Abstracts / Resúmenes / Resumos / Résumés

S.09 - Nov 11 2021
15:00 – 16:30 Hrs.

British Corporate Capital in the West Indian Economy in the 19th and early 20th century

Dr. Kathleen Monteith
(The University of the West Indies, Jamaica)

This presentation provides outline sketches or profiles of a few companies that I first came across in my research on the history of Barclays Bank (DCO)’s operations in the West Indies several years ago. These profiles were gleaned from contemporary 19th and early 20th century West Indian trade journals and books. For this presentation I have also relied heavily on the work of a number of business historians who have done work on British overseas investment in the 19th century, particularly Geoff Jones’ and Mira Wilkins’ work, to understand the conceptual framework of these companies. An understanding of the continued involvement of British FDI in the British West Indian economy in the 19th and early 20th century is important, as it can contribute to the current work on the involvement of British mercantile firms in the world economy dating back to the 17th century, and their evolution in terms of their organisational form and the changing scope of their operations from the 18th through to the 20th century. Much of the current work focuses on Europe, Latin America and South East Asia, and also territories on the African continent. However, the British colonial West Indies, though geographically quite small in comparison to these other regions, deserves some recognition in the history of British FDI in the 19th and early 20th century, given the significance of the region in Britain’s imperial and economic activity. More importantly for us in the region, an understanding of the business activities of these firms can also contribute to our further understanding of developments within the West Indian economies, particularly for the late 19th and early 20th century.