ABSTRACT

This chapter overviews the main aggregate trends in entrepreneurship. It tracks the relative numbers, and proportions of the population (entrepreneurship rates), over time. This is summarised and shown graphically by main sector and business organisation for the shifting proportions of employers and own-account proprietors. Close attention is given especially to farming compared to other sectors, as it provides half of the business population and is a sector subject to major structural change. Detailed comparisons of the 1851–1911 period are presented graphically compared to later periods using census data up to 2011. This chapter is the key element of the book’s demonstration that the Victorian period was a ‘golden age’ for the smaller and medium-sized business with important contributions from family firms. But 1901–11 is identified as a turning point where increased concentration in large businesses and corporations began to lead to reversals. The chapter also compares estimates over time with modern SME statistics which demonstrate the rate of entrepreneurship to be higher in 1901–11 than at any other time up to the present day.