ABSTRACT
The service industries already comprised a large and growing sector of the British economy in 1861 (Lee, 1979, 1984). Over 31 per cent of the employed population were engaged in the service industries in 1861, and this had increased to more than 41 per cent by 1911 (Lee, 1979; see also Hartwell, 1973). With 3.3 million workers, the service industries already accounted for a larger proportion of total employment than agriculture (18.8 per cent) and more than one-half of the employees were in miscellaneous services. By 1911 the service industries had more than doubled the number of employees to 7.6 million, with transport and distribution growing more rapidly than miscellaneous services. Lee (1984) demonstrates that there were regional variations in service provision and his econometric results indicate that the incidence of manufacturing industry was not a precondition for the development of service industries. Income was the main determinant of growth in transport and distributive services employment, and since income was unevenly distributed, some regions had a larger share of service growth than others. The south-east and other regions in southern England took a relatively large share of the increases between 1861 and 1911, and ‘economic growth was generated and sustained in those regions, by the combined effects of international trade and particularly investment, the consumer demand sustained by many centuries’ accumulation of landed wealth and the self-sustaining capacity of affluence’ (ibid., 154).
