ABSTRACT
The government’s promotion of industrial development in England by encouraging skilled Continental artisans to settle there can be traced back at least to 1331, when Edward III issued his famous letters of protection to Flemish weavers, encouraging them to come and develop the cloth industry in England. What is harder to establish is the degree of involvement and the extent of its success, as there is little detailed research. But this very lack of evidence in itself may point to limited and haphazard intervention. The government’s involvement during the sixteenth century is better known, thanks to Joan Thirsk’s excellent study on Economic Policy and Projects. Still the best survey on the subject, Thirsk argued that the government’s sustained efforts to set up new industries began around 1540, partly in response to the influence of humanism sweeping through Europe, and partly due to the desperate need to find alternative supplies to foreign imports. As a result, 14 projects were launched between 1540 and 1580, including iron founding, woad growing, oil production, madder growing, dyeing, canvas, fustians, and the making of small metalwares.1 According to Thirsk, Elizabeth I’s reign made the greatest contribution to industrial development, with a series of projects launched, in comparison with only one or two launched during Henry VIII’s reign, three or four in Edward VI’s reign, and none in Mary’s reign.2 Arguably, this more expansive involvement was made possible by her long reign but more particularly by the shift to the use of monopolistic patents, rather than letters of protection or financial grants and subsidies, as the principal means of industrial promotion. Economic Policy and Projects is excellent in charting the origins and success of projects, but we hear very little about the processes and procedures used to set them up. Although many of these projects relied on immigrants’ skills, little attention has been paid to crucial questions such as how they were recruited, what problems were involved, or their precise contribution. The aim of this chapter is to offer an overview of government-initiated projects and a tentative evaluation of their success.
