, London 1913, p. 94
O.R. Hobson, How the City Works, London 1940, p. 11
M.C. Borer, The City of London, London 1962, pp. 64, 75
W.M. Clarke, The City in the World Economy, London 1965, p. 36
A. Coates, The Commerce in Rubber: the First 250 Years, Singapore 1987, pp. 337, 351
P. Griffiths, The History of the Indian Tea Industry, London 1967, pp. 671, 678.
J.A. Findlay, The Baltic Exchange, London 1927, p. 39
J. Ahvenainen, ‘Telegraphs, Trade and Policy: The Role of the International Telegraphs in the Years 1870–1914’, in W. Fischer, R.M. Mclnnis and J. Schneider (eds), The Emergence of a World Economy, 1500–1914, Stuttgart 1986, pp. 507–14
A. and R. Long, A Shipping Venture: Turnbull Scott & Co., 1872–1972, London 1974, pp. 62, 75–6, 114, 137
P. Paul, City Voyage: The Story of Erlebach & Co. Ltd, 1867–1967, Morden 1967, pp. 9, 19
D.R. Mac-Gregor, The China Bird, London 1961, p. 203
Tatham’s Log 1858–1958: Tatham Bromage & Co. Ltd, London 1958, p. 14
A. Fagg, Westray: A Record of LB. Westray & Co. Ltd, London 1957, p. 34
G. Blake, Gellatly’s 1862–1962, London 1962, pp. 1, 17, 19, 28
H. Barty-King, The Baltic Exchange: The History of a Unique Market, London 1977, pp. 133, 153
W. Hunt, Heirs to Great Adventure: A History of Balfour, Williamson & Co. Ltd, London 1951–60, vol. I, pp. 15–6, 77–8.
L. Fischer and G.E. Ponting (eds), Change and Adaptation in Maritime History: The North Atlantic Fleets in the Nineteenth Century, St Johns 1985, pp. 90–109, 116, 143, 177, 184
O.R. Hobson, How the City Works, London 1940, p. 126
W.C. Clarke, The City’s Invisible Earnings, London 1958, pp. 78, 80
G.L. Rees, The History of the London Commodity Markets, London 1978, p. 38
A.A. Hooker, The International Grain Trade, London 1936, p. viii.
S. Jones, Two Centuries of Overseas Trading: The Origins and Growth of the Inchcape Group, London 1986, pp. 24, 29–33, 53
A.C. Pointon, Wallace Brothers, Oxford 1974, p. 1
History and Activities of the Ralli Trading Group, London 1979, no pagination
C.A. Muir, Churchill & Sim, 1813–1963, London 1963, pp. 18–9, 24–5
C.H. Woodhouse, The Woodhouses, Drakes and Careys of Mincing Lane, London 1977, pp. 28–31
C.A. Muir, Blyth, Greene, Jourdan & Co. Ltd 1810–1960, London 1961, p. 28
G.D. Hodges, 56 Years in the London Sugar Market, London 1960, pp. 13–14
H. James and H.J. Sayers, The Story of Czarnikow, London 1963, pp. 9–25, 31
H.G. Corder and L.H. Tarring, Babylon to Birmingham, London 1960, pp. 136, 337–8
G. Harrison, VYB: A Century of Metal Broking, 1859–1959, London 1959, pp. 16–17, 30, 36
The City, or the Physiology of London Business, London 1852, pp. 155–6
The Duncan Group 1859–1959, London 1959, p. 68.
R. Henriques, Marcus Samuel, London 1960, pp. 58, 61–5, 80; K.M. Stahl, The Metropolitan Organization of British Colonial Trade: Four Regional Studies, London 1951, p. 293; S.J. Nicholas, ‘The Overseas Marketing Performance of British Industry, 1870–1914’, Economic History Review 37, 1984, pp. 496–8, 506.
K.M. Stahl, The Metropolitan Organization of British Colonial Trade: Four Regional Studies, London 1951, p. 293
S.J. Nicholas, ‘The Overseas Marketing Performance of British Industry, 1870–1914’, Economic History Review 37, 1984, pp. 496–8, 506.
A.J. Latham, ‘Markets and Development in Africa and Asia’, in B.L. Anderson and A.J. Latham, The Market in History, London 1986, p. 218.
J.W.F. Rowe, Primary Commodities International Trade, Cambridge 1965, p. 54.
S. Clubley, Trading in Oil Futures, London 1986, p. 26
D. Barders, Everything in Leather: The Story of Barrow, Hepburn & Gale Ltd, London 1948, p. 54
A Century of Progress: Bartrum, Harvey & Co. Ltd 1845–1945, London 1945, pp. 17, 19
D.K. Britton, Cereals in the United Kingdom: Production Marketing and Utilisation, Oxford 1969, p. 334.
W.M. Clarke, Britain’s Invisible Earnings: The Report of the Committee on Invisible Exports, London 1967, pp. 89–105.
Swiss Bank Corporation, Commodity Markets, London 1935, pp. 7, 14.
C. Brooks, Something in the City: Men and Markets in London, London 1931, p. 232.
S. Chapman, The Rise of Merchant Banking, London 1984, p. 137
F. Crouzet, The Victorian Economy, London 1982, p. 313
J. McKay, ‘The House of Rothschild (Paris) as a Multinational Enterprise, 1875–1914’, in M. Levy-Leboyer and H. Nussbaum (eds), Multinational Enterprise in Historical Perspective, Cambridge/Paris 1968, p. 77.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1992 Ranald C. Michie
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Michie, R.C. (1992). Commercial City. In: The City of London. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12322-3_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12322-3_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-12324-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-12322-3
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)