The momentum of the British industrial revolution arose mostly in regions poorly endowed by nature, badly located and considered backward and poor by contemporaries. Sidney Pollard examines the initially surprising contribution made by the population of these and other `marginal areas'...

Capital formation plays a large part in any evaluation of economic growth and decline. In recent years the provision of capital in the British industrial revolution has received renewed attention. This interest arises out of attempts to trace the course and explain the progress of the pioneer...