British Cape Colony
British Colonial Empire
British Empire
Kingdom of Great Britain
Kingdom of Hawaï'i
Learn more about polity border choices.
The British Empire consisted of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by England (later as Britain after the Union Act of 1707).
The foundations of the Empire began in the early seventeenth century when England established overseas trading posts in North America, Africa, India, South Asia and the West Indies. By 1600 the East India Company had already established trading posts in India. In 1661 the first permanent British settlement was made on James Island on the Gambia River in Africa.
British American colonies were well established in New England, Virginia, and Maryland by 1670. After a series of wars with France and the Netherlands in the seventeenth century, Britain also acquired Quebec in 1759 and become the dominant colonial power in North America. Following the American War of Independence (1776-83) Britain lost its thirteen American colonies. Many loyalists from the US migrated to Canada, further growing the empire’s colonies there.
By 1757 Britain had also become the leading power in the Indian subcontinent, after the East India Company, under the colonial administrator, Robert Clive, defeated the Mughal Empire and overthrew the Nawabs.
By the 1840s Britain had acquired more settlements in Australia, and New Zealand became a British domain, while control was extended to islands in the Pacific Ocean such as Fiji, Tonga and Papua.
us_kamehameha_k nominal allegiance to gb_british_emp_1 | 1810 CE 1819 CE |
Anglosphere |
British Empire II |
Preceding: England Tudor-Stuart (gb_england_tudor_and_early_stuart) [continuity] | |
Succeeding: British Empire IIIIIIIIII (gb_british_emp_222222) [continuity] |
loose |
80,000 people | 1695 CE |
575,000 people | 1700 CE |
675,000 people | 1750 CE |
900,000 people | 1800 CE |
1,050,000 people | 1811 CE |
1,873,676 people | 1841 CE |
[2,000,000 to 3,900,000] km2 | 1714 CE 1750 CE |
[8,000,000 to 14,000,000] km2 | 1800 CE 1837 CE |
[14,000,000 to 23,000,000] km2 | 1837 CE 1849 CE |
5,470,000 people | 1700 CE |
61,157,433 people | 1811 CE |
107,500,000 people | 1814 CE |
20776 |
inferred Absent |
Present |
Transitional (Absent -> Present) |
Present |
Present |
inferred Absent |
Present |
Present |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Year Range | British Empire I (gb_british_emp_1) was in: |
---|
Following defeat of Napoleonic France. "What materially enhanced the security of Britain’s scattered possessions after 1815 ... was the relative peacefulness which afflicted international relations and the absence of any European nation strong enough to challenge the global superiority of the Royal Navy. This exceptional interlude faded in the 1870s with the rise of Continental powers harbouring colonial ambitions."
[1]
[1]: (Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
Ending with the instability of the 1830s and 1840s (the Chartist Movement)
King James II of England was deposed and replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William, who invaded from the Netherlands, but most elites remained in place.
"Unlike the Spanish and the French, the British never attempted to rule colonies directly from the metropole ... At the core of Imperial administration .... a series of essentially bilateral relationships which entailed constant negotiation rather than the imposition of rule and the acceptance of subjection."
[1]
"Rather than constituting one empire, this conglomeration of large land masses and territorial fragments comprised several empires ... as a political entity it was loosely held together".
[1]
Imperial agents in the colonies "exercised considerable latitude of authority and were notoriously difficult to control ... Far from being subordinates, many masterful individuals had their own agendas and ambitions; often they acted independently, disregarding directives or exceeding instructions with cavalier exuberance and frequently with impunity."
[1]
[1]: (Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
Inhabitants.The largest settlement in the British Empire was the imperial capital of London, England. It was estimated to have around 80,000 people living there in 1695. In 1700 it had around 575,000 inhabitants, and 675,000 in 1750. [1] By 1811 it had more than doubled in population, recorded to have had around 1,050,000 inhabitants. [2] And towards the end of this polity period, in 1841, it had grown to 1,873,676 inhabitants. [3]
[1]: (Porter 2000: 97-98) Porter, Roy. 2000. London: A Social History. London: Penguin UK. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BUIF7ZRL
[2]: ( Colquhoun 1811: 45) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
[3]: (Chambers and Chambers 1847: 256. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/K77JRGEL.
Inhabitants.The largest settlement in the British Empire was the imperial capital of London, England. It was estimated to have around 80,000 people living there in 1695. In 1700 it had around 575,000 inhabitants, and 675,000 in 1750. [1] By 1811 it had more than doubled in population, recorded to have had around 1,050,000 inhabitants. [2] And towards the end of this polity period, in 1841, it had grown to 1,873,676 inhabitants. [3]
[1]: (Porter 2000: 97-98) Porter, Roy. 2000. London: A Social History. London: Penguin UK. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BUIF7ZRL
[2]: ( Colquhoun 1811: 45) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
[3]: (Chambers and Chambers 1847: 256. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/K77JRGEL.
