Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Capitalism and Culture: 1800–1856
- 2 Financiers and Merchants: 1856–1870
- 3 Damnation and Forgiveness: 1870–1885
- 4 Avarice and Honesty: 1885–1895
- 5 Gold and Greed: 1895–1900
- 6 Money and Mansions: 1900–1910
- 7 Wealth and Power: 1910–1914
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
6 - Money and Mansions: 1900–1910
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Capitalism and Culture: 1800–1856
- 2 Financiers and Merchants: 1856–1870
- 3 Damnation and Forgiveness: 1870–1885
- 4 Avarice and Honesty: 1885–1895
- 5 Gold and Greed: 1895–1900
- 6 Money and Mansions: 1900–1910
- 7 Wealth and Power: 1910–1914
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
After the speculative boom of the mid-1890s, which had focused the public's attention on the City, the early twentieth century brought in a less eventful period. Though the stock market continued to rise and fall and companies continued to be promoted and to fail, there was nothing akin to the craze for gold that had gripped the nation in 1895. Instead, the City of London continued to build up its position as the most important financial and commercial centre in the world. Turner, writing in 1902, claimed that
London is the chief abode of the great god Money, whose throne, visible to all men, is in the heart of the City. From Queen Street and Guildhall to Gracechurch Street and Bishopsgate, from London Bridge to London Wall, lies a region in which the temples of the god cluster together in thick profusion. From here the greatest and the most numerous of his activities are conducted; for London, in spite of the rivalry of New York and the growing importance of Paris and Berlin as money centres, is still paramount as a headquarters of exchange and banking.
On the commercial front, Beavan, writing in 1901, saw the City as ‘…the Mart of Nations’, with Mincing Lane at its heart. This very range and extent of the City's activities defied easy generalization, beyond such statements about its role as a money market or a commodity market. Similarly, the complexity of the functions performed on behalf of global trade and finance made it difficult for the non-specialist to understand what the City actually did. Many of the familiar landmarks of the past, such as the private banks, had virtually disappeared, leaving the City inhabited by a vast mass of people and businesses carrying out tasks unintelligible to the lay person. Also, there was now little reason to visit the City, beyond St Paul's Cathedral, unless on business, for it had ceased to possess any retail activities apart from those meeting the needs of those who worked there.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Guilty MoneyThe City of London in Victorian and Edwardian Culture, 1815–1914, pp. 163 - 190Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014