Description

When the first volume of this work was published in 1930, The Times welcomed the book and the project in these words: Here - almost for the first time - we have a picture of normal society in a past age in the same fullness of detail as we can picture our own age. It is the beginning of what we have never had before, a history of the English people. The first volume of John Harold Clapham's remarkable and original work begins with a comprehensive description of Britain on the eve of the Railway Age, covering topics such as the organisation of agriculture, industry and commerce. The second volume covers the period of the Great Exhibition and the development of the production of cheap mass-produced steel; the railway system continued to grow and the fortunes of canals and decline. With the third volume, Professor Clapham completes the work, bringing the story down to 1929. Particular topics dealt with include the place and development of agriculture in the industrial state; rapid changes and new growths in industry; communications, including road transport, air development, the Post Office and wireless; and the economic activities of the state.