Inhabitants.The largest settlement in the British Empire was the imperial capital of London, England. It was estimated to have around 80,000 people living there in 1695. In 1700 it had around 575,000 inhabitants, and 675,000 in 1750. [1] By 1811 it had more than doubled in population, recorded to have had around 1,050,000 inhabitants. [2] And towards the end of this polity period, in 1841, it had grown to 1,873,676 inhabitants. [3]
[1]: (Porter 2000: 97-98) Porter, Roy. 2000. London: A Social History. London: Penguin UK. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BUIF7ZRL
[2]: ( Colquhoun 1811: 45) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
[3]: (Chambers and Chambers 1847: 256. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/K77JRGEL.
Inhabitants.
"Table of the Towns of the British Isles, above 100,000 inhabitants, in 1871." London: 3,254,260
[1]
Colquhoun says 900,000 in 1801.
[2]
4.5 million in 1901 CE
[3]
[1]: (Bartholomew 1877, vii) John Bartholomew. 1877. Atlas of the British empire throughout the world. George Philip and Son. London.
[2]: Page 27. Patrick Colquhoun, A Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire (London: Joseph Mawman), 1814.
[3]: Census of the British Empire, 1901: Report with Summary and Detailed Tables for the Several Colonies, &c. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1906.
Inhabitants.The largest settlement in the British Empire was the imperial capital of London, England. It was estimated to have around 80,000 people living there in 1695. In 1700 it had around 575,000 inhabitants, and 675,000 in 1750. [1] By 1811 it had more than doubled in population, recorded to have had around 1,050,000 inhabitants. [2] And towards the end of this polity period, in 1841, it had grown to 1,873,676 inhabitants. [3]
[1]: (Porter 2000: 97-98) Porter, Roy. 2000. London: A Social History. London: Penguin UK. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BUIF7ZRL
[2]: ( Colquhoun 1811: 45) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
[3]: (Chambers and Chambers 1847: 256. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/K77JRGEL.
Inhabitants.The largest settlement in the British Empire was the imperial capital of London, England. It was estimated to have around 80,000 people living there in 1695. In 1700 it had around 575,000 inhabitants, and 675,000 in 1750. [1] By 1811 it had more than doubled in population, recorded to have had around 1,050,000 inhabitants. [2] And towards the end of this polity period, in 1841, it had grown to 1,873,676 inhabitants. [3]
[1]: (Porter 2000: 97-98) Porter, Roy. 2000. London: A Social History. London: Penguin UK. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BUIF7ZRL
[2]: ( Colquhoun 1811: 45) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
[3]: (Chambers and Chambers 1847: 256. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/K77JRGEL.
1714: American colonies, Nova Scotia, Hudson.
1750:Advance in India, Canada [Taagepera 1997]
1800: Half of India, Canada, Australia
1837: Most of Canada, Australia [Taagepera 1997]
1850: All of Canada, Australia, India; most of Pakistan [Taagepera 1997]
The estimated populations of the British Isles and British colonies in the west was 5,470,000 in 1700. [1] The entire population of the British Empire was estimated to be over 61 million in 1811. [2]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 100. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ.
[2]: (Colquhoun 1811: 47) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
The estimated populations of the British Isles and British colonies in the west was 5,470,000 in 1700. [1] The entire population of the British Empire was estimated to be over 61 million in 1811. [2]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 100. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ.
[2]: (Colquhoun 1811: 47) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
People. Maddison Project Estimates
[1]
Alternate estimates: In 1877 CE? according to contemporary literature: Area: 8,754,793 square miles. Population: 284,110,693.
[2]
According to statistician Patrick Colquhoun, the total population of the Empire in 1814 was 61.15 Million. A Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire
398.4 million in 1901
[3]
[1]: https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/releases/maddison-project-database-2018
[2]: (Bartholomew 1877, v) John Bartholomew. 1877. Atlas of the British empire throughout the world. George Philip and Son. London.
[3]: Census of the British Empire, 1901: Report with Summary and Detailed Tables for the Several Colonies, &c. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1906.
in kilometers. From 1840 the journey by sea from Plymouth, England to Wellington, New Zealand was 12,910 miles. [1]
[1]: (Porter 1999: 254) Porter, Andrew, ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Nineteenth Century, vol. 3, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GTF9V4CG
levels.
1. Capital (London)
2. Large Cities (ie. Delhi)
3. Cities
4. Large Towns
5. Towns
6. Villages
7. Hamlets
"England, it is to be observed from a civil point of view, is divided int counties or shires, hundreds, or as they are termed in some of the northern counties, wapentakes...cities, tithings, towns or vills, (the last three of which, in a legal sense are synonymous, boroughs, and parishes."
