The Economy of the North-East in the Nineteenth Century: A Survey with a Bibliography of Works Published Since 1945

Abstract

THE NORTH-EAST has, to a considerable extent, been neglected by economic historians, and the intention of this article is to outline the present state of knowledge of the north-eastern economy and to point to some of the aspects which might repay further attention. The chronological coverage is limited to the nineteenth century, the major period of the North-East's economic growth, and the bibliography! has largely taken into consideration only work recently published on this subject. Initially intended to consider only Tyneside, it became clear that the article could not be limited to such a narrow economic unit and coverage was extended to Northumberland, Durham and the Tees-side area of the North Riding of Yorkshire. There remains, however, a concentration on the Tyneside region. During the last twenty years a number of studies of the industrial development of particular regions has appeared but it is noticeable that none of them has covered any area in the North-East.2 Similarly the NorthEast is neglected in the general economic histories of the country, with the exception of references to the importance of the Northumberland and Durham coalfield. Thirdly the North-East has been neglected by economic historians in terms of specialized monographs on the development of particular industries, business and commercial histories, industrial biographies, etc. Until the groundwork of monographs such as these has been completed it will not be possible to write an adequate 'industrial