ABSTRACT
In summer 1914, as it became clear that a European war was on the cards, London, the world’s foremost international financial centre, experienced its most acute financial crisis.1 Its financial markets suffered a comprehensive breakdown; the London Stock Exchange shut and stayed shut for five months. It was feared that a run on the banks had begun, threatening the country’s payments and credit mechanisms – and all as Britain teetered on the verge of war, and then plunged into the Armageddon. But the crisis was successfully contained and the markets fitfully revived; in the process, the function of the City was transformed from the finance of global trade and development to the provision of Allied war finance. What roles did the financial press and financial journalists play in this extreme financial crisis?