[1]
[1]: (McCulloch 2011 [1837]: 263. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW)
levels. The Anglican church had a hierarchy as follows: [1] : 1. The Monarch :: 2. Archbishops ::: 3. Bishops :::: 4. Archdeacon :::: 5. Priest ::::: 6. Chaplain :::::: 7. Ecclesiastical officials
[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 30) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chicester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U
levels.
1. Commander-in-Chief (revived 1793)
[1]
2. Secretary at War (combined with Secretary of State for War in 1855, abolished in 1863)
[1]
2. Secretary of State for War. ("In 1870 the Commander in Chief became a subordinate officer."
[1]
)
3. Heads of specialist functions (inferred to be at similar levels)
4. High-ranking members of specialist functions (inferred to be at similar levels)
[1]: (National Archives of the UK 2007. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BW7Q7AXM)
[2]: (MacArthur 2009: 154. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3NY37PHG)
[3]: (MacArthur 2009: 165. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3NY37PHG)
[4]: (MacArthur 2009: 169. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3NY37PHG)
[5]: (Rodger 2005: 622-627. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CIJFYY9I)
levels.
Central Government
1. Monarch
1. Prime Minister
2. High Ranking Members of Parliament: Chancellor, Treasurer, President of the King’s Council, Chief Justice, Chief Baron
[1]
3. Members of the House of Lords
[2]
[3]
3. Members of the House of Commons
[2]
[3]
4-7. Masters, Secretaries, Clerks, other Minor Officials
[4]
Colonial Office
2. Colonial Secretary (Colonial Office at Whitehall from 1811)
[5]
3. Officials in the Colonial Office
[5]
4-7. Masters, Secretaries, Clerks, other Minor Officials
[4]
Judicial
[6]
2. Lord High Chancellor (chief judge of the Court of Chancery, member of the House of Lords)
3. High-level judges
4. Local judges
5. Sheriff
6. Clerk of the Peace
7. Coroner
8. Magistrate
9. High Constable
10. Minor officers: Petty Constable, Gaoler, Bailiff, Executioner
Local Government (UK)
3. UK regional administrative units
4. High ranking local officials (inferred)
5. Minor Officials, Clerks, etc. (inferred)
Colonial Government
3. Governor (Proconsuls, and Viceroys)
3. East India Company
[5]
3. Protectorates
4. Colonial bureaucracies (e.g. Indian Civil Service)
4. Colonial executive and Legislative Councils
4. Indigenous rulers
5-9. Masters, Secretaries, Clerks, other Minor Officials (inferred)
5-9. Internal/Indigenous ruling sub-divisions (in India likely to be fairly extensive to village level: seven levels inferred in the preceding Mughal Empire, nine levels inferred in the Delhi Sultanate.)
[1]: (McCulloch 2011 [1837]: 264. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW)
[2]: (Burroughs 1999) Peter Burroughs. Imperial institutions and the Government of Empire. Andrew Porter. ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[3]: (McCulloch 2011 [1837]: 219. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW)
[4]: (McCulloch 2011 [1837]: 249. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW)
[5]: (Marshall 2001: 24. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IT2S8JJ3)
[6]: (McCulloch 2011 [1837]: 263-70. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BCM2JGGW)
[7]: Kenneth J Panton. 2015. Historical Dictionary of the British Empire. Rowman & Littlefield. Lanham.
[8]: (Marshall 1996, 24) P J Marshall. 1783-1870: An Expanding Empire. P J Marshall. ed. 1996. The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
[9]: (Marshall 1996, 22) P J Marshall. The British Empire at the End of the Eighteenth Century. P J Marshall. ed. 1996. The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Government buildings throughout the UK and all of the Empire’s territories.
Professional bureaucrats throughout the UK and all of the Empire’s territories.
The Court of Pleas for civil suits and the King or Queen’s bench for cases concerning revenue and some civil matters. [1]
[1]: (Chambers and Chambers 1847: 275) Chambers, Robert and Chambers, William. eds. 1847. History and Present State the British Empire. London: W.R.Chambers. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/K77JRGEL
Markets were present all across England (later the UK) and expanded rapidly across the Empire. Local as well as colonial markets were providing goods from across the world. [1]
[1]: (Canny 1998: 145, 209) Canny, Nicholas. ed. 1998. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I The Origins of Empire, vol. 1, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RTDR3NCN
Irrigation was already present in England and was developed throughout the Empire. [1]
[1]: ( Porter 1999: 351) Porter, Andrew, ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Nineteenth Century, vol. 3, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GTF9V4CG
Places of worship, entertainment buildings, factories, warehouses, workplaces, knowledge buildings, shops, pubs and coffee-houses, government buildings etc.
