Gladstone and the Bank of England: A Study in Mid-Victorian Finance, 1833-1866

The topic of this thesis is the confrontations between William Gladstone and the Bank of England. These confrontations have remained a mystery to authors who noted them, but have generally been ignored by others. This thesis demonstrates that Gladstone's measures taken against the Bank were reasonable, intelligent, and important for the development of nineteenth-century British government finance. To accomplish this task, this thesis refutes the opinions of three twentieth-century authors who have claimed that many of Gladstone's measures, as well as his reading, were irrational, ridiculous, and impolitic. My primary sources include the Gladstone Diaries, with special attention to a little-used source, Volume 14, the indexes to the Diaries. The day-to-day Diaries and the indexes show how much Gladstone read about financial matters, and suggest that his actions were based to a large extent upon his reading. In addition, I have used Hansard's Parliamentary Debates and nineteenth-century periodicals and books on banking and finance to understand the political and economic debates of the time.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of North Texas

Year dc:date

2007

Author dc:creator

• Caernarven-Smith, Patricia

Contributors dc:contributor

• Paz, Denis
• Lewis, Adrian R.
• Stern, Laura

• William Gladstone
• Bank of England
• finance
• taxation
• currency issue
• Gladstone, W. E. (William Ewart), 1809-1898.
• Gladstone, W. E. (William Ewart), 1809-1898 -- Books and reading.
• Bank of England -- History -- 19th century.
• Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1837-1901.

Statement dc:rights

• Public
• Copyright
• Caernarven-Smith, Patricia
• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

oclc: 174241710
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc3696/
ark: ark:/67531/metadc3696

OAI identifier oai:identifier

info:ark/67531/metadc3696