The Transfer of Capital in Nineteenth Century London as seen through The London Times

In the eighteenth century, London, and England as a whole, saw the rise of industrialization: banks, stock markets, factories, cities. What drove this rise and what kept England ahead, at least in part, was private investment. Available capital allowed entrepreneurs to create, businesses to expand, investors to tinker, and banks to make money. By the nineteenth century England had become the powerhouse of the industrial revolution. London, in particular, had become the model of an industrialized city. Given the intrinsic presence of capital in industrialization, therefore, London was rife with what was now an entire business surrounding the transfer of capital: investment. Newspapers are always wonderful places for historians to grab snapshots of a particular time period. The London Times, therefore, provides a perfect window into eighteenth century London and the investment and transfer of capital within.


This first article dates from an issue of the London Times October 19, 1830. The article begins by discussing problems in the credit markets in France. The mere existence of such an article in the first place is testament to the importance of "Money-Markets" in London. Moreover, however, the degree to which, perhaps the author, but more so how the author describes the people of Paris, are distraught over the "tottering state of credit" demonstrates the importance of said credit in London society. In the second paragraph the author tells us that "Money in this market is beginning gradually to acquire greater value, owing to the general demand for it on the continent." This condition, of an increasing demand for capital investment, is characteristic of the industrial revolution. To allow new markets such as the railroad or coal industries to emerge, investment was needed to provide the capital necessary to lift aspiring entrepreneurs off the ground and in so doing ever expand the new industries and produce industrialization. Nowhere do we see this cycle more than in the growth of demand for capital investment.

This next snippet of the London Times is not so much an article as simple a selection of advertisements. What is interesting about these advertisements, however, is what they are asking for: capital. This type of advertisement existed in the London Times at the beginning of the century, but the number of them rose sharply through the rest of it. This particular snippet is from May 22, 1862. Banks are just beginning to appear, and so one of the best ways for people to get capital is through advertisements in the newspaper. The amount of capital requested ranges greatly, even in our small sampling from a single paper, from 200 pounds all the way up to 10,000 pounds. Moreover, people are asking for investment in a wide variety of different pursuits, from steam power machinery to real estate in the South of England. Capital has truly penetrated through every segment of daily life in London.

This next snippet is another selection of 'capital wanted' advertisements, this time, however, from 20 years later. These particular advertisements come from the London Times November 9, 1883. A couple of major differences exist between these advertisements and the last. The first interesting thing to note is the difference in quantity of money requested. As the English economy has been growing, so too have its capital markets. In particular, the amount of capital requested in these snippets ranges from 2,000 to 35,000 pounds, as compared to the range in the previous selection of 200 to 10,000 pounds. The minimum has grown by a factor of ten and the maximum by a factor of four. The fourth advertisement is particularly interesting. It begins "To Capitalists, Financial Agents, and others." Previously, all the advertisements had begun by addressing only "Capitalists." The mere existence of the term "Financial Agent" speaks to the extraordinary presence of capital in London and the new, industrial London economy.

Capital investment had already been a huge part of the London economy, but with the nineteenth century it became the hallmark of the new, industrialized London economy. Investment permeated all facets of daily life in London. As evidenced by The Times, people would ask for investment to start a business, build a house, sell a patent, construct machinery, even an entire factory, really anything that people needed money for. This climate saw the rise of new jobs, from capitalist to "Financial Agent," and the creation of an all-new never-before-seen truly industrialized economy. By the end of the nineteenth century, investment had transformed London into the center of one of the most powerful, industrial economies in all of Europe.