Universities, schools, colleges, laboratories, archives, libraries etc. [1]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 131) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
Tin and coal mines in the UK. Precious metals and jewels in the Americas and Africa. [1]
[1]: (Colquhoun 1811: 130) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
British trading posts such as Gibraltar became famous for their emporiums and immense amounts of imports and exports that it traded across the Empire. [1]
[1]: ( Colquhoun 1811: 306) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
Books, essays, manuscripts, court records, legal texts, poetry, pamphlets and newspapers, almanacs etc. [1] [2]
[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 171, 283, 372-73) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chicester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U
[2]: (Marshall 2006: 231-244, 270-271) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
As the empire expanded, non-phonetic alphabets such as Hindi, Punjabi, Cantonese, Mandarin were introduced, though in no way adopted officially, however some ruling members of the colonies would encourage study of the local language. [1]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 130, 243, 248, 525) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
The scientific revolution took place in Europe through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and with it came a surge of scientific literature particularly in astronomy, physics, medicine, botany and mathematics. [1]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 170, 231-244) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
Religious guidance and sermons were often published throughout the period. Most notably Sacheverell’s The Perils of False Brethren (1709). Issac Newton also wrote commentaries on the bible in the seventeenth century. [1] The Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, founded in 1698, circulated religious literature to the colonies and for at-home learning. [2] [3] Half the books published in the late seventeenth century were philosophical or religious. [4]
[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 375) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chicester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U
[2]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 385) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chicester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U
[3]: (Marshall 2006: 130) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
[4]: (Canny 1998: 100) Canny, Nicholas. ed. 1998. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I The Origins of Empire, vol. 1, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RTDR3NCN
Advice books for subjects such as agriculture and farming. Travel books. Military strategy. Architecture [1] [2]
[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 372) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chicester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U
[2]: (Marshall 2006: 1170-2) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
The Philosophical Society was founded in 1683 and branches were created in the American colonies by the mid seventeenth-century, which produced texts and books. Natural philosophy could be studied at university level from the early eighteenth century. [1] Half the books published in the late seventeenth century were philosophical or religious. [2]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 240-42) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
[2]: (Canny 1998: 100) Canny, Nicholas. ed. 1998. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I The Origins of Empire, vol. 1, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RTDR3NCN
Natural history and classifications were popular from the beginning of the period. Directories. Government reports on the Empire, its people and lands. [1]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 88, 170) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
Histories of England and military and warfare history were particularly popular. [1]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 170, 172) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
Poetry, novels, plays. [1] [2]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 18, 523) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
[2]: (Canny 1998: 100) Canny, Nicholas. ed. 1998. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I The Origins of Empire, vol. 1, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RTDR3NCN
England/Britain used the Julian calendar until adopting the Gregorian calendar in the mid-eighteenth century. [1]
[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: xvi) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chicester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U
Gold had been used widely in the preceding polities for hundreds of years and began to be mined throughout the Empire, particularly the Americas and Africa. [1]
[1]: (Colquhoun 1811: 130) Colquhoun, Patrik. 1814. Treatise on the Wealth, Power and Resources of the British Empire in Every Quarter of the World Etc. Jos. Mawman. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3SNZA6FJ
The Bank of England began issuing fixed denomination paper currency in the early eighteenth century and partially printed notes from 1725. [1]
[1]: ( Bank of England) Bank of England. ‘History’. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/history. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/PYMZXS4N
British sterling. "Before the early nineteenth century the Royal Mint’s role was largely domestic. Britain’s North American colonies had gained the right to issue their own coinage ... while in South Asia the East India Company had been allowed since the late seventeeth century to ’purchase’ permission from local Indian rulers to reproduce coins that followed India as opposed to English conventions. For the Mint itself the eighteenth century was a period of relative stagnation: British silver and copper coinage was in a poor condition and was in short supply. ... The end of the Napoleonic wars, however, was followed by currency reform and in 1816-17 recoinage in Britain. In 1818 private coins were made illegal. ... The installation of Boulton’s steam-powered machinery, coupled with a French invention, the ’reducing machine’, which reproduced original coin designs by machine rather than by hand engraving, enabled for the first time the mass production of high-quality and homogenous copper coins and transformed the Mint itself into an ’industrial concern’. These changes coincided with the growth of a ’second’ British Empire and the Mint began producing more coins for overseas dependenies." [1]
[1]: (Stockwell 2018, 45-46) Sarah Stockwell. 2018. The British End of the British Empire. Cambridge University PRess. Cambridge.
