ABSTRACT
It is evident from the discussion in the preceding chapters that a considerable proportion of manufacturing concerns during the nineteenth century relied on private and internal sources of finance. Few firms took advantage of the liberalization of company law in order to raise capital externally, while banks, especially from the late 1880s, were generally very reluctant either to supply working capital on a continuous basis or more particularly to support investment in plant and machinery for any length of time. Admittedly banking practice did vary considerably but it became more uniform and more conservative as a result of the amalgamation movement in the 1890s and 1900s. Consequently, industrial firms had to look to intra-industry sources of finance or to themselves or acquaintances for accommodation. Basically this meant some form of trade credit, or the admission of a new partner, or a loan on mortgage, or profits generated by the concern. Unfortunately it is precisely for these areas of finance that little evidence is at present available and therefore the picture that can be established is partial and, with regard to profits, highly conjectural.
