Quakers Quakers in Science and Industry by Arthur Raistrick Review by: R. C.

Scott The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 4, No. 1 (1951), pp. 121-122 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Economic History Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2591664 . Accessed: 28/02/2013 02:04
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REVIEWS

121

himself by rearrangingthe material put before him. But various questions will be left in his mind unanswered. We are told of the attempts at licensing reform and the campaign against drunkennessfrom the later i870's onwards, but we learn nothing of the way in which public houses had established their strong position in Crewe. Was it the case that Crewe, in its early days, like many other towns, had little provision for communal relaxation except in public houses? Again, we are told in a couple of sentences that the railway company at first provided no shops, but built a few before 1848. Two hundred pages later we learn that the lack of shops and consequent high prices of provisions provided the first stimulus to the co-operative movement, the further progressof which is described in some detail. But the contribution of the private shop-keeper to the life of Crewe is passed over. Was Crewe at first a community which could keep itself employed but could not, in spite of the railway company's activities, supply its own auxiliary needs? Did it, in its process of growth, ever reach the stage at which it was able not only to supply its own social needs, but to educate, entertain and provision the surrounding district as well? Did Crewe's expansion, like that of many towns, create new economic costs which hampered its improvement (e.g. through the steep raising of land values), or did its limited size and extensive rural surroundingssave it from this? These are a few of the relevant questions which the author does not appear to have asked himself and which cannot be answered from his book. All this criticism, however, should not obscure recognition of the value of the material which Dr Chaloner'simmenselypainstakingwork has brought to light, and the value of his stimulatingchoice of subject. It would be admirable if many other scholars could follow his pioneering lead in exploring the history of Victorian industrial towns. It would be still better if they brought to the task a rather more imaginative approach and a greater power to mould diverse material into a unified historical experience.
W.
ASHWORTH

TheLondon School Economics of

QUAKERS
ARTHUR RAISTRICK.

Quakersin Scienceand Industry. (The Bannisdale Press (London, 1950. Pp. 36i. 2 is.) The Quakers of the latter half of the seventeenth century and throughout the eighteenth, played a very prominent part in the industrial development of England and Wales and in the growth of banking, surprisingly so in proportion to their numbers, even when it is realized that there was roughly one member of the Society of Friends to every ninety persons in the late seventeenth century, as compared with one to every 2200 at the present day. Their contribution to the development of the iron industry and the growth of banking has long been recognized, but it is not only in the heavy industries and the finance of the country that Quaker names crop up again and again in this period; in clock and instrument making, in the china industry, in pharmacy, in the natural sciences (particularly botany and horticulture), and in medicine, we find that many members of the Society of Friends held prominent positions. The purpose of the present author, in addition to his summary of the work of Friends in these varied fields, has been to seek the reasons which led them to

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122

THE ECONOMIC HISTORr REVIEW

secure a place of importance in so many different ventures. Here he has some interesting suggestions to advance. Excluded by their religious beliefs from entering many professionsoffered by Church and State, and debarred from entry to the universities,Friendsfrom the early days had neverthelesslaid great stress on the importance of a sound education for their children. There were many keen and well-furnishedminds among the young men of the Society, who would have been the researchstudentsand scholarsof the universities,but whose intellectual ability could only find an outlet in experiment and research into new methods in their daily business. The Quaker organization called upon its members for regular attendance at Monthly, Quarterly and Yearly meetings to deal with the business of the Society. Master and man would ride together to these gatherings, and there opportunity would arise for useful discussionbetween manufacturers,bankers, and business men on questions concerning their work. This regular coming together, coupled with the practice of extensive travelling in the ministry and the visitation of meetings was a powerful factor in linking Quaker businesses. The fact that throughout the eighteenth century Friends were only allowed to marry within the borders of the Society, constantly enhanced the interweaving of business and commercial relationships, while, 'the genius of the young Society of Friends was its practical working democracy, its complete respect for the individual, and its recognition of a real equality of persons, irrespective of social or economic position, or of sex'. The apprentice, forgehand or maid servant in the meeting for worship or Quaker business meeting stood on an equality with the employer, and had his or her particular contribution to make, which was recognized by all. The Quaker employer showed concern for his workpeople, and a desire to promotetheirwelfare,to establishgood housingconditionsfor them, and generally to serve the community in which he lived. 'It is this extraordinarybalance of social sensitivity combined with a faculty for intensive experiment and research on particularlines that we claim as being distinctively" Quaker"', saysthe author. It may be an over-boldclaim; their frugalityand simplicityof life and avoidance of any ostentationin itself increasedthe wealth coming into the hands of Friends. Motives must have grown ever more mixed; it must have been increasingly difficult to maintain a balance between industrial or professionalactivity and competition and the claims of a faith that demanded of its members to seek always the indwelling light of God in their relations with their fellow men. But if many gave up the struggleand, half unconsciously,began to accept a double standard, others undoubtedly strove continually for some approximationof ideal and practice, which must have had its sweetening influence in the ruthlessworld of Britain's early industrial expansion. Despite the necessity for compression which makes some pages read like a mere list of activity and developments, and the rather tedious tracing of Quaker genealogies and family inter-connexions, there is much in this book to interestall who are caught by the strangefascination of England's story of rapid industrialgrowth. R. C. SCOTT

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