Territories across the empire had their own currency, e.g. Rupees in India. "Before the early nineteenth century the Royal Mint’s role was largely domestic. Britain’s North American colonies had gained the right to issue their own coinage ... while in South Asia the East India Company had been allowed since the late seventeeth century to ’purchase’ permission from local Indian rulers to reproduce coins that followed India as opposed to English conventions." [1] "domestic British coin became increasingly an ’imperial currency’, circulating throughout much of the Empire. ... in the course of the nineteeth century, the Mint began producing a variety of dedicated colonial as well as other foreign coinages, designated ’private’ by the Mint, and paid for by the overseas customers. From 1883 the Treasury encouraged all colonies to obtain their local currencies from the Mint." [2]
[1]: (Stockwell 2018, 45-46) Sarah Stockwell. 2018. The British End of the British Empire. Cambridge University PRess. Cambridge.
[2]: (Stockwell 2018, 46) Sarah Stockwell. 2018. The British End of the British Empire. Cambridge University PRess. Cambridge.
Banks. Personal cash and precious goods hoards in private homes.
The Bank of England was established in 1694. There were also an increasing number of commercial, mercantile and private creditors in the UK and across the Empire. [1]
[1]: (Marshall 2006: 62-63, 296, 384, 423, 432) Marshall, P. J. ed. 2006. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II The Eighteenth Century. Vol. 2, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HGG2PPQQ
days. In 1825 a steam assisted ship sailing from Falmouth to Calcutta (British Indian capital) took 113 days to make the one-way journey. [1]
[1]: (Porter 1999: 255) Porter, Andrew, ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Nineteenth Century, vol. 3, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GTF9V4CG
From the seventeenth century gardens were increasingly laid out in geometric and symmetrical designs. In the eighteenth-century symmetrical buildings, houses and gardens was the most fashionable architectural style. [1]
[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 374, 376) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chicester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U
Luxury Precious Metal: | Present |
Place(s) of Provenance: | foreign |
Consumption by Ruler: | Present |
Consumption by Elite: | Present |
Consumption by Common People: | Present |
“Throughout the nineteenth century, jewelry was as essential to the fashionable Victorian woman as shawls, fabrics, cloaks, and scarves. The ornaments worn were generally made of precious or semi-precious stones and precious metals, many of which could be found in the Near East. ” [Chaudhuri_Chaudhuri_Strobel 1992, p. 236] “By the outbreak of war in 1756, the chartered concern had trading bases at Madras, Calcutta, and Bombay, a posting station in Sumatra, and a significant interest at Canton in the China tea trade. 36 From these eastern locations, Company servants purchased tea, textiles, saltpeter, and other goods for import into Britain. Export cargoes to India comprised principally woolen goods, copper, lead, tin, iron, steel, and bullion.” [Koehn 2018, p. 200] “Parliament, equally impressed by the value of the spectacle in promoting loyalty, had granted the unprecedented sum of £240,000 to meet the cost, and George had taken the opportunity to provide what Scott was to describe as a ‘degree of splendour which [foreign visitors] averred, they had never seen paralleled in Europe’. Every costume had been specially designed on an Elizabethan and Jacobean theme to pick up the allusion to England’s great historic heritage…At his entry into Westminster Abbey he wore robes ‘of enormous size and richness’, heavily trimmed with gold and crowned with a black velvet hat adorned with a ‘monstrous plume of ostrich feathers, out of the midst of which rose a black heron’s plume’.” [Smith 1999, p. 246] Empty_Description “In consequence, consumption of associated items for display boomed – clothes, furniture and, most notably, the favoured beverage of tea and the tools for serving it. Ownership of utensils in the forms of silver cutlery and porcelain dishes exploded among middling households in the eighteenth century, forming what historian Maxine Berg has aptly dubbed ‘the grammar of the polite table’.” [Bickham 2020, p. 67] “London toy and goldsmiths shops were tourist attractions for Europe’s elites, and the city was also a major producer of toys and decorative metalwares.” [Berg 2005, p. 13] “Their producers spanned two worlds. They were located partly in the world of metropolitan luxuries— among the gold- and silversmiths, but they were also part of the provincial manufacturing regions—watch and clock part makers, fine tool and steel filemakers in the industrial villages of South Lancashire; they were the toymakers and japanners of Birmingham, and the cutlers and plated-ware makers of Sheffield. These goods might be small silver items bought as family keepsakes—cups, spoons, pepper castors, tea tongs, cream sauce pans, tankards, castors, ladles, and tumblers—and passed down to sons, daughters, nephews, and nieces. They were knives and forks, plated candlesticks or tea urns, steel buckles and enamelled buttons, or brass furniture fittings and small stove ware. ” [Berg 2005, p. 158]
Luxury Spices Incense And Dyes: | Present |
Place(s) of Provenance: | foreign |
