This volume comprises some of the material collected for a thesis submitted to the University of London for the degree of Ph.D.

The greater part of the original documents consulted are in the Bedford County Record Office. The Northampton Borough Library, the Luton Library and Museum, and the Cobden Library at the London School of Economics and Political Science have also yielded material.

I have to acknowledge with gratitude the guidance I have received from Mr. H. L. Beales, M.A., Reader in Economic History in the University of London; and the suggestions of Dr. J. L. Hammond. To the late Dr. G. H. Fowler, formerly Secretary and Editor of the Society, I am indebted for encouragement and for help with the How manuscripts. To Mr. F. G. Emmison, formerly Clerk of Records for Bedfordshire, I am under a great obligation, and to his successors, Mr. I. P. Collis and Mrs. Munn. The Curator of Luton Museum, Mr. C. Freeman, has never been too busy to attend to me. Mr. F. J. Manning, Acting Secretary and Treasurer of the Society, and Miss J. Godber have piloted the book through its last stages, and supervised the revision necessary to convert a thesis into a volume.