ABSTRACT
The history of the iron trade of Great Britain is full of technical, industrial, and antiquarian interest. The practical and historical period of development may be said to begin with the early part of the eighteenth century. The course of the iron trade has had an important influence on, and has in its turn been notably affected by, the various great economic movements and changes that have happened during the last century. About 1835 an impetus was given to the British iron trade by the beginning of the railway era in the United States, which had then to purchase most of its materials in this country. In 1892 trade was again seriously depressed. In the following three years it was unsatisfactory, but in 1896 it took a change for the better; and the next five years witnessed perhaps the longest and, on the whole, the most satisfactory revival that the iron trade has ever known.