Consumption by Elite: | Present |
“By 1800 the number of licensed shops had risen to over 62,000, increasing their share to roughly a third of all shops.41 While some shops in the metropolitan marketplace focused exclusively on one product, most sold the full range of the imperial staples of coffee, tea, sugar and tobacco, alongside an impressive array of spices, dried fruits and other sundries.” [Bickham 2020, p. 39] “Fifty years later, officials such as Grenville, Rockingham, and North continued to subsidize colonial production of hemp, flax, and indigo.” [Koehn 2018, p. 86] “The favoured ingestibles of empire – coffee, tea, spices, sugar and tobacco – took centre stage. These goods’ portability, durability and addictive and stimulating qualities were only part of the equation. Equally important was their foreignness, which meant they had to be purchased either in shops or other businesses such as coffeehouses, thus ensuring that consumption was public and founded on innumerable small cash (and increasingly credit) transactions.” [Bickham 2020, p. 55] “For example, many held that primitive savages could digest raw meat; whereas a middling woman in London, whose digestive tract was accustomed to cooked foods served in sanitary conditions, could not endure such a diet. At the same time, the savage would struggle to digest, let alone appreciate, the elaborate dishes found in an elite London home, with their spices, sauces and global ingredients.” [Bickham 2020, p. 166]
Luxury Manufactured Goods: | Present |
Place(s) of Provenance: | British Empire I |
Consumption by Ruler: | Present |
Consumption by Elite: | Present |
Consumption by Common People: | Inferred Present |
“Contemporary commercial writers, concerned with the demand side of the economy and thus with expanding old markets for British manufacturers, and creating new ones were impressed with the variety of exportable metal wares made in the Midlands. Postlethwayt argued in 1757 that promoting economic growth and nurturing ‘the general perfection of the manufactures of a state consists in obtaining the preference of every class of consumers.’” [Koehn 2018, p. 39] “Far more common tobacco-related crimes, or at least ones worth reporting and prosecuting, were thefts of the associated, and more expensive, wares of tobacco use, particularly metal carrying boxes. Often silver and finely crafted, these pocket-sized items were favoured targets of pickpockets and housebreakers.” [Bickham 2020, p. 46] “Seven years of war underscored the importance of colonial outlets. During the conflict British manufactures—metal wares, textiles, glass, and more-poured overseas to North American colonies and Bengal, where thousands of troops demanded food, clothing, and equipment.” [Koehn 2018, p. 94] “Music, literature and the theatre were George’s interests throughout his life; he was also a notable collector of fine furniture, porcelain, bronzes and objects d’art in general as evidenced in the contents of Carlton House, the Pavilion at Brighton, Windsor Castle and later, Buckingham Palace.” [Smith 1999, p. 334] “In consequence, consumption of associated items for display boomed – clothes, furniture and, most notably, the favoured beverage of tea and the tools for serving it. Ownership of utensils in the forms of silver cutlery and porcelain dishes exploded among middling households in the eighteenth century, forming what historian Maxine Berg has aptly dubbed ‘the grammar of the polite table’.” [Bickham 2020, p. 67] “Separate insurance riders on goods of particular value indicate that most shopkeepers considered here led a decidedly middling lifestyle, with such luxury goods as china, glass and prints but nothing extraordinary.” [Bickham 2020, p. 95] “Elizabeth Montagu decorated a room in Chinese wallpaper in her famous Portman Square house, completed in 1781, which she sometimes referred to as ‘the Empire of China’. Stoneleigh Abbey in Warwickshire, which later became the fictional setting for Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, had a room fitted in the 1760s with an Indian cabinet, bamboo chairs, seventeen Indian prints and a host of other Asiatic-themed objects. While such spaces were the preserve of the elite, plenty of middling and labouring households had access to such goods, albeit on a lesser scale.” [Bickham 2020, p. 180]
Luxury Glass Goods: | Present |
Place(s) of Provenance: | British Empire I |
Consumption by Ruler: | Present |
Consumption by Elite: | Present |
“While flint glass provided a new British luxury, the glass industry in which it was set also supplied windows for medium-sized houses, standardized bottles, and thousands of ordinary drinking glasses supplied to the middling classes and to taverns spread throughout the British regions.” [Berg 2005, p. 120] “The aristocracy, gentry, and middle classes of the north-east ordered most of their glass from London.” [Berg 2005, p. 122] Note: Carlton House was known as the town residence of George IV, the interior decoration of glasses might indicate the consumption of glass by ruler. “Holland’s estimate for the first stage of the work on Carlton House in 1784 amounted to £30,250 – the equivalent possibly of £1.5–£2 million in today’s money…The decoration and furnishing of the interior was lavish. Carving, gilding, marble and ormolu decorations, glasses, windows and furniture ‘for the 2 Seasons’ were estimated in 1784 to cost £35,000 plus extra for crystal chandeliers and girandoles.” [Smith 1999, p. 52]
