ABSTRACT
During the quarter of a century preceding the Great War the tendencies which the depression had first brought into prominence continued to exercise their influence on the industrial structure of the area. The best illustration of its growth is afforded by estimates of employment, which show that the numbers in the industry increased from 14,000–16,000 in 1886 to some 30,000 on the outbreak of the war. It is worth while recounting its history in some detail, since this will indicate how intimately the fortunes of the trade were bound up with changes of fashion. In the jewellery trade proper, there was a great development of the gold branch, at the expense of the silver; for, by the nineties, silver had fallen too low in price for it to remain a fashionable metal for ornamental purposes.