Luxury Food: | Present |
Place(s) of Provenance: | British Empire I ; foreign |
Consumption by Ruler: | Present |
Consumption by Elite: | Present |
“An especially sorrowful essay on the refinement of British food came in the form of a letter from ‘An Old Fellow’, first printed in the London Magazine in 1773…Alas, he woefully continued, ‘Now mark the picture of the present time: instead of that firm roast beef, that fragrant pudding, our tables groan with the luxuries of France and India. Here a lean fricassee rises in the room of our majestic ribs; and there a scoundrel syllabub occupies the place of our well-beloved home-brewed.’ Such a travesty, he declared, was simply anti-British.” [Bickham 2020, pp. 134-135] “The King’s Champion appeared in ‘bright armour’ with helm and gauntlet. The banquet itself was lavish: 160 each of tureens of soup (turtle, rice, or vermicelli), dishes of fish (turbot, trout, and salmon), hot joints (venison, roast beef, including three barons, mutton, and veal), and dishes of vegetables. Eighty dishes each of braised ham, savoury pies, dishes of goose, of savoury cakes, of braised beef and of braised capons were accompanied by 1,190 side dishes.” [Smith 1999, p. 249] “Authors regularly lambasted the British elite and those who aped them for latching on to French cuisine for the sake of fashion. As Glasse remarked in her book’s preface, ‘Such is the blind Folly of this Age, that they would rather be imposed on by a French Booby, than give Encouragement to a good English Cook.’ Commentators ridiculed foreign cuisine not so much for its lack of appeal to the palate, but for its unnecessary complexity and ostentatiousness. In consequence, virtually all of the popular books discussed here openly adopted and adapted French recipes, terminology and techniques, but not without some premeditation and the occasional justification.” [Bickham 2020, p. 151]
Luxury Fabrics: | Present |
Consumption by Ruler: | Present |
Consumption by Elite: | Present |
Consumption by Common People: | Inferred Present |
“Lady Lovetoy explains how the new skills of upwardly mobile ladies included shopping and knowing to ‘Buy all their Silks at India house, their Looking-glass at Gumly’s, and all the Tea at Phillips’s’ – all recognized venues to the leisured London shopper. The displays and variety of goods in London’s elite shopping districts was most impressive.” [Bickham 2020, p. 59] “Holland’s estimate for the first stage of the work on Carlton House in 1784 amounted to £30,250 – the equivalent possibly of £1.5–£2 million in today’s money…The room was ‘hung with rich silk Damask manufactured in Spitalfields’ and the floor covered by ‘a rich Moorfields carpet’. In 1790 a bill came in for upholstery materials in green, white and yellow lustring, rose-coloured Italian mantua, and rich crimson satin ground tissue for the backs and seats of twenty-three chairs.” [Smith 1999, p. 53] “Contemporary observers estimated that two-thirds of all transactions involved credit rather than cash. As goods and services markets became wider and more integrated, so too did the credit markets, formal and informal. A Leicester shopkeeper purchased silk from a Spitalfields wholesaler and paid for it with a bill of exchange.” [Koehn 2018, p. 44] Note: the case that a shopkeeper could purchase silk might be indirect evidence of the common people consuming specialty fabrics.
Luxury Drink/Alcohol: | Present |
Place(s) of Provenance: | foreign |
Consumption by Ruler: | Present |
Consumption by Elite: | Present |
“When the basic goods themselves became ubiquitous, consumers elevated the stakes by paying more for better quality or selecting more expensive types, such as Hyson tea and Turkish coffee, over more common varieties.” [Bickham 2020, p. 233] Referring to King George IV: “Another night he drank ‘two glasses of hot ale & toast, three glasses of claret, some strawberries!! and a glass of brandy’ and another, three glasses of port and one of brandy after taking his medicine. The mixture of ale and strawberries, she thought, was ‘enough to kill a horse’.” [Smith 1999, p. 348] “While Asian tea ceremonies were rarely replicated in Britain, tea’s highly ritualistic, intimate preparation and drinking practices, along with the connoisseurship surrounding it, continued, at least in middling and elite households.” [Bickham 2020, p. 234] “Visiting, the practice of elite and middling women spending afternoons calling on each other socially, provided ample opportunities for further discussion. Although the practice took root in the seventeenth century, before the popularity of tea, tea became inextricably linked with visiting in the eighteenth century. In fact, by mid-century ‘taking tea with . . .’ had become synonymous with visiting.” [Bickham 2020, p. 203]
Luxury Statuary: | Present |
Place(s) of Provenance: | British Empire I |
Consumption by Ruler: | Present |
Consumption by Elite: | Present |
“The text of his catalogue of 1774, ‘A Catalogue of Cameos, Intaglios, Medals, Busts, Small Statues and Bas-reliefs with a general account of Vases and Other Ornaments after the Antique’, was an exercise in the arts of imitation… Busts, statues, lamps and candelabra, ornamental vases, and bas-relief ornaments were made in imitation of jasper, porphyry, pebble, and other stones, with ‘encaustic paintings from the ancient etruscan vases and finest Grecian Gems’.” [Berg 2005, p. 147] “Commissioning monuments in honour of Thomas was a crucial part of the construction of the myth of martyrdom…The commission was given to the up-and-coming young sculptor Prince Hoare of Bath. Hoare had studied with Scheemakers – who had worked extensively for Cobham – before going on a Grand Tour. Upon his return to Bath, he executed busts and statues of many people who had been or were still in the Cobham-Grenville circle, among them Chesterfield, Ralph Allen, and Beau Nash.” [Coutu 2006, p. 185] Note: The rebuild of Buckingham House demonstrates George IV’s consumption for sculpture. “An alternative solution would have been to start afresh and build an entirely new palace befitting the splendour of a new reign, and indeed Nash had already considered possible plans for such a project in Green Park, but George turned it down: he was too old to build a palace, he said, and in any case he had taken a fancy to Buckingham House with its memories of his mother and father and his early youthful years…With the addition of work in the gardens and domestic offices the cost was estimated at £252,000, allowing for the use of materials from Carlton House, which was to be demolished. The cost did not include sculpture, which was naturally to be lavishly added and applied, with panels in relief and statues at the garden front.” [Smith 1999, p. 320] “In England especially, argued Sombart, it was furnishings and houses which became objects of the greatest expenditure. And he cited the traveller von Archenholtz who wrote in the eighteenth century:…The landing places are adorned with busts, pictures, and medallions; the wainscot and ceilings of the apartments are covered with the finest varnish and enriched with gold bas-reliefs and the most happy attempts in painting and sculpture.” [Berg 2005, p. 39]
Luxury Precious Stone: | Present |
Place(s) of Provenance: | foreign |
Consumption by Ruler: | Present |
Consumption by Elite: | Present |
“Throughout the nineteenth century, jewelry was as essential to the fashionable Victorian woman as shawls, fabrics, cloaks, and scarves. The ornaments worn were generally made of precious or semi-precious stones and precious metals, many of which could be found in the Near East. ” [Chaudhuri_Chaudhuri_Strobel 1992, p. 236] “George III’s coronation had cost £70,000, which seemed unlikely to be sufficient to cover the new King’s extravagant tastes. The same correspondent reported that the two royal robemakers were visiting Brighton to discuss proposals for the peers’ robes which ‘together with the vests are to be of the richest & purist [sic] Virgin white Satin’, and that £18,000 had been provided for a new setting for the royal crown.14 The crown was to be the most brilliant ever made. As was customary, the frame was adorned for the occasion with gems hired from the royal jewellers, Rundell, Bridge and Rundell, for a fee of £6,500 per annum. No fewer than 12,532 diamonds were used in the setting, twice as many jewels as ever used in a royal crown before or since, and George was so delighted with the result that he tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade Parliament to buy them for him, and kept them for two years before agreeing to their return.” [Smith 1999, p. 245] “Adam Smith saw the enormity of this passion: landlords gave up their estates to gratify their passion for selfish possession of ‘a pair of diamond buckles’. Great proprietors ‘to gratify their childish vanity’ sold their land and relinquished their feudal privileges in return for ‘trinkets and baubles, fitter to be the play-things of children than the serious pursuits of men.’” [Berg 2005, p. 157]
Luxury Fine Ceramic Wares: | Present |
Place(s) of Provenance: | foreign |
Consumption by Ruler: | Present |
Consumption by Elite: | Present |
Consumption by Common People: | Inferred Present |
“The mere possession of many of the goods of imperial trade discussed here was sufficient to demonstrate wealth and taste when they first arrived in the British Isles. The later ubiquity of these goods necessitated ancillary devices – porcelain sugar bowls, jewelled tobacco boxes and leisurely tea visits in the middle of the working day – for consumers to exhibit their status.” [Bickham 2020, p. 17] “Imports of Asian porcelain, furniture, fabrics and other baubles flowed into Britain by the millions – to such an extent that savvy Asian producers created specialized designs and production lines specifically for European markets.71 Perhaps even savvier were the British business men and women who saw the opportunity to market replicas that captured the exoticism of the original with design modifications – such as handles, sizes and favoured colours – for the British market.” [Bickham 2020, p. 180] “Sarah Lyttelton came to see over the House in 1810 and remarked: Carlton House is very beautiful, very magnificent, and we were well amused. … The beauties of old china vases, gold fringes, damask draperies, cut-glass lustres, and all the other fine things we saw there.” [Smith 1999, p. 55] Note: Presence of old china in George IV’s house could demonstrate his consumption of ceramic wares. Empty_Description “A person who drank tea out of a ceramic cup and wore a printed cotton gown in 1788 might easily also be malnourished, because such goods by that time were drastically cheaper and more widely available than a century earlier. What were once great luxuries had effectively become staples as the century wore on.” [Bickham 2020, p. 56]